Allegation of Bribe against Yoruba Leaders: Ayo Opadokun threatens Al-Mustapha with legal action if…

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Leader of defunct NADECO, Chief Ayo Opadokun.

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Former Leader of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), Chief Ayo Opadokun, has given the former Chief Security Adviser (CSO) to late Head of State, General Sani Abacha seven days to recant his comment that he and other Yoruba leaders took bribe from those who killed Chief MKO Abiola in Aso Rock or face libel suit.

He also asked Al-Mustapha to produce the tape he said he had to prove that he and others collected money.

The DEFENDER had reported Al-Mustapha telling newsmen in Kaduna how some Yoruba leaders took bribe to conceal the killers of acclaimed winner of June 12, 1993 presidential elections, late Alhaji Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola.  This media organization, however, did not mention who the particular Yoruba leaders were.

In a media chat on Wednesday in Lagos, Opadokun, miffed that Al-Mustapha mentioned him as among those that took the bribe from Abiola’s killers when he visited Aso Rock after Abacha had been killed, insisted that the former presidential CSO was a pathological liar and debunked the allegation.

Opadokun said he owed it a duty to set the records straight against the attempt by Al-Mustapha to malign the character of notable and patriotic leaders of NADECO, some of whom were now late.

He also produced copies of newspapers reportage of Al-Mustapha allegation and recant following his (Ayo Opadokun’s) reaction to the wild allegation in 2011.

According to Opadokun, by his allegations, Al-Mustapha was only trying to use credible Yoruba leaders to whitewash his battered and soiled image of which no detergent in the world could clean.

“I was incarcerated in Ikoyi prisons for 24 calendar months under late General Sani Abacha for my political views and leanings, only to be released by General Abdulsalami Abubakar after Abacha’s death.

“Upon my release, my leader and chairman of NADECO, late Pa Abraham Adesanya informed me that the new administration of Abdulsalami Abukakar was meeting with various groups across the country on the way forward and has requested a meeting with the leadership of NADECO, of which I was chosen to be a member of the team,” he explained.

The members of the NADECO team comprised notable Nigerians namely late Pa Abraham Adesanya, late chief Francis Okpozo, Arthur Nwankwo, Bola Ige and Ayo Opadokun.

According to him, the team met with the Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar and his Chief of General Staff and deputy, Commodore Mike Okhai Akhigbe with then Colonel Leo Ajiborisa, the Staff Officer to the Head of State, who took the minutes of the meeting.

At the meeting which held in the Villa eight days after the death of General Abacha, Opadokun stated that the team told the Head of State that the only way forward was for the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, to be released from detention and allowed to form a Government of National Unity (GNU) and thereafter convoke a Sovereign National Conference (SNC).

“After the conclusion of the meeting, we were driven straight from the Villa to the airport.”
Opadokun restated that at no time was he a member of a team of Yoruba leaders other than NADECO members who met and discussed on the way forward with the Abdulsalami Abubakar administration after the death of General Sani Abacha.

Opadokun said that he was particularly pained that Major Al-Mustapha (Rtd), who ought to be consigned to the dustbin of history because of the despicable role he played in holding the country hostage through unleashing violence on the citizenry, was now being given cheap popularity which his spurious allegation was meant to achieve in the media.

He accused Al-Mustapha of blackmail, lying and choreographing falsehood.

In response to a question on the mental state of Al-Mustapha following his resurrection of his old allegations of 2011, Opadokun stated that it was not out of place for Al-Mustapha to have been mentally affected by his self-induced long stay in prison while undergoing trial for the murder of late Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.


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