#OneNGWeekly(episode 22): Life History Of Kudirat Abiola

Kudirat abiola

Kudiart abiola was born in1951, in the northern Nigerian city of Zaria, where she also had her early education. Testimonies of her times at Muslim Girls High School, IJEBU ODE, indicate the evolution of a powerful mind that married the qualities of hard work with the diligence of an achiever, becoming the Head Prefect in her final year.

At age 21, she married Chief Moshood Abiola in a union that produced seven children. Alhaja Kudirat Abiola was the second and senior wife of her husband partly in response to the circumstance of her own history; Kudirat adopted many social causes, and was to become a prime supporter of the educational programs of the ANSAR-UR-DEEN MOVEMENT IN NIGERIA. Kudirat was also a successful businesswoman, building a pharmaceutical company, amongst many other businesses, into a notable name in Nigeria.

Ordinarily tuned to private life, the military’s annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which her husband had won, brought Kudirat into the pro-democracy movement. The movement had its costs: in 1994, Moshood Abiola was incarcerated and kept in solitary confinement for claiming his presidential mandate. Despite the clear danger, Kudirat provided clear leadership in this period of general confusion. She stepped forward, convinced that the military’s actions amounted to a violation of the fundamental right of Nigerians to elect their government.

Her participation inspired new levels of activism in Nigeria’s pro-democracy movement. In the summer of 1994, Kudirat was actively involved in moving and sustaining the oil workers twelve-week strike against the military. The strike, which succeeded in isolating and weakening the government, was the longest in African history by oil workers. In December of 1995, when the pro-democracy groups decided to march for freedom in Lagos, Kudirat joined such esteemed nationalists as Chief Anthony Enahoro at the forefront of the march, braving the bullets of government forces sent to intimidate them.

She was assassinated in her car

Her Death

In May 1996, the month before kudirat abiola was mercilessly gunned down, she had a briefly detained for a few hours for allegedly possessing publications criticals of the Nigerian military government headed by General Sani Abacha

On Tuesday, 4th of June, 1996 around 3:05pm, her murder attack occurs. A sparkling white Mercedes Benz V-Book was cruising along the street of Lagos. As the car slowed down around 7-up Depot/Bus stop in ikeja, they were attacked by six men who suddenly opened fire with a german machine on Mrs Kudirat abiola and her driver. The trauma was too much for her, she lost consciousness and was rushed to the Eko hospital for urgent median attention, all efforts was made by the medical team to save her life but everything failed. She was 44, Her driver too did not survive the attack. Both were shot at close range

Source: 
http://celebratekudiratabiola.blogspot.com.ng/p/about-kudir…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudirat_Abiola…
http://www.informationng.com/…/10-things-you-probably-didnt…

http://naijarchives.com/the-brutal-assassination-of-kudira…/