SANI ABACHA, Nigeria’s Most Enigmatic Ruler part3 click HERE
OPPOSITION, ATTEMPTS TO OVERTHROW ABACHA AND THE PHANTOM COUPS
OPPOSITION, ATTEMPTS TO OVERTHROW ABACHA AND THE PHANTOM COUPS
THE PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY WHO WAGED WAR AGAINST SANI ABACHA
The nation was hot and not everyone could keep up with the nonsense of the Abacha regime. There was a man who felt he had had enough of the military rubbish and took extreme measures to topple Sani. He became totally fed up during the June 12 protests in 1994 when some soldiers fired at the protesters in Ojuelegba, Lagos, killing four people on the spot, a woman and three boys. Then the jubilant soldiers calmly walked to the nearby beer parlour to enjoy themselves. They were not even remorseful that they just killed four unarmed Nigerians who threw stones at them. Banjo could not sleep having witnessed the bloody event. He made up his mind. He would single-handedly start a guerilla war against the Abacha government. His name is Professor Olusegun Banjo. And it was time to launch the People's Liberation of Nigeria (PLAN) with his Igbo wife, Ngozi. He was dead serious. He went to the United States, hired a Vietnamese major and warfare expert to train him in the tactics and strategies of guerilla warfare. The training would take up to a year.
In the autumn of 1994, he had landed in the USA and would take time to study the security at airports in the country and also in Europe. It was a very dangerous mission. Following the shooting incidence in Ojuelegba, Lagos, Banjo threw himself into reading books on military intelligence. He read vastly about the dictators across the globe and concluded that the only tool to use to defeat megalomaniac tyrants was intelligence. Interestingly, he read about dictators like Idi Amin Dada, whose mother was his patient while he was practising medicine in Uganda. Banjo finished from the country's Makerere University.
In the early 1980s, Professor Banjo taught at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the then University of Ife, Ile-Ife, Osun State (now OAU).
In the early 1980s, Professor Banjo taught at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the then University of Ife, Ile-Ife, Osun State (now OAU).
His warfare training continued and on the 6th of June, 1995, he and his wife decided to fly into Cotonou. They were loaded with weapons. They were carrying eight boxes full of all kinds of weapons and were almost caught when one of the boxes malfunctioned.
The younger brother of the late Colonel Victor Banjo killed by Biafran forces and a professor of human anatomy and cell biology, he imported 8,000 AK-47 rifles, laser-guided SKS assault rifles, Israeli Uzis, surface-to-air missiles, machine guns, pistols, bullet-cutting machines, bullets that could pierce up to 10cm of steel and other arms to launch a war to overthrow Abacha in 1995. Travelling by air with his wife, Ngozi, he bribed authorities in Cotonou for the container to land with N1.5 million then cross over to Nigeria.
Unfortunately, as his containers arrived Cotonou, one of the offloaders noticed one of the guns. He raised an alarm and called the gendarmes. The container was seized. The professor and his team were flung into prison. The Benin gendarmes had never seen such crazy weapons before in their entire Cotonou-restricted lives. Luckily for him, some of the top Benin officers were of the same Yoruba ethnic stock with him and were initially predisposed to freeing him, he met with the Beninoise Minister of Defence and the Interior Minister and even got an offer for a range where he would use as a training base until the news leaked to President Nicephore Soglo, a bitter enemy of Abacha.
Banjo and his wife were clamped into detention. Word later reached Abacha and he was very furious. In just seven days, his enraged army generals landed in Benin with their hard boots thumping the ground.
Abacha had sent some of his most efficient men to clean up the mess. They included the ever-loyal Chief Security Officer (CSO), Major Hamza al-Mustapha, the much-dreaded Colonel Frank Omenka of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), Brigadier Sabo and Abacha's Minister of External Affairs, Tom Ikimi. The weapon importation had cost a fortune. The Abacha team negotiated with the government of Benin and dropped a hefty sum of $100million. Banjo was in hot soup. At that stage, they were properly arrested and jailed. His wife pleaded that they should allow him go that she was responsible for the arms importation but they told her that she was the woman and that she could go. She refused and preferred to be jailed with her husband.
They attempted to escape by cutting into the bar with a knife but were caught and almost shot as they made to scale the fence. The prison was hell in all its description. Separated from his wife, he was jailed near a septic tank and he had to sleep in a cell full of maggots. He was not able to sleep. He was later transferred to another prison in another city, with his wife left behind in Cotonou. Throughout the period of incarceration, he was tortured and fed with nothing but garri (cassava flakes) and in no time, he and his wife took ill when she came down with a brain infection. He had to make incisions on her to drain the pus.
Meanwhile, Abacha was desperate to lay his hands on them and was pressurizing Soglo to release them to him. He even ordered that a helicopter be sent to fetch them but the chopper did not show up. An enraged Abacha threatened to invade Benin Republic. US President Bill Clinton advised Soglo not to release them and dared Abacha to invade Benin.
