SANI ABACHA, Nigeria’s Most Enigmatic Ruler

INTRODUCTION

What if I tell you that General SANINEGERIA MOHAMMED ABACHA, Nigeria’s seventh military head of state and the most popular Kanuri person in the world was regarded as the most patient man on earth? My Mum, the Ogidi Abiyamo herself never forgets her airport encounter with him, she was thoroughly stupefied at his height. It was fifteen years ago. A man of diminutive stature (5ft, 6inches). A man of fire, iron and steel, the General lorded absolute power and unbridled authority over 120 million souls.

COLOURFUL: General Sani Abacha in full colours with a serene pose. Abacha was the first officer in the military to rise from the rank of a 2nd lieutenant to that of a General without skipping any rank

Not even Generals dare cross his path. Those who did, knelt and wept before him while he offered them tissue paper to wipe their salty tears. Not even a plea from the Pope could melt his heart. Mandela begged him to no avail. No one messed with Abacha. He was gentle. Listening. Cunning. Daring. Attentive. Dangerous. Brave. Brutal. When an American ambassador was irritating the late maximum tyrant, he almost paid with his life. But who was SANI ABACHA, Nigeria’s most enigmatic ruler, and the first head of state to die in office without violence (a man of many firsts as you will soon see)? Why and how he almost blew General Diya out of existence? Why his last son was shot in 2011? His links with America’s most secretive Christian group, Boko Haram and Imam Abubakar Shekau, its leader and Nigeria’s most wanted man? And many more…

 Abacha was the first officer in the military to rise from the rank of a 2nd lieutenant to that of a General without skipping any rank. With shiny black shoes, Abacha strides past troops at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja in 1996. Known for his beautiful handwriting, here is Abacha’s signature. General Sani Abacha being decorated by the former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. Abacha was already a General by the age of 40 and he became the Head of State before turning 50, one of the youngest in the history of the country. The Taciturn Kanuri General & Nigeria’s Most Enigmatic Ruler.

OGAGUN (General): With shiny black shoes, Abacha strides past troops at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja in 1996.

Known to many as an incorrigible kleptomaniac who will stop at nothing to succeed himself in power, Abiyamo invites you on a spellbinding journey into the rise, rise and fall of the dictator and lawn tennis lover whom IBB called the Khalifa. When IBB was leaving the ‘throne’, he retired all the service chiefs with the exception of this man: Sani Abacha (in 1989, IBB cut the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, AFRC from 28 to 19 members, Abacha was one of the survivors and IBB would later make him the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff the same year). Adjust your chair, stretch your legs and let’s learn more about the gripping story of a soldier of audacious strategies who proudly bore his Kanuri tribal marks beneath the darkest of goggles.

Known for his beautiful handwriting, here is Abacha’s signature.

General Sani Abacha being decorated by the former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. Abacha was already a General by the age of 40 and he became the Head of State before turning 50, one of the youngest in the history of the country.

The Taciturn Kanuri General & Nigeria’s Most Enigmatic Ruler.

Known to many as an incorrigible kleptomaniac who will stop at nothing to succeed himself in power, Abiyamo invites you on a spellbinding journey into the rise, rise and fall of the dictator and lawn tennis lover whom IBB called the Khalifa. When IBB was leaving the ‘throne’, he retired all the service chiefs with the exception of this man: Sani Abacha (in 1989, IBB cut the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, AFRC from 28 to 19 members, Abacha was one of the survivors and IBB would later make him the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff the same year). Adjust your chair, stretch your legs and let’s learn more about the gripping story of a soldier of audacious strategies who proudly bore his Kanuri tribal marks beneath the darkest of goggles.

The service chiefs of the Ibrahim Babangida administration.

From left;- Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Murtala Nyako, Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Sani Abacha, Chief of Air Staff, AVM Ibrahim Alfa and the Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Aliu Atta.

Source_ Newswatch, August 13, 1990. IBB regularly purged his council replacing the military brass with the rare exception of people like Abacha and Nyako who were retained through IBB’s tenure. (Courtesy: Uche Nwokoye).

THE MILITARY BOYS: Stepping out of a Nigerian Air Force Puma helicopter, IBB, Abacha and other senior armed forces officers arrive to oversee Exercise Fast Strike. (COURTESY: Embassy of Nigeria, Washington DC, USA)

The General giving a brisk salute. At this stage, suffering from liver cirrhosis resulting from chronic alcoholism and using lipstick to mask thinning and cracked lips, former President of Mali, Alpha Oumar Konare begged Abacha to step aside and take good care of his health.

A much younger Sani Abacha beaming with smiles.

Unlike other leaders who had ‘humble’ backgrounds, Abacha was not born into squalid poverty. As a matter of fact, his was a prosperous family with his father owning a successful trucking business in Kano State, while two of his brothers also later had their own businesses. The family which migrated to Kano in search of greener pastures, also had a bakery they named ‘Canteen Abacha’.

