SANI ABACHA, Nigeria’s Most Enigmatic Ruler Part2

Read SANI ABACHA, Nigeria’s Most Enigmatic Ruler part 1 HERE

CAREER & COUPS

Here is an overview of Abacha’s rise through the ranks in the Nigerian Army: -Commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant: 1963 -Lieutenant: 1966 -Captain: 1967 -Platoon and Battalion Commander, Training Department, Commander, 2nd Infantry Division, Major: 1969 -Lieutenant Colonel: 1972 -Commanding Officer, 2nd Infantry Brigade, Colonel: 1975 -Brigadier: 1980As a Major-General. -Major-General: 1984 -General Officer Commanding (GOC), 2nd Mechanized Division: 1984-85

As a Major-General.

With the rank of a Major General of the Nigerian Army. Abacha was the first Chief of Army Staff to spend five years on the post and he was also the first officer in the Nigerian Army to attain the rank of a full four-star General before becoming the Head of State.

-Chief of Army Staff: 1985 -Member, Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC): 1985 -Lieutenant-General:1987 -Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff: 1989 -Minister of Defence: 1990 -Secretary of Defence: 26th August, 1993-Head of State & Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces: 17th November 1993.

At a military ceremony in his honour. You can see the dutiful Al Mustapha by his side.

Abacha with Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. You can see Al-Mustapha at Abacha’s back, looking left.

General Sani Abacha in full military regalia at a press conference. He was the Chairman of the Provisional Ruling Council, Nigerian military leader and politician who lead Nigeria under military regime from 20 September 1993 – Abuja, 8 June 1998. Credits: Africa24 Media.

As the agbada-wearing Commander-in-Chief, Abacha inspects troops of the Nigerian Armed Forces. Like every other dictator, Abacha also had his own moments of paranoia. At a time, he became a virtual recluse, refusing to grant any interviews, appear in public or allow any publications about him and became nocturnal, working only at nights.

There is virtually no coup in Nigeria that Abacha did not have an input or involvement. He took active part in the bloody but successful countercoup (Operation Aure) of July 1966 organized by northern military officers and was also believed to be one of the participants the January 1966 coups with him taking part in either the Lagos or Abeokuta phases of the saga although the extent of his role is not too lucid. When Shagari with the skyscraper cap was shoved aside, Abacha was one of the masterminds. By the time Buhari was also ‘axed’ and ‘exed’, Abacha was one of the planners. He operated silently, stealthily and steadily until 1993, when he took over the reins of power himself in a dramatic and action-packed palace coup.

Full of glorious smiles and absolutely in control, General Sani Abacha is seen here at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja in 1996. Striding ahead of him is Diya, his deputy. Behind Abacha, you can see Abdulsalami and Al Mustapha. Only God knows what was making Abacha smile so much here, and he seems to be only one catching the fun. But whatever it was, it must surely have been quite amusing.

On the 17th of November, 1993, at around 10.am, three generals: Abacha, Oladipo Donaldson Diya and Aliyu Gusau stormed the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Nigeria’s most fortified complex. They were followed by army trucks full of heavily-armed soldiers. The soldiers were under the control of Brigadier Bashir Magashi of the Brigade of Guards and Colonel Lawan Gwadabe of the National Guard.

The three ‘guys’ then calmed but smartly strolled into the fortress with the swagger of an Alexander the Great and settled down for a ‘private meeting’ with Chief Ernest Shonekan who jejely agreed to vacate the position since it was very clear he was in no position to command any troops. Here was his own chief of defence staff telling him to surrender and a court just declared the interim government illegal. Shonekan bowed to their pressure and they treated him like a gentleman: he was allowed to give a farewell speech. After that, he was on the next flight to Lagos. Shonekan’s reign remains the shortest in Nigerian history: 84 days. Based on the narration of Ore Falomo, Abiola's physician and Abacha's friend this is what happened:

The initial coup that was orchestrated against Shonekan was planned for the Saturday before the Wednesday that he was finally overthrown. There was supposed to be no bloodshed. But why would Abacha organize a coup when he was already the defactor leaer in a military regime that had not handed over power? Sani Abacha had planned the coup but the plot was leaked to Shonekan. Shonekan was billed to have travelled to Abeokuta for the weekend until Monday and the plan was to have him arrested there. Some people like us, including MKO Abiola knew of the coup. The plan was for Abacha to take over and finally install Abiola.

