One of the sons of the late Nigerian billionaire and philanthropist Moshood Abiola, Abdulmumuni Abiola, has revealed that his father allocated £650,000 to his first four wives in his will.
This information was shared during the ‘Mic On Podcast’ hosted by Seun Okinbaloye, a Channels TV presenter, with the video of the programme released on Saturday.
A glimpse of the late politician’s will, displayed during the podcast, showed that Abiola’s first wife, Simbiat, was bequeathed £300,000; the second wife, Kudirat, £150,000; the third, Moriamo, £100,000; and the fourth, Idiat, £100,000.
Abdulmumuni, son of Kudirat Abiola, criticized his older brother, Kola, accusing him of withholding their rightful inheritance from their father. He also mentioned that the family had conducted a series of blood tests to determine the legitimate children entitled to the late business mogul’s 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 recounted that when he was just eight years old, he and his siblings faced hardships while living in the United Kingdom.
He shared that one of his sisters earned money by braiding hair for locals, while another traveled to various American universities to deliver speeches.
He accused his brother, Kola, of intentionally undermining their family, citing actions such as selling their mother’s UK apartment without giving them the proceeds and withholding her share of the inheritance. Abdulmumuni remarked that while the other wives of the late Abiola received their rightful dues, Kola appeared to target only his mother’s side of the family.
“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 prominent Nigerian businessman, widely recognized for his polygamous lifestyle.
In 1993, Abiola won the presidential election, but the victory was annulled by military dictator Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (retired). Subsequently, Abiola declared himself president based on the election results and was later detained.
He passed away in detention in 1998.
In recognition of his contributions, former President Muhammadu Buhari, in 2018, shifted Nigeria’s Democracy Day from May 29 to June 12 and posthumously awarded Abiola the nation’s highest honor, the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic.