To millions of Nigerians, business mogul and politician, Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, remains a hero of democracy. However, his influence extended far beyond politics and business, leaving a lasting impact on sports, particularly football.
Speaking to the Peoples Gazette ahead of the June 12 Democracy Day, recognising the legacy of Mr Abiola in the pursuit of democracy and his failed bid to become Nigeria’s president, sports analyst Jeremiah Omoniyi described him as the Roman Abramovich of Nigerian football.
During his lifetime, Mr Abiola was well known for his passion for football, which led him to establish the now-defunct Abiola Babes Football Club, based in his home state of Ogun State at the time. He also owned Concord F.C., which served as the developmental team for Abiola Babes and IITC.
Abiola Babes went on to become the vessel that brought Ogun state to the limelight after the club won the Nigeria 2nd Division Championship three years after its founding in 1983.
Two years later, the club clinched another piece of silverware by winning the Nigerian FA Cup, and they lifted it again in 1987, which guaranteed them a place in the African Cup Winners’ Cup on both occasions. The competition has since been rebranded as the CAF Confederation Cup.
Abiola Babes were eliminated in the group stage on their first appearance at the African Cup Winners’ Cup in 1986. The club made a great leap in their return to the competition the following year, reaching the semifinals.
No other Ogun state-based club managed to secure a continental ticket until Remo Stars broke the curse in 2022 after 35 years, qualifying for the CAF Champions League, but still failed to scale the preliminary round.
“For me, if I am to talk about the contribution of MKO Abiola to sports in Nigeria, I would regard him as the father of private ownership. Although we have the story of Nwanyanwu and a lot of private club owners. MKO Abiola didn’t treat sports as a business. He treated sports as culture, an art and a way of life.
“He was immersed in it. He was breathing sports. I could say that after Lekan Salami in the South West, another person who really reflected the culture of sports was MKO. I can call him the Roman Abrahimovich of Nigerian football,” Mr Omoniyi stated.
Amid his fight against the decision of then military president Ibrahim Babagida to annul the 1993 presidential election, which many believed he won, Mr Abiola was arrested by the regime in 1994.
He remained in detention, where he died in July 1998 despite international calls for his release.
In a bold statement, Mr Omoniyi suggested that Nigeria would have gone as far as winning the World Cup when the Super Eagles debuted in 1994 if Mr Abiola had succeeded in becoming president, citing his strong interest in football.
He stated, “If he had become the president of Nigeria, maybe Nigeria would have won the World Cup or most likely, we would have done really well at the 1994 World Cup.
“His life was football. He loved football. Anything about MKO can be defined in two things: humanity and sports. He gave a lot of money that he can never recoup because of sports.”
Apart from owning football clubs, the politician also served on various sports committees, including as a member of the International Amateur Boxing Association’s World Business Commission and as chairman of the committee that raised funds for Team Nigeria for the 1994 Los Angeles Olympics.
He was also the chairman of the Presidential Monitoring Committee for Nigeria’s 1999 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Sports data analyst Olamide Abe also agreed with the majority of Mr Omotuyi’s positions, reiterating that Mr Abiola’s contribution to football in Nigeria, especially in Ogun, was immense.
“For me, MKO Abiola changed the way many people looked at club football in Nigeria. He was not just a businessman who owned a football club. He genuinely invested in the game and was willing to spend money to bring some of the country’s best players to Abeokuta through Abiola Babes,” Mr Abe mentioned. “For a city like Abeokuta, having those kinds of names playing regularly was a big deal, and it helped put the city firmly on Nigeria’s football map. I think one of Abiola’s biggest contributions was showing what private investment could do for Nigerian football. Long before it became fashionable to talk about privately owned clubs, he was already demonstrating that a club could attract top talent, compete at a high level and build a strong fan base with the right support.”
Mr Abiola did not focus only on football. He also sponsored other sporting events, including the Asekun National Swimming Competition and the then-AAA Junior Athletics Championships.
Sports journalist Saheed Afolabi stressed the importance of the annual commemoration of Mr Abiola, stating, “MKO’s support to sports extended to other areas like boxing, athletics, basketball.”
“The role of Abiola can’t be written off in Nigerian sports, but a memorable event should be held every year in his name due to his unmatched financial support and aid to the Nigerian sports industry,” Mr Afolabi added.
Mr Abiola’s contribution to football in Nigeria has been immortalised across various levels of government, including the naming of the National Stadium in Abuja (now Moshood Abiola National Stadium) after him, as well as the recently constructed MKO Abiola Stadium in Ogun.
