Leaders in Abeokuta were right to think that the great problem in June 1998 was the future of Abiola. He had been in prison since 1994, with deteriorating health, refusing to gain release by renouncing his claim to be the elected president. His supporters in NADECO and the south-west insisted that he must head any civilian government, although that remained anathema to many in the army and the North.

General Abdulsalami sought help from Africa's two leading diplomats, Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Emeka Anyaoku, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth. They visited Abiola in detention early in July. Anyaoku insisted afterwards that he had not pressed Abiola to abandon his mandate, but warned him it could have no legal or international credibility five years after his election. Annan appears to have offered release in return for abandoning the mandate, reporting that Abiola replied, ‘I cannot be naive enough to make assumptions that I am going to come out and be president’, which was denied by Abiola's supporters but seemed to offer Abdulsalami grounds to release him. Abiola's own notes claimed that he had bluntly refused a deal: ‘If IBB[abangida] and Abacha could not obtain my surrender after over 4 years, it is naive for anyone to suggest that one month old newcomer, using international diplomats can do it.’ Abdulsalami claimed that he had nevertheless intended to release Abiola on 9 July, but two days before that the prisoner died after drinking a cup of tea in the presence of two American diplomats.