Africa's promise : Chief M.K.O. Abiola and reparations for slavery and colonialism, 1990-1993
Résumé
This article examines the African dimension of the global movement for reparations and gives particular attention to the engagement of Chief M.K.O. Abiola (1937-1998). A successful Nigerian businessman, and a neglected African figure of Pan Africanism in the late 20th century, Abiola defended the idea that reparations for slavery and colonialism were due to Africa and its Diaspora. In his talks in the United States between 1987 and 1990, he theorized a relation of causality between Atlantic slavery and the social and economic condition of the continent and called for solidarity between African Americans and Africans. Furthermore, Chief Abiola contributed to institutionalize reparations and to place them on the international diplomatic agenda through the organization and funding of two major high-level conferences on reparations, in Lagos in 1990 and in Abuja in 1993. He also chaired the Group of Eminent Persons (GEP) founded by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1992. Chief Abiola won the June 1993 presidential elections in Nigeria, which were cancelled, and was jailed following the coup d'état by General Sani Abacha, until his death in 1998. Africa's promise, namely the political commitment to work with the Diaspora towards reparations, was broken. This article is based on archival and printed sources and sheds light on the political and ideological issues at stake in reparations within the changing context of the early 1990s.