Ahead of the 2023 general election, trouble is brewing in the family of late Moshood Abiola. This follows a seeming ideological face-off between Tundun Abiola and her half-sister, Hafsat.
Reacting to Hafsat using their late father’s name to promote the presidential bid of Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi, Tundun described the move as inappropriate.
Recall that Governor Bello had recently declared his intention to run for president in 2023 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and also announced the appointment of Hafsat Abiola-Costello, one of the daughters of Late Abiola, as the director of his presidential campaign organization.
Bello also used ‘Hope 2023’ as his presidential campaign slogan just as Abiola did in his 1993 presidential election campaign.
Speaking during an interview on ARISE TV on Sunday, March 3, Hafsat said she accepted the appointment because Bello shares some qualities with her late father.
However, while reacting to the development on Monday, April 4, Tundun who is a co-anchoring of the Morning Show, a program on ARISE TV, said her sister does not have the right to “exploit” their father’s name for Bello’s benefit.
In her words:
“I have come to expect certain things even from that individual. Just because it is not surprising doesn’t mean that it is not staggeringly inappropriate.
“I’m referring to my half-sister, Hafsat, who is the DG of the Yahaya Bello campaign and her making comparisons to my dad. There are a lot of political players in his team; not one of them feels the need to throw their fathers under the bus for the sake of their principal.
“Come out and talk about your principal, his antecedents, his plans for the future of Nigeria and leave daddy out of it.
“It is not her right because it is not her name. It is our name and it is also a name of future generations of Abiola yet unborn who should be proud of a legacy.
“My father was tortured because UN does consider solitary confinement as torture. He was tortured then murdered and has left his legacy — only for it to be abused in this fashion.
“Everybody should just leave his name out of it, especially dishonesty, false equivalence, and cynical exploitation of a genuine struggle. It is nauseating.”
