Life and Times of Sani Abacha

Charles Ajunwa

Title: Sani Abacha

Author: Adebayo Adeolu

Pages: 168

Publisher: Kraft Books Limited

Year: 2023

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Any book on the life and military career of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, or of any other military Head of State in Nigeria, is bound to delve into the tragic history of Nigeria. In telling the story of Sani Abacha, this 163-page book titled ‘Sani Abacha’ by Adebayo Adeolu, and published by Kraft Books Limited in 2023, also tells a significant part of history of Nigeria.

The chapters of the book have the following titles: (1) A child of destiny (2) The owners of Nigeria (3) The spotlight (4) The emerging men (5) The coup that defined Abacha (6) The June 12 saga: Abiola offered Premier (7) The seat of power that kicked out the Interim Government (8) The second in command and the apostles of June 12 (9) Obasanjo put in golden cage (10) The International community and sanctions (11) The plane crash that changed everything (12) Ambitious soldiers (13) The Abacha money (14) The visit from the Vatican and foreign intervention (15) A mother in a million (16) Why Abacha used force (17) The Commander-in-chief. The author makes quite a number of revelations which many readers would find surprising. For instance, we are told in chapter 3 that the late Chief MKO Abiola participated in the August 27, 1985 Babangida coup that overthrew Gen. Buhari’s high-handed military government (see page 19). This information is interesting, considering the fact that it was the same Gen. Babangida who was to annul the June 12, 1993 election won by Abiola who later died in detention.  

With a steadily rising profile and rank that climaxed in the foiling of the April 22, 1990 Gideon Orkar coup which saved Babangida’s life and his government, it almost appeared as a joke when the author records on page 33 that “General Ibrahim Babangida made a commitment to return Nigeria to democratic civilian rule in a nationwide broadcast.”

 The question to ask here is whether Babangida, or the politicians that later contested the June 1993 election, actually believed that Sani Abacha would be contented to end his military career only as a soldier who helped other soldiers to become heads of state without he himself occupying that number one office. This question is pertinent because allowing Chief MKO Abiola to become president was likely to have truncated Abacha’s chances of ruling Nigeria. 

The above point of view was vindicated in December 1999 after Babangida moved the federal capital to Abuja from Lagos. The author observes that:

“Sani Abacha stayed back in Lagos and did not move to Abuja to join Babangida. He started creating his own personal structure within the army, cultivating a network of loyal officers in Lagos. He gradually started building his own political empire.”

It is also possible that it was an agreement or understanding between Babangida and Abacha that Abacha should take over after Babangida. The author gave that hint on the next paragraph: “Babangida had given Sani Abacha a free hand because he knew how to overthrow government and stop coups.”

If the above theory is true, it means that Babangida and Abacha had connived to take turns to rule Nigeria, one after the other, and had merely dribbled Chief MKO Abiola and Nigerians, giving the people false hope that they will hand over power, until they annulled the June 12, 1993 election, setting the stage for Abacha to stroll into power. 

Probably because it is a history that is intended to be kind to Nigeria’s worst dictator ever, the author highlights the failures of the ING without mentioning that Abacha had deliberately orchestrated much of the prevailing insecurities in those days, just to have an excuse to take over power. The author’s view on page 50-51 is both highly disputable and quite revealing of his stand on the global consensus that Abacha was malevolent: 

“General Sani Abacha had a kind of balanced government on the onset with a few civilians in the cabinet and he set out to perform and put the country on the right path. However, he was able to achieve this as he had sent an olive branch to Abiola and his supporters. It was four days after the Abacha government took over that the members of SDP and other politicians and supporters held meetings in Chief Abiola’s house to formulate their response and strategy to the unfolding events that had just taken place in Nigeria. 

“The new government had promised inclusion to the Abiola group and the SDP General Sani Abacha and his second in command, General Diya offered members of the party ministerial slots by asking Abiola to send names of people he might want to serve in the new government. The offer had divided the party and supporters of Chief Abiola. The Abacha government used this to pacify the supporters of the June 12 mandate and promised Chief Abiola that they would hand over to him after sometime. The new government also promised to refund all the money Abiola spent on the election.”

