Afric-tv24 - Zamfara...
Afric TV24 - Update
Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, on Monday refuted an allegation that leaders of the National Democratic Coalition collected money from the military regime to betray the late Chief M.K.O Abiola.
Senator Anthony Adefuye had alleged in an interview published in Sunday Afric-tv24 that the NADECO leaders were compromised to dump the demand for the release of Abiola.
Afric TV24 - Update
Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, on Monday refuted an allegation that leaders of the National Democratic Coalition collected money from the military regime to betray the late Chief M.K.O Abiola.
Senator Anthony Adefuye had alleged in an interview published in Sunday Afric-tv24 that the NADECO leaders were compromised to dump the demand for the release of Abiola.
He said the NADECO leaders were compromised by the military regime of the then Head of State, Gen. Abdusalam Abubakar, and were subsequently calling for a fresh election at the expense of the demand for the release of Abiola.
Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, was detained by Abubakar’s predecessor, the late Gen. Sani Abacha.
But in a statement by its Secretary-General, Chief Seinde Arogbofa, Afenifere stated that Adefuye’s allegation “is a total falsification of facts and an attempt to be economical with the truth.”
Afenifere said it was not possible for NADECO to have betrayed Abiola, who was already dead when leaders of the pro-democracy group visited the Presidential Villa.
The group said what the NADECO leaders asked for after Abiola’s death was for the Abubakar regime to convene a Sovereign National Conference as a precondition for a transition to democratic governance.
The delegation to the Presidential Villa was led by the then deputy leader, the late Chief Abraham Adesanya, who was also the then leader of Afenifere, according to the statement.
The pan-Yoruba group said Abubakar had invited its leaders, who were not the first group to be invited since he assumed office, but that it was Adesanya, who insisted that the meeting must encompass the NADECO leaders.
The statement read, “It was upon Senator Adesanya’s threat to abandon the appointment and return to Lagos that prompted the military junta to withdraw this condition.
“NADECO leaders, led by their Deputy Leader and the then Leader of Afenifere, late Senator Abraham Adesanya responded to Abdulsalami’s invitation.”