Around that same period, Soglo lost the power tussle and Abacha's very good friend, Mathieu Kerekou became the new President of Benin Republic. After spending fourteen months, they were able to secure a release but had to flee the nation because Abacha had reportedly bribed a female worker at the UN Office in Benin to hint him of their movements. They tried to seek refuge at the Canadian, American and French embassies but thy were turned down and to make things worse, Abacha's men had already flooded the town looking for them. They had to hide in a village in Cotonou. At this point, a Nigerian journalist also known for his relentless fight against Abacha, Dr. Moshood Fayemiwo, was of great assistance to the couple and he arranged how they were able to sneak out to Ghana. He even escorted them to the border. By the time Abacha's contact woman discovered that they had escaped, she too had to flee the country after resigning immediately, in fear of Abacha and his crazed goons.
In Ghana, the hellish experience was not over yet, he had to sleep in different hotels, never used his real name and had 50 different passports. Abacha still attempted to kidnap them in Ghana. There are accusations that some Ghanaian officials got $25million from the Khalifa to help capture Banjo. In no time, he had to flee to Uganda which was under (and still is) the leadership of Yoweri Museveni, a man helped to rise to power by Abacha's main enemy, MKO Abiola. Later they had to run out of Uganda to Kenya where the authorities met them, pledged not to jail them but said they could not stay in Kenya. They were 'deported' back to Uganda. Later, he became suspicious when a batch 42 soldiers of the Nigerian Army landed in Uganda to come and 'learn computer'. At that stage, he fled to Zimbabwe where the authorities bundled him and returned him to Uganda again. President Museveni gave him political asylum till Abacha's death in 1998.
NADECO: ABACHA'S NAGGING HEADACHE
-Formed by 49 Nigerians, the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) proved to be the greatest thorn in Abacha’s smooth skin. Members and allies of NADECO included Pa Abraham Adesanya (who was almost assassinated), Anthony Enahoro (the man who moved the motion for Nigeria’s independence was charged for treason and detained for 121 days by Abacha and later forced into exile), Bola Ige, Olabiyi Durojaiye (former Senator and lawyer, jailed for 18 months), Senator Cornelius Adebayo, Admiral Godwin Ndubuisi Kanu, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (went on exile but heavily funded NADECO’s activities), Michael Adekunle Ajasin (dared Abacha to the very last), Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, Air Commodore Dan Suleiman (in 1994, gunmen tried to kill him in his car while there were attempts to set his house on fire while his family was asleep, he denounced the attempts as ‘state-sponsored terrorism’ ), Lt. Gen. Alani Akinrinade, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, Odigie Oyegun, Segun Osoba, Chief Bisi Akande, Ayo Adebanjo, Olu Falae, Ambassador Ralph Uwechue (Ohanaeze Ndigbo President), Christian Onoh, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Dr. Frederick Fasheun, Chief Great Ogboru, Professor Ade Segun Banjo, Lady Kofoworola Akerele-Bucknor, Chief Ralph Obiora, Chief Lai Balogun, Ayo Opadokun, Professor Ben Nwabueze and Arthur Nwankwo. They got support from nations as Norway, USA, United Kingdom, Canada, Uganda and Burkina Faso.
Nigerian Patrick Aziza (L) presides 05 June 1995 in Lagos, the trial of civilian and military people convicted of having plotted a coup against President Sani Abacha, in March 1995. Nigeria’s military General Sani Abacha seized power and installed military rules in November 1993. -GETTY IMAGES.
-Other vocal opponents of the Abacha regime included Shehu Sanni (human rights activist who recently turned down President Goodluck Jonathan’s overture to him to become a member of the Boko Haram amnesty committee), Christine Anyanwu (then a journalist, now a Senator representing Imo State and recently embroiled in a bitter fight with Governor Okorocha), late Chime Ubani (rights activist), Kunle Ajibade and Ben Charles Obi (journalists), Adewale Adeoye (also a journalist and now Senior Special Assistant to Ekiti State Governor on Public Affairs). Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Secretary General of the Commonwealth was also in the opposing camp. He had a proposal for Abacha on how MKO would become President but he rejected it.
Civilian and military people convicted of having plotted a coup against General Sani Abacha in March 1995 wait during their trial, 05 June 1995 in Lagos. They were sentenced to death 14 July 1995. Nigeria’s military General Sani Abacha seized power and installed military rules in November 1993. -GETTY IMAGES
Bola Ahmed Tinubu (left) fought Abacha’s regime from exile. Here, he is shown with his friend and Ovation publisher, Dele in Momodu in London for the naming ceremony of Momodu’s child in the mid-1990s.
-He also dealt with other organized opposition groups: the National Union of the Nigerian Students (NUNS) was proscribed and the Academic Staff Union of Universities was severely restricted with many professors losing their jobs (some fled overseas). The Nigerian Bar Association was also proscribed. Strikes broke out and there was general unrest in Africa’s greatest hope.
