Mohammed Abacha Left in the Cold Once Again

The late Head of State, General Sani Abacha has remained one of the most controversial figures in Nigeria’s history. Despite having been out of power for 25 years following his sudden death, the dark-goggled general’s name has remained a recurring decimal in the country. His name, for good or for bad, still evokes as many column inches and mentions as he did when he was in power.

The Kano State-born former Head of State allegedly left billions of naira for his children and his money has refused to go into extinction since his death despite several confiscations by foreign governments of what has become known as ‘Abacha loot’. However, it seems the money has failed to secure one of his children, Mohammed Abacha, his most cherished ambition.

Society Watch gathered that the son of the former dictator is in serious pain and left in the cold following the recent judgment of the Court of Appeal in Kano which sacked him as the governorship candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Kano State.
The court recognised his opponent in the party’s primary, Sadiq Wali, as the PDP’s candidate for the forthcoming general election. Sadiq is the son of Aminu Wali, former Foreign Affairs minister in 2014 under Goodluck Jonathan and a brother-in-law to Mohammed Babangida.

The court set aside an earlier judgment of a high court that recognised the young Abacha as the candidate of the opposition party.
In the judgment, the Court of Appeal also ordered that Wali, who was earlier recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, remained the authentic governorship candidate of the party in the state. The latest judgment came barely a day after the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar declined to endorse any of the warring candidates during a campaign rally in Kano.

Since his emergence as the candidate of the party, the unspoken question in the minds of many is: How on earth does he think anyone will vote for him?
A source revealed to Society Watch that the young Abacha has been moving around, lavishing money on party leaders as well as those he believes can assist in the realisation of his ambition.

The source added that many, however, see his ambition as building a castle in the air. “Anyone who advises Mohammed to join the race is only fooling him. He is only building a castle in the air; he can’t go anywhere,” the source said.

This group of people was said to have also vowed that it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for him to become the number one citizen of the state.

As predicted, the light-skinned man has proven his critics right as he has again failed to achieve his most cherished ambition.

It was gathered that many who asked this question premise their doubts on the fact that he does not have any strong political structure that can enable him to achieve his aspiration until he was hammered with the Appeal Court verdict.

It was disclosed further that Mohammed has been dreaming of becoming the number one citizen of Kano State since 2011. He was denied the governorship ticket of the Congress for Progressive Congress (CPC) after he allegedly won the primary, while another candidate Lawan Jafaru was handed the ticket of the party. We gathered that he cried to Muhammadu Buhari who was the founder and presidential candidate of the party but was snubbed.

He also made another attempt during the 2015 governorship election in the state under the PDP but withdrew his ambition on the eve of the primary for what he termed ‘personal reason’, while he also threw his hat in the ring for the same plum job in 2019. He threw money around like a drunken sailor while he secured the ticket of the All Peoples Democratic Alliance (APDA) that was eventually won by Abdullahi Ganduje.

With his new predicament, many are wondering how long the handsome man of Nigeria’s once strongest general would live in the political wilderness.