Flamboyant in life, flamboyant in death, Chief Abiola was mourned with the pageantry befitting a millionaire Nigerian oga (Big Man).
Among the surging crowd at his Lagos villa yesterday were his two "official" wives, an unknown number of concubines and countless weeping offspring; all manner of grieving relatives, dependants, hangers-on; and hundreds of students who circled the compound chanting songs and waving posters of the late M.K.O. Abiola's smiling face.
As courtiers at the rear of the compound prepared the carcass of a great bull for the funeral feast, servant women sliced up piles of offal and tripe. A Lagos State University student leader, clad in black and wearing a black scarf on his head, launched into a speech to the accompaniment of cheers from his fellows.
"Chief M.K.O. is an enigma and an enigma never dies," he shouted. "Chief M.K.O. is not dead, he will never die. Abiola is a hero, a martyr. Our hope has died, we're not mourning Abiola, we're mourning Nigeria." Visitors arriving at the house passed a grave, freshly dug in the lawn beside the tomb of Abiola's first wife, Simbiat (his second wife, Kudirat, gunned down by assassins two years ago, is buried at the back of the property).
Relatives and family friends were escorted by solemn young men into a ground-floor reception room where Mrs Adebisi Abiola (senior wife) and Dr Doyin Abiola (junior wife) sat side by side on a long couch. Respects paid and condolences offered, the mourners sat down to wait or retired to the bustling courtyard.
"How many wives are there," I inquired of Felix, a local newspaper reporter.
"That's not easy to say," he replied. "According to Muslim law, he was only entitled to four wives. But there were a lot of unofficial wives and concubines. It's now got to the stage where there are disputes between them. Just now I saw one I'd never seen before. I could tell she was a wife because of the children, they were the image of M.K.O. Another wife tried to chase her away but she fought back." "And his children?"
"That's more difficult", said Felix as a new group of mourners pressed forward. "But certainly not less than two dozen and possibly a lot more." Inside the house, mourners were continuing to prostrate themselves in front of the two wives. Adebisi was draped in a flowing black gown but Doyen had permitted herself a patterned dress with a yellow shawl and gold sandals. Dupe, a younger, "unofficial" wife was nowhere to be seen. Felix said she was keeping a low profile after an earlier spat with Adebisi.
The vast, carpeted chambers seem haunted by the ghost of the deceased tycoon politician, a shrine to Bashorun (Lord) Abiola: huge photographic portraits hang on every wall, tables groan under the weight of silver trophies and there are dozens of plaques honouring his prowess in business, sport and public life.
Its gaudily lavish furnishings - the gilded chairs, the sagging drapes, the indoor fountain and the semi-circular cocktail bar - declare this to be the house of a man who rose from poverty to become one of Nigeria's richest men.
Even in death M.K.O. continues to exert an influence and to command a fanatical following in the south-west.
Yesterday evening, Lagos still waited anxiously to know the results of a post-mortem examination of his body and to hear whether his remains had been laid to rest.
Did Abiola die of a heart attack, as reported, or could he have been poisoned by his jailers? The outcome of the autopsy will determine whether Nigeria embarks on the road to peace or lunges into the chaos of ethnic and political strife.