-Even though it was said that Abacha manufactured coup plots against himself to cage some individuals, it is not out of imagination for some to rebel against his authority and orchestrate his toppling. As expected, there were some people who felt that Abacha was too dangerous for them to fowoleran and watch him rule the nation with absolute power. They needed to clip his wings, and attempts were (reportedly) made. But trust Abacha, himself a master strategist and a dyed-in-the-wool coup plotter, he nipped all the attempts (and assumed attempts) in the bud with a degree of mercilessness that will make even Attila the Hun green with envy. One of the said plans of the coup plotters involved storming the Aso Rock Presidential Villa (Apata Ayeraye…lol!) with troops loyal to and commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Happy Kefas Bulus with other principal actors being Colonel RSB Bello-Fadile and Colonel Lawan Gwadabe.
-On the 14th of July1995, an announcement was made as to their conviction. The trio would face the death penalty. But that was not all o. General Olusegun ‘Baba Iyabo’ Obasanjo, Major General Shehu Musa Yar’adua (both arrested in March 1995), Christine Anyanwu, Ben Charles Obi, Shehu Sani (Vice Chairman of the Campaign for Democracy) were given long jail terms. -Others that included Major Akinloye Akinyemi, Colonel Emmanuel Ndubueze, Lieutenant Colonel I. Shuaibu, Alhaji Sanusi Mato (said to be an in-law of Gwadabe), Julius Badejo (State Security Service Officer) and Quinnet Ajogo (a girlfriend of Gwadabe). As for Bayo Onanuga, Chief A.M. Adisa Akinloye, Chief (Mrs.) Titilayo Ajanaku and about six others, they were released without charges. It was a dark time upon the nation. Amnesty International launched salvos of appeals to Generals Abacha and Diya, Alhaji Aminu Saleh (then the Secretary to the Government of the Federation of Nigeria, he was later fired by Abacha in October 1995 for exercising powers beyond his office, and was replaced by Gidado Idris, the former Director-General (DG) of the Finance Ministry) and Chief Tom Ikimi (Foreign Affairs Minister).
-A total of 40 defendants convicted were tried secretly by the Special Military Tribunal (Nigeria and wuruwuru to the answer sha). Three more people were sentenced in absentia.
-Owing to the fact that the Tribunal did not disclose the exact details of the rulings (but was later learnt that Bulus was convicted on two accounts of conspiracy to commit treason and concealment and was sentenced to death by firing squad on both accounts), number of those reportedly sentenced to death ranged from 12-15 (with that of Gwadabe, Bello-Fadile and Bulus as sure banker). Some of the others like Generals Obasanjo and Yar’adua, Anyanwu and Obi were dashed life imprisonment or 25 years in prison. Sani got seven years after he was convicted of ‘managing an unlawful society’. Sani refused to disclose the other leaders of the Campaign for Democracy (CD) in exchange for his freedom. Fadile reportedly made numerous contacts and met with Yar’adua and later Gwadabe and Obasanjo to get his support.
-Professor Wole Soyinka also formed the National Liberation Council of Nigeria (NALICON) in opposition to Abacha. Those who contributed to this goal included the late activist, Beko Kuti, Chief Harry Akande, Prince Dipo Eludoyin, Ambassador Antonio Oladehinde Fernandez, Major Cletus Obahor and Ilemakin, Wole Soyinka’s son.
-One of the most steadfast critics agains the Abacha regime was the late lawyer and Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM), Gani Fawehinmi. At a point, he accused Maryam’s wife of her complicity with her husband’s crimes. He blasted: ‘She knew her husband could not earn up to half a million naira in a year yet she was acquiring properties worth millions.’ For daring to launch scathing verbal assaults against the Commander-in-Chief, the late Gani would become a regular face in squalid prisons and a special guest in terrible jails.
-KENULE ‘KEN’ BEESON SARO-WIWA: Any story of Abacha is incomplete without mentioning Kenule Saro-Wiwa. Poet, writer, environmentalist and activist, it was the execution of Saro-Wiwa and eight others (called the Ogoni Nine) that cemented and sealed Abacha’s place in the minds of millions of Nigerians as a most ruthless leader. He was arrested in connection with the killing of four pro-government Ogoni chiefs. He alongside others were arraigned for murder. Abacha was said to have stated who any man who killed another citizen was not fit to live. And to worsen matters, Abacha chose a most inauspious time to hang the Ogoni Nine. On the eve of the 14th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 1995 in New Zealand, Ken Saro-Wiwa and others were sent to the Great Beyond. In a fit of fury, the Commonwealth suspended Nigeria for over three years but like President GEJ, Abacha did not give a damning damn! The UN, US and Canada issued high-sounding condemnation, with the American government placing travel restrictions on senior members of the junta and President Clinton ordered US weapon sales to Nigeria halted, US Britain, France, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, South Africa and Germany all recalled their ambassadors, and the Time magazine branded Abacha ‘Thug of the Year’. Even Zimbabwe and South Africa condemned the brutality of Saro-Wiwa’s execution. Nigeria effectively became a pariah nation. Mandela, Bill Clinton and John Major, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom were some of the world leaders who pleaded with Abacha to spare the lives of the nine Ogoni men but epa o boro mo. Omoye pada rin ihoho wo oja. Watch Ken Saro-Wiwa’s last interview here:
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