EXCLUSIVE: What my father told me about MKO Abiola, money, power

Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola has revealed an interesting encounter he had with the late business magnate, philanthropist, and politician, Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, shortly after his late father, Michael Otedola, was elected into office as governor of Lagos State.

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Mr Otedola made the disclosure in his new memoir, ‘Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business,’ published by FO Books and scheduled for release on 18 August.

In excerpts of the book seen by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Otedola explained how the encounter with Mr Abiola shaped his perception about the interplay of money and power in the lives of politicians, business moguls, and other notable figures in society.

The late (Michael) Otedola—Femi Otedola’s father – was a Nigerian politician who served as governor of Lagos State from January 1992 to November 1993, during the botched Third Republic.

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According to Mr Otedola in his new book, he had an encounter with Mr Abiola and his wife at the Lagos State guest house in Ikeja, where the then outgoing military governor of Lagos, Raji Rasaki, advised his late father to stay and recover from the stress of election campaigns. Michael Otedola had just won the Lagos governorship election on the platform of the National Republican Convention (NRC).

Femi Otedola noted that when he got to the guest house to visit his father, he met Mr Abiola, who addressed him as a “great man”, a description he found quite fascinating.

“I had yet another upbeat encounter with Chief Abiola after my father was elected. The outgoing military governor, Brigadier General Raji Rasaki, suggested that dad recover from an exhausting election campaign at the Lagos State guest house in Ikeja and that nobody was supposed to see him,” Mr Otedola wrote.

“I went to visit him there early one morning and found Chief Abiola and his wife waiting in the living room. “Great man,” he said, “where is your daddy?” Once again, this great man had called me ‘great man’.”

Mr Otedola explained that after the duo of Mr Abiola and his wife left, he was surprised about his father’s decision to host them despite the suggestion by Mr Rasaki that he be secluded in the guest house.

“After Chief Abiola and his wife left, I enquired of my father why he gave Chief Abiola and his wife an audience with him when nobody was supposed to see him. My father said to me “Femi, there is a difference between power and money; money will always bow before power”,” Mr Otedola wrote.

Michael Otedola would go on to govern Lagos between 1992 and 1993, and eventually vacated office when the military took over in November 1993 and the late Sani Abacha assumed power.

Mr Abiola, on his part, later ran for the Nigerian presidency in 1993 on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), but the election results were annulled by the then-military head of state, Ibrahim Babangida. The late businessman was subsequently arrested for treason and detained in prison after declaring himself president of Nigeria. He would later die in detention in 1998.

READ ALSO: Femi Otedola pays tribute to Christian Chukwu’s ‘enduring legacy’

Mr Abiola was awarded the national honour of Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (GCFR) posthumously on 6 June 2018 by the then-President, Muhammadu Buhari. Similarly, Nigeria’s Democracy Day was changed from 29 May to 12 June to honour Mr Abiola and the June 12 1993, presidential election, considered the freest and fairest in the country.

Mr Otedola’s book has been endorsed by some of Africa’s most influential leaders, including Aliko Dangote, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and Akinwumi Adesina.

They lauded the book for its “rich insights, motivational value, and relevance to aspiring entrepreneurs and policymakers on the continent.”