Thus when the coup was leaked, we were all sad. Then Abacha took matters in his own hands and planned it his own way. He would strike on the Wednesday that they usually held the National Defence and Security Council (NDSC) meeting. At the meeting, Abacha just swaggered in with Gwadabe and Lt. General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, Chief of Army Staff. Abacha knew that General Mohammed was the one who leaked the plot to Shonekan but he didn't want to cause any uproar at that moment. Abacha faced Shonekan and told him pointblank to write his resignation. A fluttered Shonekan asked Abacha: 

'Why should I resign?'

Abacha, now on the verge of anger, fired back:

‘Who are you waiting for to obey my instruction? Here is the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Mohammed; here is Col. Gwadabe, here is Col. Aminu.’

The next thing that followed was like a scene out of a James Bond movie. Abacha pulled out his pistol and at that point, Isaac, Shonekan's secretary started typing the resignation letter of Shonekan with the speed of a Bugatti Veyron. In minutes, the letter was ready and Shonekan sharply signed without no further argument after which Abacha calmly told him that a car was already waiting for him outside and that he should take it to the airport and head for Lagos. A presidential jet was made available. Abacha himself later boarded the jet with General Mohammed and told him in a cold voice that if not for the friendship that existed between them, he would have blown out his brains for what he did. Thereafter, Abacha fired him as the COAS and replaced him with General Chris Alli, a supporter of MKO Abiola. Around this time, some insiders,including MKO still felt he was playing to the original script of handing over to Abiola.

-Once he took the reins of power on the 17th of November 1993, Abacha announced to the dazed nation that Shonekan had resigned and that he has graciously accepted his resignation and dutifully taken over so as to prevent the country from drifting further into collapse. He then let the whole nation realize he was in for serious business and his choice of words meant Nigerians were in big yawa, and not before long, the yawa kukuma gas. He had no illusions to being popular and was out to please no one. He made it abundantly clear that if you step on a scorpion’s tail, you will limp home.

General Sani Abacha with Lt. General Oladipupo Diya. You can see Major Al-Mustapha smiling to in the right corner. CREDITS: Nigerian Nostalgia Project.

-Abacha overthrew the fidihe (interim) government of Chief Ernest Shonekan in a palace coup that was received with mixed feelings. A section of the populace feared the dangerous trend of a new coup and this included the 67 federal senators who wrote a letter to Nigerians urging them not to accept another dictatorial regime. Some others, wanted to give General Sani the benefit of the doubt, hoping that he would just stabilize the political condition and hand over to MKO. Even Abiola himself believed this and was deceived by Abacha’s promise to just set up a ‘provisional’ ruling council and that he would not stay long in office. #Daaah! #Yinmu! MKO was too trusting and he was eventually stabbed in the back.

Beneath the dark goggles, he played his cards close to his heart, and no one could decipher what was on his mind.

In a book written by Chief Ebenezer Babatope, Abiola knew of and approved Abacha’s overthrow of Shonekan from the very beginning. Bashorun underestimated the man from Borno who would later pull the rug from under his feet and remove the wool from his eyes. Abiola ‘thinks that Abacha will not last up till a year and that his end will be ignonimous.’ But it was too late by the time MKO realized Abacha’s real game of power. Damn too late!

CREDITS: AFP/GETTY IMAGES.

Abiola made another disastrous move: members of his party, the SDP tocked’s Abacha’s first cabinet: Ebenezer Babatope (Osun), Lateef Jakande (Lagos), Abubakar Rimi, Jerry Gana, Iyorchia Ayu, Solomon Lar (Plateau), Silas Daniyan (Kogi), Mrs. Bola Osomo (Ondo), Tunji Adebayo (Kwara) and others. That step nailed Abiola’s political coffin.

-Abacha then proceeded to assume the title of the Nigerian Head of State, renamed IBB’s Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and formed the 27-member Provisional Ruling Council (PRC, the word ‘provisional’ was used to give an illusion of him staying temporarily in power but his actions would hint at a more sinister agenda). He immediately annulled the 1989 Constitution, which was supposed to be activated with the elected President. He thundered that there were no ‘sacred cows’ in his government and had no sleepless nights jailing a former head of state and his deputy.

In a traditional Northern Nigerian attire.

-He even did what was long considered unthinkable: he dethroned the 18th Sultan of Sokoto, Ibrahim Dasuki, Nigeria’s most influential monarch and the Spiritual Head of her millions of Muslims. Abacha did not stop there, he declared Dasuki’s son who was away on a course in the United States a conspirator and had ‘wanted’ posters plastered all over the Sultan’s palace and in April 1996, had him exiled. According to the deposed Emir of Gwandu, Abacha had Dasuki deposed for so many reasons, some boiling down to personal ‘beefs’ and of course, money. Today, Dasuki’s son, Sambo, ADC to former military president IBB, is the National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan battling a festering insurgency that has claimed over 3,000 lives.

