Falae, who was reacting to
a book, ‘Vindication of a General’, written by former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.
Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi, said on Monday that there were rumours in the South-West,
particularly in his state (Ondo State), that he had been killed alongside
Abiola on that ‘terrible day’.
The elder statesman and
1999 presidential election candidate, Chief Olu Falae, has said that the death
of Chief MKO Abiola stalled a transitional meeting that the then Head of State,
General Abdulsalami Abubakar, invited him for in Abuja.
Falae, who contested the
1999 presidential election on the joint platform of the Alliance for Democracy
and the All People’s Party, said any right-thinking person would infer that a
transitional programme excluding Abiola had been on, even while the widely
acclaimed June 12, 1993 presidential election winner was alive.
Falae said, “Yes it is true
that I was invited by General Abdulsalami through General Bamaiyi. Bamaiyi
actually phoned me. Unfortunately, before I met General Abdulsalami, the news
broke that Abiola was dead. It was the day I got to Abuja and before I saw
Abdulsalami that the news was out that Abiola had died.
“So, it was a terrible day.
Although I did meet General Abdulsalami late in the night on that day, there
was no real meeting. We just met and in the light of what had happened, nothing
serious took place, because of the bad news that happened in the afternoon.
“Abdulsalami already
scheduled the meeting with me before the issue of Abiola’s death came and I had
already physically arrived in Abuja. On that evening, I just told him that the
transition should be meaningful, free, fair and acceptable to the people of
Nigeria. We did not have any discussion in the real sense.”
When asked if he thought
the military government started a transition programme excluding Abiola even
while the man was alive, Falae said, “That is an inference that any
right-thinking person could make from the move. But let me say that Abdulsalami
did not ask me to contest.”
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