‘Bad Belle’ prevented Abiola from becoming President – Obasanjo

 

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said “bad belle” which in local parlance means envy, prevented Chief MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, from becoming president.

 The former President said this on Wednesday, January 18, while speaking at a lecture titled “Eyin Ni Iwe Wa: You Are Our Epistle,” which was delivered as part of the centenary celebrations of the Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta, Ogun State. He noted that the school has produced prominent Nigerians and that the school would have had MKO Abiola as another former president if ''bad belle'' people did not work against him.

 “Today, there are distinguished old boys in all walks of life, i.e., private sector, academia, military and paramilitary, civil society, traditional rulership, etc. Such is the present president of Old Boys Association of BBHS, Prof. Kayode Oyesiku.

I believe that I must not be too forgetful to leave out yours truly, the son of Obasanjo, a modest war-victorious general and former military head of state and former president of Nigeria. Chief M.K.O. Abiola, the first communication industry millionaire in Nigeria and the acclaimed winner of the 1993 Presidential election who was in a class by himself.

If not for Nigerian bad belle, MKO Abiola would have been president and with me as president, we would have needed one more old student of BBHS to be president for us to permanently locate it in BBHS after three times. And that is a challenge for up-and-coming generations of old boys,” Obasanjo said