General Sani Abacha with MKO at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa. Behind MKO, to the right, is Lt. General Diya with his unmistakable patch of white hair.

-When he locked up Abiola, prominent people intervened, Nelson Mandela pleaded for MKO’s release and even demanded that if he was not going to release Bashorun, that he should at least do him the personal favour of putting him under protective custody in his Lagos residence. But for where? Alagidi ni Oga Soja. That was Abacha, he no send anybody and na omo ma woju uche, ko ran Baba nla any baga…lol! Mandela would later describe the junta as an ‘illegitimate, barbaric, arrogant dictatorship.’

-He set up the Provisional Ruling Council (PRC) as the highest decision-making body, of which he was the Chairman. Then there was the Federal Executive Council (FEC) which functioned as the executive cabinet body. But it was quite clear power was concentrated in his hands. We will talk about his style of rule and leadership in a short while. Other members of the PRC included the Minister of Defence, the Chief of Defence Staff, the Service Chiefs of the Nigerian Armed Forces, top military officers, national security advisers and other ministers.

It was August 1997 at a summit in Abuja and it was very obvious Abacha was not feeling well. The late nights, stress, anxiety brought by constant fears of a coup or an assassination, rigours of work and cirrhosis of the liver clearly had effects on him as reflected in this picture. He was urged by the Malian President Alpha Oumar Konare to resign and take good care of himself. Abacha used lipstick to coat his cracked lips, his skin is obviously parched and he was not in the best of condition during the summit. In less than a year, he was dead.

This snapshot shows the Military Administrators (MILADs) of the various states under Abacha. Look for your state!

-Upon getting to power, Abacha dismantled all existing democratic institutions, from the Constitution to the National Assembly. He went ahead to replace the state governors with military administrators and placed a ban on all political activity. Then he embarked on an unprecedented wave of clamping down on the opposition and advocates of democracy. Some of his opponents and critics of his regime just woke up one day and discovered that the four walls of their cosy bedrooms had magically transformed into that of a jail.

His aides too towed his path with the Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie releasing a statement: “Any person, whether a politician or a retired military officer or a pro-democracy crusader who thinks he is in a position to install another government is advised in his own interest to tread with caution as security agencies are prepared to act decisively on such matters.” The irony of life, Abacha was a dictator but spared nothing to ensure that democratic regimes in Sierra Leone and Liberia (he saw to the Abuja Peace Accord of 1995, to which Charles Taylor was a signatory) had a strong foothold.

In the north, they say: Ranka ya dede!

-Under Abacha, the refineries were working to a degree but towards the end of his regime, the refineries kaputted and Nigeria had to import refined petroleum, and the external debt stood at a headache-inducing $30 billion and foreign reserves were about a third of that. As you are reading this, Nigeria will come to an embarrassing standstill if she does not import over 33 million liters of petroleum per DAY. As head of state, Abacha’s government was realizing an average of $10 billion per annum from oil revenues.The OECD estimates that Abacha, his family and cronies embarked on criminal thievery, stealing an average of $0.5-$1 billion per year during his regime.

-Even though Abacha was shunned by many world leaders in a bid to isolate him like Robert Mugabe, Abacha found a way to make bold statements on the international arena, even while he was holed up in his Aso Rock.

General Sani Abacha’s younger brother and carbon copy, Alhaji Abdulkadir.

Receiving the late Pope John Paul II who was in Nigeria on his second Papal Visit for the beatification of Nigerian monk, Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, on 22nd March, 1998. The Aguleri, Anambra-born Tansi was a Cistercian Monk at Mount Saint Bernard Monastery in England who died in Leicester, England in 1964. The video of the reception is below: 

During the Pope’s visit to Nigeria. You can see that Abacha, oozing power and radiating authority, was gradually shedding the army uniform for the agbada. Just behind him, you can see his successor, General Abdulsalami peering.

-In 1994 and 1995, Abacha was battling a toxic combination of political unrest and a plethora of economic crises. It was so serious Abacha could not attend the ECOWAS summits and other crucial events in the subregion. But by 1996, things fared better and he was made the Chairman of ECOWAS. For many analysts, that was just one of his moves aimed at his grand ambition of becoming a civilian president (aare alagbada) come August 1998. He never saw July.

23rd March, 1998: Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. Abacha sees off the Pope, who was on a three-day visit to the country.