The newsletter reports that, on October 30, the New York City Council voted 43-1 to name the street corner in front of the Nigerian Consulate after democracy leader Kudirat Abiola. The street sign initiative, sponsored by The Africa Fund and the community-based United Committee To Save Nigeria, was fiercely opposed by the regime and its apologists, which for months packed public meetings, offered city officials free junkets to Nigeria and finally hired lawyers in an effort to defeat the measure. Kudirat Abiola, wife of imprisoned President-elect Moshood Abiola, was shot dead in 1996 on a Lagos street in what is widely assumed was a political assassination. In multiple hearings, key U.S. and...
The newsletter reports that, on October 30, the New York City Council voted 43-1 to name the street corner in front of the Nigerian Consulate after democracy leader Kudirat Abiola. The street sign initiative, sponsored by The Africa Fund and the community-based United Committee To Save Nigeria, was fiercely opposed by the regime and its apologists, which for months packed public meetings, offered city officials free junkets to Nigeria and finally hired lawyers in an effort to defeat the measure. Kudirat Abiola, wife of imprisoned President-elect Moshood Abiola, was shot dead in 1996 on a Lagos street in what is widely assumed was a political assassination. In multiple hearings, key U.S. and Nigerian political and pro-democracy leaders, including former New York City Mayor David Dinkins, Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, and Nigerian independence movement leader Chief Anthony Enahoro, addressed the regime's brutality and repression and educated civic leaders and the public about how they can help. The newsletter includes the testimony of Former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Walter Carrington on October 27, 1997. The unexplained death last week in prison of Shehu Musa Yar' Adua, one of Nigeria's most important pro-democracy leaders, is a harsh reminder that Nigerians risk and often lose their lives in the struggle for freedom. Yar' Adua's death raises urgent questions about the health and safety of the thousands of other political prisoners and underscores the urgency of effective U.S. action for the restoration of human rights and democracy. Washington's official silence on Yar' Adua's death, however, suggests that only an aroused public opinion will change U.S. policy. The newsletter includes a photograph with Chief Anthony Enahoro; Michael Fleshman; Ambassador Carrington; Africa Fund Executive Director Jennifer Davis; and Peter Vallone, Speaker of the City Council of New York. The newsletter mentions John Shattuck, the State Department, human rights, elections, a secret trial, sanctions, and General Sani Abacha. The newsletter reprints a newspaper article "Dissident Dies in Nigerian Jail; Cause of Death Remains Unclear."
