Today, we do not mourn. We remember.
We do not lament. We rekindle.
For on this day, a dreamer was born,
Whose life became a covenant,
Whose hope became our national anthem.
O, Chief of the people,
Prophet of hope,
Your name echoes in the spaces between our democracy’s promise and its practice.
You, who spoke not just in political verse,
But in the concrete grammar of welfare:
Food for the hungry, hope for the hopeless, a future for the forgotten.
Your wealth was not a fortress, but a fountain—
Flowing freely to quench the thirst of the needy,
A testament that true greatness is measured not in riches kept,
But in lives touched, potentials unlocked, communities uplifted.
Then came the mandate, the fairest our soil has ever known,
A victory woven from every tribe, every tongue, a rare national tapestry.
You were not just a winner; you were a mirror,
Reflecting back to us the unified Nigeria we could be,
The prosperous nation we dared to imagine.
But the dream was deferred.
Not by the people’s will, but by the shackles of tyranny.
You chose the dungeon over denial,
The stark solitude of a cell over the betrayal of your sacred mandate.
You traded your freedom for our own,
Sealing our liberty with your ultimate sacrifice.
We never expected less, not in whose veins the blood of Lisabi Agbongbo Akala flowed.
And so, on this your day, we ask:
What is the value of a dream deferred?
Does it shrivel like a raisin in the sun?
No. Never
It has became a most viable seed.
Planted deep in the fertile soil of our collective memory,
Watered by the tears of a grateful nation,
Now bursting forth, under your protege President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Akanbi ọmọ olodo ọdẹ, demanding harvest.
The TGF, champion of the welfare democracy you preached,
Picks up the standard you were forced to lay down.
We are the willing and capable harvest of your dream.
In our advocacy for justice, your voice speaks.
In our demand for accountability, your resolve hardens.
In our pursuit of a nation where no one is left behind, your hope lives.
Happy posthumous birthday, Chief MKO Abiola.
The dream is not dead.
It is our mandate.
It is our mission.
It is the Nigeria we will build.
Rest in Power.
Ademola Rabiu CEng
Director of Strategic Engagements and Partnerships
