Abdulmumuni Abiola, one of the sons of the late Nigerian billionaire and philanthropist, Moshood Abiola, has disclosed that his late father willed £650,000 to his first four wives.
He made the claim in a programme titled ‘Mic On Podcast’ hosted by Channels TV presenter, Seun Okinbaloye.
The video of the programme was released on Saturday.
A look at a copy of the late politician’s will which was displayed showed that Abiola’s first wife, Simbiat, got £300,000; the second wife, Kudirat, £150,000; the third wife, Moriamo, £100,000; and the fourth, Idiat, £100,000.
Abdulmumuni, son of Kudirat Abiola, accused his older brother, Kola, for allegedly refusing to give him and his sisters their rightful inheritance from their father.
He noted that the family had done a series of blood tests to know the legitimate children of the late business mogul entitled to his will.
When asked why some of Abiola’s children suffer despite the humongous wealth left behind by the deceased, Abdulmumuni said, “Let me give you some background on that. We did blood tests so we had a list of qualifying children. If you look at the will and you see how systematic it is, he names the wives and he apportions the money to them. I would like to give you some information on that. My mum was number two (Kudirat Olayinka Abiola). I think she was apportioned £150,000.
“At the time, Kola had sighted the fact that my mum died before my dad died, and because of that, British law would not allow him to release the £150,000 to us. He also said that his mum too is dead and he didn’t get the £300,000 for his mother. But you are the one sharing the money, so it’s odd…If he wanted to, he could have given us the money.”
Abdulmumuni recalled that he alongside his mother’s children was struggling to make ends meet after the loss of their parents, saying, “It would have been useful to us to have that funds.
“Not to mention my mum’s apartment in the UK, before we knew anything, Kola had sold it without telling my brothers or my sister anything about it. So you can see that they were systematic to try to impoverish my mum’s side of the family. And for that reason, I don’t think I will be able to forgive him (Kola).”
— Struggles in UK —
Abdulmumuni recalled that while he was eight years old, he and his siblings struggled to survive in the United Kingdom.
While one of his sisters made braids for the locals, another travelled across some American universities to make speeches.
He noted that his brother’s (Kola) actions — from his mother’s UK apartment sale without delivering the proceeds, to withholding her monetary share of the will, were “smacks of a deliberate attempt to put somebody down,” adding that other wives of the late Abiola were paid their dues while Kola targeted only his mother’s side.
“The last part of the will that applied to me and my existence has not been addressed. We couldn’t afford to buy proper shoes for school so my sister had to take me to Payless. I didn’t understand that and then I’m finding out that we had an apartment in the UK that we could have rented and could have been bringing money for both.
“I’m telling you that my sister (Kafilah) used to do braids so we could pay for food. Hafsah was making speeches at universities at, like 20, had to fly across America, just to make $100, $200,” he lamented.
Their father, Abiola, was a successful Nigerian businessman known for his polygamous lifestyle.
Abiola won the 1993 presidential election, which was annulled by the military dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (retd.).
He later declared himself the president based on the result of the election. He was later detained.
He died in detention in 1998.
In honour of the late billionaire, former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018, moved Nigeria’s Democracy Day from May 29 to June 12 and honoured him posthumously with the highest national honour, Grand Commander of the Federal Republic.
