02/03/2000
Africa News Service
(Copyright 2000 Africa News Service)
Lagos - Contrary to a long string of conjectures and theories
surrounding the death of late Gen. Sani
Abacha, fresh information confirm he was indeed murdered by a
powerful clique. Sunday Dare,
Bamidele Johnson and Goodluck Ebelo report.
January 11, 1998, was a joyous one for late head of state, Gen.
Sani Abacha. On that date, about 200
members of his personal security outfit, the notorious Body
Guards (BGs), graduated from their training
academy in Libya. Much as he would have loved to, the former
dictator, due to escalating opposition to
his rule at home, could not be physically present at the BGs'
passing out ceremony. He was, however,
represented by his close friend and then Solid Minerals
Minister, Alhaji Kaloma Ali, and his Chief
Security Officer, Major Hamza Al- Mustapha. Kaloma,
authoritative sources said, played a huge part in
facilitating the training of the BGs in Libya. He is said to
have a Libyan wife as well as being close to the
Libyan Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Dedi, whom sources say, has his
family root in Kano. Libyan leader,
Col. Muamar Ghadaffi was also not present but sent one of his
sons as a sign of the cosy relationship
that blossomed between him and Gen. Sani Abacha.
The training of the BGs, TEMPO learnt, involved extremely
rigorous sessions in dealing with perceived
physical opponents of Abacha's transmutation plans. They were
given elaborate lessons to make them
dexterous kidnappers of perceived enemies in addition to the
other terror skills they had learnt in the
Asian country of North Korea.
Sources said Al-Mustapha's eyes gleamed with satisfaction at the
deftness the graduands displayed at
their passing out ceremony. His satisfaction was said to have
been accentuated by the fact that the BGs
would be capable of dealing with the myriad of domestic
opposition to his boss' envisaged
transmutation. Ghadaffi was said to have severally warned Abacha
that it was only a matter of time
before domestic civil and military opposition shoved him aside.
Thus, Mustapha's joy was bolstered by
the tremendous form his wards were displaying and believed
Abacha could not be touched in his desire
to perpetuate himself in power.
About seven months later, Abacha's supposedly impregnable wall
of protection (BGs et al) was
breached and fatally too. The former dictator suddenly gave up
the ghost in the early hours of 8 June,
1998, throwing the entire nation, except, perhaps, his family
and cronies, into unfettered fits of jubilation.
The official disclosure of Gen. Abacha's death came in form of a
statement signed by the then Chief of
Defence Staff (CDS), Major-Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar. The
statement read: "The Head of State,
General Sani Abacha passed away in the early hours of this
morning." It was silent on the circumstances
or causes of his death. With the silence began a prolific
spinning of theories as to what killed Gen.
Abacha. One of these claimed the strongman passed away in his
sleep while another said he died in the
Aso Rock Villa's guest rooms. Yet, other theorists claimed that
the general's much-publicised battle with
a liver ailment killed him. The theories were legion. All of
them, however, agreed that Gen. Abacha
loved life and power. And through these two indulgences, TEMPO
can reveal, he finally reached his
denouement.
While he ruled, Gen. Abacha appropriated and enjoyed the power
and the paraphernalia that came with
it. During his reign, the nation was on a permanent auto-drive,
while he soaked himself in sybaritic
pleasures. One of such, sources claim, was sex. He reputedly
kept the company of several nubile girls of
various nationalities who were ferried, in droves, into the
inner precincts of Aso Rock like prized goods.
Senior military officers and civilians who served him knew how
best to please their leader by an
unebbing supply of crumpets. It was this intimate weakness that
was eventually exploited to get him off
the scene. TEMPO can now authoritatively reveal that Gen. Sani
Abacha was indeed, murdered.
Exasperated by Abacha's intransigence over his transmutation
scheme and a realisation of the near
futility of a forcible removal, sources say, a few serving and
retired military officers came to the
conclusion that Abacha's removal could best be achieved by
exploiting the general's weakness for
women.
