Abiola Family has been asked to officially file for alleged ₦45 billion contract debt owed their late father by Nigeria.
NewsOnline Nigeriareports that the Presidency has reportedly urged the family of late Moshood Abiola to file a claim regarding the demand for details of the reported ₦45 billion debt owed it by the Federal Government.
MKO Abiola’s family demand comes after former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, recently appealed to President Bola Tinubu to compensate the family as a gesture of national healing and justice.
Lamido had revived a dispute over money allegedly owed to the late Abiola, insisting the Federal Government pay the business mogul’s heirs about ₦45 billion.
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Speaking in Abuja at the May 2025 launch of his memoir, ‘Being True to Myself’, Lamido told guests that Abiola’s company, International Telephone & Telegraph, completed major communications contracts for the military government in the 1970s but was never fully paid.
In response to the demand, a senior official in the Presidency, who spoke to Punch on condition of anonymity, said the family could file claims if it had enough evidence.
The Presidency stated that Lamido had no business speaking on behalf of the family.
The source said, “The children of MKO Abiola are still very much alive. The first son is alive. So, if there is any money the government is owing Abiola, let them file a claim. It is not for Sule Lamido to be saying this.
“Obasanjo was president for eight years. Why didn’t he pay it? President Buhari was there for eight years, why didn’t he pay? So, I don’t think it is Sule Lamido’s business at all.”
Meanwhile, a family member, Hafsat Abiola, on Friday commended the Federal Government for conferring the CFR on her mother, the late Kudirat Abiola.
She said, “There are no words to adequately express the depth of gratitude I feel at President Tinubu’s posthumous conferment of the merit of CFR on my mum, Kudirat Abiola.
“She was guided both by love and a sense of duty to defend her husband’s mandate, and to work with many across the country for the restoration of democracy. Yet, I have no doubt that she would have been overwhelmed with joy to be so honoured.”