Abdulmumuni Abiola, a son of the late Nigerian billionaire Moshood Abiola, has accused his older brother Kola of withholding his and his siblings’ rightful inheritance.
In a recent interview on Channels TV’s Mic On Podcast, presenter Seun Okinbaloye spoke with Abdulmumuni, who revealed that their father had willed £650,000 to his first four wives, including his mother, Kudirat. However, Kola allegedly denied Abdulmumuni and his siblings access to their mother’s portion of the inheritance, citing British law.
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 expressed frustration and anger over Kola’s actions, claiming that he and his siblings faced significant financial hardship after their parents’ deaths. He accused Kola of deliberately trying to impoverish his mother’s side of the family.
Despite their father’s immense wealth, Abdulmumuni and his siblings struggled to survive in the United Kingdom when he was just eight years old.
One of his sisters made braids for the locals, while another traveled to various American universities to give speeches. He criticized Kola for selling their mother’s apartment in the UK without informing them and for withholding their inheritance.
He said: “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).
“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.
Moshood Abiola was a prominent Nigerian businessman known for his polygamous lifestyle. He won the 1993 presidential election, which was annulled by military dictator Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. Abiola later declared himself president based on the election results and was subsequently detained, dying in custody in 1998.
In recognition of his contributions, former President Muhammadu Buhari moved Nigeria’s Democracy Day from May 29 to June 12 in 2018 and posthumously awarded Abiola the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic, the nation’s highest honor.
