For comparing Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State with late MKO Abiola, Tudun Abiola, popular Arise TV Presenter, has taken a swipe at her sister, Hafsat Abiola-Costello asking her not to throw their father under the Bus for her new employer
After Abiola-Costello was appointed Director-General of Bello’s presidential campaign she had started the image laundering for her principal when she rated Bello’s Hope23 campaign slogan to be of same weight with Hope’93 slogan of Abiola, acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
As she made effort to explain why she accepted to head Bello’s campaign when she appeared on Arise TV on Sunday she had indicated that Bello’s characters align with those of her father.
She had said that the late MKO believed in a United Nigeria, just like Bello, noting that he also treated everyone around him with respect regardless of their social standing.
“These are the same qualities I have seen in Governor Bello. He dared to contest, not minding that he was from a minority tribe in Kogi and won, and he has come out again. My father did the same, when it was believed that a Yoruba man could not be President,” she said on Sunday.
However, Tudun would not take the comment of her half-sister lying low as she asked that late father be left out of the issue as she goes about selling the manifestos of Bello.
Tundun, a lawyer and TV Presenter, is the daughter of Mrs Bisi Abiola, MKO Abiola’s third wife, while Hafsat is the daughter of Abiola’s second wife, Kudirat, who was murdered during the June 12 struggle.
Apparently piqued by her comments Tundun, also on Arise TV programme told her co-presenter, Reuben Abati that she was taken aback by the interview of her half-sister on Sunday.
In her words, “I have come to expect certain things from that individual, but just because it is not surprising, does not mean it was not staggeringly inappropriate.
“I am referring to my half-sister, Hafsat, who is the DG of Yahaya Bello’s campaign, and her comparison to my dad. There were a lot of political players in his team, and not one of them decided to throw their father under the bus for the sake of their principal.
“Come out and talk about your principal, his antecedents and stands for the future of Nigeria and leave daddy out of this. It is not her right, because it is not her name. It is our name. It is the name of future Abiolas yet unborn who should be proud of the legacy. My father was tortured because according to the United Nations, it sees solitary confinement as torture. He was tortured and then, he was murdered and has left his legacy only for it to be abused in this fashion.
“And I did say that I was quite consistent. We had another gentleman on the show talking about another person he was campaigning for, and using my dad to score points and I was apoplectic. Everybody should just leave his name out of this. It is especially disgusting, the false equivalence, the cynical expatiation of a genuine struggle.”