June 12: Obasanjo, Babangida absent as Buhari honours MKO Abiola with GCFR title
Two prominent Nigerian leaders were absent at the presidential Villa, Abuja where late Chief MKO Abiola was honoured by the Federal Government with a national honour of the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) on Tuesday (today).
Former military Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida was conspicuously absent. Babangida annulled the election in 1993.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a staunch critic of the present administration, was also absent. Many believe Obasanjo spited Abiola by not being the one to declare June 12 Democracy Day after he was elected president in 1999.
However, one prominent leader in the person of Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, the Alaafin of Oyo, was in attendance at the ceremony. Alaafin was the one who conferred Abiola with a powerful chieftaincy title of the Aare Ona Kakanfo in 1987.
Abiola’s eldest son, Kola, formally received the GCFR insignia on behalf of his father today.