El Jefe (The Boss)

-A Kanuri man (Abacha is NOT Hausa or Fulani, that is quite important as some people tend to lump the entire north together as ‘Hausa-Fulani’ bloc, Hausa is not Fulani and vice versa), he was born in Borno State on a Monday, the 20th September, 1943, grew up in Kano and blended so well that he lies in the soil of the ancient city after he gave up the ghost on another Monday half a century later. His father was positioning him to take over the family’s bread baking business and he ensured he got a good education so as to stem the tide of illiteracy in the family although young Sani would be notorious for his truancy rather than astronomical academic wizardry. At about the same time, the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, was promoting a ‘northernization’ campaign which saw the influx of many eager and enthusiastic lads into the military and other institutions. One of them was a Kanuri boy. Sani. A much younger Sani Abacha beaming with smiles.

General Sani Abacha and his lovely wife, Maryam in their much younger days. He looks very nice with the shirt and tie while Mama Kowa is also looking radiant with the necklace and top.

-City Senior Primary School, Kano. -Kano Provincial Secondary School (finished in 1957). -Government College, Kano (1957-1962), now called Rumfa College. -Nigerian Military Training College (NMTC) (now called the Nigerian Defence Academy, NDA), Zaria, Kaduna State (1962-1963) Alongside Major General Rabiu Aliyu (an army engineer who refused to accept any political appointment throughout his career and Lt. General Oladipo Diya, Abacha was of the pioneer set of the NDA).   -Mons Defence Officers Cadet Training College, Aldershot, England.

He sure loved his hair full, thick and well-combed.

-General Sani Abacha also had further training: -School of Infantry, Warminster, UK (1966, 1971) -Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna State (1976) -National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos (1981) -Senior International Defence Management Course (SIDMC), US Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), Monterey, California (1982). IBB also attended NPS and finished in 1980. NPS is a fully accredited research university operated by the United States Navy. In a thesis written by Daniel A. Castro in the same institution in 2007, he accused the US of backing Abacha in a clandestine manner. He wrote:

 In addition to Al Qaeda, the U.S. also has to contend with the endemic hatred for U.S. foreign policy around the world. U.S.-backed repressive rulers such as the House of Saud in Saudi Arabia, Suharto in Indonesia, and General Sani Abacha in Nigeria, while discreetly making deals with their American patrons and often enriching themselves from oil revenues, have proven their piety to the masses by encouraging the state-controlled press to demonize America. 

With former US Secretary of State, National Security Advisor, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff and Commander of the US Army Forces Command, General Colin Luther Powell. Abacha (the Boss) meets the Powell (the SuperBoss) in 1991. In this picture, General Sani Abacha is being honoured with the Legion of Merit (LOM) (Commander Degree, which is equivalent to a US military chief of staff or higher position, but not to a head of state), America’s sixth highest military award. The US has been accused of being a major backer of the Abacha regime. In the 1980s, Abacha was in the United States for a course. Same with IBB. Both guys would later rain terror on millions of Nigerians, lending credence to the theory that both could have been nothing more than American agents, subservient to their American masters but putting up a show in the countries they rule. In the citation, Powell said: “…his (Abacha) personal efforts during a crisis in Liberia and direct support of the Economic Community Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) and Economic Community of West African States (ECPWAS) operations, ensured the humanitarian treatment of both civilian and military forces who bought the conflict to a rapid conclusion and established law and order during a period of total anarchy.” Later, Powell advised Abacha not to take over. I guess that advice went unheeded.

While in the Nigerian Army, Abacha held the following posts: -Commander, 2nd Division Training Depot -Commander, Support Wing -Chief Instructor, Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Jaji (1971-1975) -Commander, 2 Infantry Brigade, 1975-1978 -Commander, 9 Mechanized Division, 1981-1983 -General Officer Commanding (GOC), 2 Mechanized Division, 1984 -Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Nigerian Army, August 1985 – April 1990 -Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, December, 29, 1989 – September 2, 1990 -Chief of Defence, September 3, 1990 – November 1992 -Secretary of Defence, Chief of Defence Staff, 1992 – November 16, 1993

Playing chess with the future of Nigeria: Obasanjo, Danjuma and IBB. To Obasanjo’s left is Abacha standing.

While a student his academic exploits become murky as some reports indicate that the former Nigerian ruler did not graduate from high school before proceeding to NMTC. The intellectual height and the depth of Abacha’s sagacity is a subject of intense debate with colleagues like General Olusegun Obasanjo dismissing him a dull personality, an ‘expendable brute not expected to rise beyond the rank of a warrant officer.’ Some even cited his not attending Sandhurst Royal Military Academy as evidence of an intrinsic lack of intelligence. But Abacha had a way of stupefying his opponents and those who underestimated him. He eventually became the Commander-in-Chief of the world’s most populous black nation. That doesn’t sound like what a stupid dimwit can achieve.