1. Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola was born on August 27, 1937 in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Abiola has been described as one of the greatest statesmen Nigeria has been blessed with.
2. He was a business mogul and started doing business at the tender age of nine. He started his first business selling firewood which he did to support his old father and siblings.
3. MKO attended Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta, Ogun State, same as former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
4. MKO was the editor of the school magazine The Trumpeter, while Olusegun Obasanjo was the deputy editor.
5. He was his father’s 23rd child and the first of his father’s children to survive infancy, hence the name ‘Kashimawo’ (Let us wait and see).
6. He married 4 wives including Simibiat Atinuke Shoaga in 1960, Kudirat Olayinka Adeyemi in 1973, Adebisi Olawunmi Oshin in 1974 and Doyinsola Abiola Abosba 1981.
7. He also fathered 40 children from these four marriages
8. He was involved in politics in the early stage of his and joined a political party, the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) at age 19.
9. He was a publisher and chairman of Concord Press of Nigeria Limited. He also served as Chief Executive at Radio Communications Nigeria.
10. From 1972 until his death Moshood Abiola had been conferred with 197 traditional titles by 68 different communities in Nigeria.
11. Abiola constructed 63 secondary schools, 121 mosques and churches, 41 libraries, 21 water projects in 24 states of Nigeria, and was grand patron to 149 societies or associations in Nigeria
12. As a business person, he had investments in 102 countries. As a philanthropist, he donated, in 1991, N120 million to all higher institutions in the country among other organizations.
12. He was detained for four years, largely in solitary confinement allegedly with a Bible, Quran, and fourteen guards as companions. During that time, Pope John Paul II, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and human rights activists from all over the world lobbied the Nigerian government for his release. The sole condition attached to the release of Chief Abiola was that he renounce his mandate, something that he refused to do, although the military government offered to compensate him and refund his extensive election expenses.
13. Abiola died shortly after the death of General Sani Abacha, on the day that he was due to be released, precisely on July 7, 1998.
Olakunle Isaac 
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