Kola Abiola mismanaged MKO’s wealth …sidelined his siblings

Abdulmumuni Abiola, one of the sons of late Chief MKO Abiola, has berated his elder brother, Kola Abiola, over the alleged mismanagement of their late father’s wealth and throwing the rest of the siblings into abject poverty.

Speaking in a podcast on Mic On with Seun Okinbaloye, Abdulmumuni lamented that Kola had mismanaged their late father’s wealth and sidelined him and other members of the family to the extent that in the last 30 years, some of Abiola’s children had died because they could not afford to buy medicine to treat and take care of themselves.

Asked if he blamed Kola for the manner in which things had gone and whether he believed the legacy of Abiola would have been properly sustained rather than it was now, Mumuni said, “I definitely do because he was in a better position, especially after the whole crisis.”

Speaking further, Abdulmumuni said, “First of all, if he listens to what my father said in the Will and does what he is supposed to do like every other one has done, there wouldn’t be a problem.

“We have lost so much. There are so much properties my father has in this country that we can never get by because people sit on it and they are using it to take care of their own families. The issue is, who is losing?

“It is our money that they used to buy those things. Those properties now cannot be bought with the same amount, with the kind of money that would be spent today. I’m talking about the silo in Lafia Agil in Kwara State – 20,000 metric tonnes Silo with 10,000 hectares of land. How much would be paid for that land now?

“It is so sad that your father was rich to a certain level and you cannot continue from where he stopped. I would like him to explain to me why exactly he has gone with this direction. It is like going down the deadened road and you are seeing the signs but you are still going.

“This is 30 years down the line. It is not like I waited for a year after my father died and started making these accusations. Abiola’s children who could not buy medicine to take care of themselves have died in this 30 years. This is sad and I’m sure my father will not be pleased about it. So, I am not pleased.”

He added, “I wake up in the morning and my phone is inundated with text messages of people who ask for help. How many people can I help? If I want to help somebody, I need to first help myself. It is important we do things the right way.”

Asked if he has spoken with Kola about his grievances, Mumuni said he is talking about the properties in Nigeria only.

He said, “You must understand that I’m talking about their properties in Nigeria only. This is not where Abiola has his wealth. Abiola had those companies in Nigeria just to help Nigerian people.

“They were losing money and they were building money. But he did this (established companies in Nigeria) because he knew they needed something to do so that they don’t pick up guns. He (Abiola) understood that.

“Abiola’s wealth was from outside this country. He was an accountant and when he was the state director of ITT, there was money that owed the company, when he was able to retrieve the money from the military government then, he went back to his masters in England.

“They wanted to offer commission but he asked them to give him shares. So, my father has shares.

“I told brother Kola when I got back that I don’t want to disturb him about the money outside Nigeria. That it is for him, he should do whatever he wants with it. But the ones in Nigeria, we will die there.”

Abdulmumuni said he had taken over Concord Newspaper but “at the time we took it, he took me to Kabiyesi Akiolu’s Palace to tell me why I should leave the place.”