By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, revealed yesterday that the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, mobilised resources for the chieftains of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) while in exile.
The NADECO leaders fled the country during the junta of the late tyrant, General Sani Abacha.
Bamidele, who currently represents Ekiti Central in the National Assembly, disclosed this in a statement by his Media Office yesterday.
He explained that Alausa rejected offers to either the Commissioner for Education or the Commission for Health under the administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as Governor of Lagos State.
Bamidele also revealed Alausa’s interventions for pro-democracy advocates in Europe and the United States between 1993 and 1999 during the inauguration of the university’s governing council and principal officers on Tuesday in Abuja.
Giving accounts of Alausa’s interventions for pro-democracy advocates in exile recently, Bamidele revealed that when most of them fled their fatherland during the Abacha era, they sustained varying degrees of injury that required urgent medical treatment to save them from their health challenges.
He also revealed that the education minister, then undergoing residency in Internal Medicine at Royal Bolton Hospital and the University of Newcastle between 1995 and 1997, came to the rescue of most pro-democracy leaders in exile in Europe and the United States by providing health services for them free of charge.
The senate leader explained that this present honourable minister “was one of the few people we relied on for many years when most of us fled our fatherland due to threat to our lives and families under the reign of the late tyrant.
He said, “We were forced to go to different parts of Europe and the United States. Alausa was then a prosperous medical doctor in the United States.
“He provided hope for us. He provided resources for us. He provided much-needed medical care for us in exile. Some of the beneficiaries are alive. But some have gone home to be with God.
“Then, many of the pro-democracy leaders had to undergo knee surgery in their countries of political asylums.
“They had sustained injury while being hounded by the Abacha junta. They suffered teargas canisters fired at them when their meetings were disrupted. But in exile, Alausa mobilised medical professionals and resources to support everyone needing medical care.”
He added that when President Bola Tinubu emerged as the Governor of Lagos State in 1999, he wanted to appoint Alausa either as the Commissioner for Education or Commissioner for Health in recognition of his sacrifice and support for the chieftains of NADECO in exile.
However, according to Bamidele, Alausa declined the offer of appointment on the ground that he did not do it for any political appointment or any patronage but purely out of passion to guarantee the safety and welfare of the junta’s victims, who exercised their rights to push for democracy and freedom.
Also, the Senate leader revealed that the education minister was behind medical outreaches organised across all states of the South-west when democracy was eventually restored on May 29, 1999.
NADECO, a broad coalition of democrats across Nigeria, was established on May 15 1994, to protest the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election won by Chief M.K.O Abiola, end the decades of military dictatorship and restore democracy back to the federation.
Among prominent pro-democracy leaders that the rule of the late tyrant forced into exile include Nigeria’s pro-democracy activist, Chief Anthony Enahoro; Africa’s first Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka; President Bola Ahmed Tinubu; NADECO’s first Secretary General of the NADECO, Chief Ayo Opadokun and former Chief Whip, House of Representatives, Olawale Oshun.
