Johann P. Fritz, Director of the International Press Institute (IPI), demanded an immediate and objective examination by an international team of doctors into the circumstances and causes of death of Chief Moshood Abiola.
This would be the only way to remove completely any doubts and speculation with regard to his death, Fritz said in Vienna. The fact that Chief Abiola apparently died of a heart attack while meeting with a delegations of U.S. officials is, according to IPI, insufficient evidence that he died of natural causes.
The Nigerian government must carry part of the blame for Abiola’s death, since the opposition leader remained in solitary confinement – after years of detention in harsh conditions – despite the fact that the government had promised U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan that he would be released.
Moshood Abiola was, in his capacity as a newspaper publisher, a member of the IPI Executive Board.