Most Igbos will also find it distasteful, if not highly offensive, that the author manages to rope the entire Igbo ethnic group into some of his outlandish commentaries, albeit in the most uncomplimentary manner. Here is one of the classical examples of this observation: 

“General Abacha took his time to settle the possibility of an upheaval from the political class and did not hurry to the Aso Rock villa at the capital city of Abuja. This was a military strategy as he knew Lagos and the South West could become a hot bed and an obstacle if it exploded in riots and protests. He had already observed that the Eastern region and its people, the Igbos, were not fighting for the botched election and were also not fighting for the Yorubas or for Abiola’s mandate. In fact, the Igbos had panicked so much that they left the South West in droves, thinking the Yoruba region will go into a civil war. It was a costly mistake to the Igbos as many died on the exodus of traveling back to their region in Biafra, the Eastern region, leaving Lagos in a panic by road with their belongings and properties. There were many road accidents in the congestion the exodus caused through heavy traffic.”

In any case, it is historically inaccurate to assert, as the author did, that “the Igbos, were not fighting for the botched election and were also not fighting for the Yorubas or for Abiola’s mandate.” Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, was one of the frontline June 12 fighters. Agbakoba almost lost one of his eyes in the hands of Abacha’s goons in the cause of that fight. 

Chima Ubani, leader of the pro-democracy movement in Nigeria and former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, was knee-deep in the June 12 struggle. According to The Guardian of UK, “Ubani came into his own in 1993, when the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida annulled a presidential election that was to return Nigeria to civilian rule. He helped to bring various human right organisations together under one umbrella group, the Campaign for Democracy.” (See “Chima Ubani” on The Guardian, published 26 September 2005). 

Speaking 14 years later about Chima Ubani, Femi Falana said Ubani fought against injustice and died in the course of seeking justice for the oppressed and the downtrodden in the country. He described Ubani as a dogged fighter whose memories remained evergreen on the minds of Nigerians. “Ubani’s struggle in the fight for the validation of the annulled June 12, 1993 election believed to be won by late Moshood Abiola could not be easily wished away.” (see “Falana, Okei-Odumakin, others remember Chima Ubani in Lagos” TheNigeriaLawyer, 22 September 2019). 

Another prominent Igbo who was neck-deep in the fight for the validation of June 12 election and reclaiming of Chief MKO Abiola’s mandate was the late Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu.

“Ndubuisi Kanu would mostly be remembered as a pro-democracy advocate rather than a naval officer who rose through the ranks, and to the peak of the military profession…. The days were dark then for pro-democracy activists who continued to ask that MKO Abiola, presumed winner of the 1993 presidential election be installed…Soon, Ndubuisi Kanu would become one of the strongest voices of the movement (NADECO) as he chaired the group’s action committee.  

“…While other ex-military who had also joined the movement (NADECO) feared being noticed, the late Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu gave his signature to an ultimatum for Abacha to leave. Despite the crackdown that led to the death of a couple of the activists, Ndubuisi Kanu remained in Nigeria, agitating still, when many other NADECO comrades, understandably, fled into exile.” (See “Ndubuisi Kanu, the general who wanted an end to military rule in Nigeria” by Femi Owolabi, published on TheCable of January 13, 2021). 

This is to mention just a few of the Igbo frontliners in the struggle for June 12. There are many others. So, one wonders how the author got the notion that the “Igbos did not fight for the botched election and were also not fighting for the Yorubas or for Abiola’s mandate.” If there were some Igbos who supported Abacha and Babangida itightly days, there were equally many Yorubas who repudiated the June 12 struggle and threw their weight behind Abacha. 

As the author rightly mentioned, Chief Olu Onagoruwa, a prominent Yoruba legal luminary, joined the Abacha government as Attorney General and Minister of Justice. General Oladipo Diya, another elite Yoruba military officer, became Abacha’s Chief of General Staff and second in command. Ernest Shonekan, who accepted the position of head of an illegal Interim National Government, was also a Yoruba. Even the author himself alleges that the presumed winner of the June 12 election, Chief MKO Abiola, acceded to his supporters joining the Abacha government!  

Strangely, throughout the 163-page book titled Sani Abacha which documented some of the policies, decisions and actions taken by Abacha, there is not one place where the author faulted anything Abacha did. He praised every action of Abacha. Where he could not praise Abacha, he exonerated him from blames. Alternatively, therefore, the book can appropriately be titled “The canonisation of Sani Abacha”. 

Most times, when the author wants to exonerate Abacha of blame, like in the assassination of Kudirat and attempt to kill Alex Ibru, he uses the term, “state”, not “Abacha”. (See p.87).  

Nevertheless, from a historical viewpoint, as it is said in academic theses, Adebayo Adeolu, through this book, has made some contributions to the field of knowledge.