My mentor is not just a man of super human character and a rare gem but a man favoured by the gods, he is also a man who I so admire for his achievements and noble qualities. He was an enigma. In his rather eventful life Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola who was born on the 24th of August,1937 and died July 7th, 1998, was to me a man of many parts. He was a chartered accountant, International businessman, politician, philanthropist, sports enthusiast, populist, multimillionaire and of course, my mentor! Rising from a very humble background, his achievements was nothing but a study in hard work and perseverance. His was a classic rags to riches story of someone born into abject poverty, but rose to become a stupendously wealthy man. This was because life did not start easy for him as his mother died simply because the family could not afford to pay 55 kobo (55 cents) that the doctor had demanded to treat her. Despite the unfortunate predicaments, which befell their family, his quest to excel was unshaken. To survive, he had to sell firewood to supplement the family income and to pay his school fees but that was not enough means of sustenance so he ventured into music. His band played only on weekends and was paid only 1 naira and five kobo (1 dollar 5 cents). At school, he had to memorize volumes of books he borrowed because he could not afford to buy them. Through a dint of hard work and single-minded devotion, he pursued his education. After his primary education, he proceeded to high school, he completed his High school education before tragedy struck his mother. He was however later awarded a scholarship due to excellence and proceeded to the University of Glasgow, Scotland, on the journey to accomplish his academic dream! He graduated in 1963 with a degree in Accountancy, which enabled him to work with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) as a deputy chief accountant. He later joined the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (ITT) where fortune smiled on him. He was never tired to speaking of his poor background because he had the privileged to taste both sides of life; the rich side and the poor side, I quote " I know the type of music that goes on in the stomach of a hungry man, it is very unpleasant". He also said " By the time I was born, my father was 58 and my mother was 41. People were saying that my mother was born of ill luck because her first husband died while the first child was expected, the second husband died too while the second child was in the womb. That was why for 10 and a half years, no man would even meet my mother until my father". His father also had a problem as none of his previous 21 children had lived and so he was ready to take a chance so that he could have a hier. " That was the chance my father took except that when I was born, I didn't die. Neither did he!" he said. He was kindness personified as he had the milk of human kindness and used his money to help many, most of them unknown to him. In his bid to eradicate poverty and suffering from the less privileged, he ventured into politics, which was the proximate cause of his death. After wining the presidential elections in June, 1993 the then military dictator annulled the elections which in turn led to political instability and incivility of the military rulers and others to come. Abiola continued to fight for his mandate and a year later, he was arrested and charged for treason because he declared himself president. He was detained for 4 years where he was ill treated without proper medical attention and later died just when he was about to be released. He died for political stability, fairness, equity, and justice and mainly for the return of democracy to my great county Nigeria. In all of these, one could vividly tell from his many sayings such as " I offer myself not as your leader but as your servant, I present myself not as one having all the solutions to the nations problems but as someone who believes that the search for an ending solution must begin with the building of a genuine national consensus." That he was of utmost humility and had sincere willingness to serve his people, both rich and poor. Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola's demise was a death of a colossus, a death of a genius, a death of my true hero. I owe nothing less than hard work and perseverance to this great man who had little but achieved many, whose life was indeed a blessing to many, if not all. |