A few days before his death, the plan to kill Abacha was
perfected. Brig- Gen. Halilu Akilu,
ex-president Ibrahim Babangida's hatchet man and alter-ego, was
said to have set it in motion. He
procured two Indian girls whom he introduced to Abacha's
philandering pal and former Federal Capital
Territory Minister, Lt. Gen. Jeremiah Useni, reliable sources
confirmed. The two Indian whores were
actually introduced by Akilu as reputable business tycoons in
search of business connections in Nigeria
. With a hefty carousing reputation, it did not take Useni a
long time to think up of other uses the girls
could be put. The international plank of Akilu's plan has always
generated heat because of the
implications it has to the overall resolution of the political
crisis, especially the inescapable link it has to
the natural death theory of Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola's passing.
Even, the Americans confirm that the
direction of press reports tallied with much of the classified
materials they had. James Rubin, American
State Department's spokesperson said then: "With respect to Gen.
Abacha, we do not have a
conclusive evidence that Gen. Abacha was poisoned," but
acknowledged "we are aware of reports to
that effect." Intelligence analysts in the United States of
America also agreed that Abacha was poisoned.
TEMPO sources say that the international intelligence agencies
were aware of the poison option but
thought of it as one of many possibilities. Akilu, still
retaining vital links with the Nigerian security
apparatus, literally sauntered, undetected, past the corterie of
Abacha security men and loyalists. Useni
seemed the perfect choice for the job. Akilu who picked him was
said to have had a mountain of
intelligence files on Useni while in office under Babangida. It
is also said that the cosy relationship
between Abacha and Useni, even before the latter took over
power, was sustained by their mutual
interest in sex romps. And Useni reaped immensely from procuring
girls for his boss. Though the
Federal Capital Territory Minister, Useni easily worked his way
into a virtual number two position in the
regime, his unhindered access to the man, an advantage that
Useni never declined from using even in the
ungodly hours of the day, was a cinch to Akilu's plot.So it was
an unwary Useni who willingly agreed to
get Akilu's ladies linked to Abacha. Without any hitch, the two
girls got access to Abacha and instantly
had a direct line to his loins. Investigations further revealed
that the two Indian girls were not exactly
two- bit whores but intelligent ladies recruited to carry out a
predetermined mission. The girls acted out
the script perfectly. Information available to TEMPO reveal that
the night of 7 June, 1998, was one
heavily sex-laden night with the Indian 'spices.' Abacha was
said to have taken on the two ladies in a
heady party. Useni, keen on making his boss happy, left
before midnight so Abacha could have
some privacy.
The six-room villa guest house, has a floor which served as the
slaughter house for all the damsels that
Useni and others procured for Gen. Abacha. While the party with
the Indian girls downstairs went on,
Abacha was said to have dashed upstairs at intervals to see
Onyinye, the Igbo beauty, who was not
allowed to venture downstairs. Onyinye, perhaps the most visible
Abacha girlfriend is known to cruise
around Abuja in her 4-wheel jeep. In accomplishing their
mission, the Indian girls employed the intervals
Abacha left them to savour the beauty upstairs. The apples and
drink were spiked with noxious
substances. As they worked on Abacha sexually, they urged him on
to have generous bites of the apple
and naturally the drink to wash it down. After about three hours
of vigorous love-making, Abacha
suddenly began to jerk, at first mildly and later violently.
Within 30 minutes, he collapsed and died.
Major-Al-Mustapha, Abacha's Chief Security Officer, now facing
trial for political assassinations,
promptly arrested the Indian ladies. Sources disclosed that he
changed his plan to arrest Gen. Useni in
order not to let out the news too quickly that his boss was
dead. He needed time to make contacts and
to plot. Mustapha was equally said to have realised that a major
arresting a Lt. General, when he did not
plan a coup, would have raised eyebrows and backfired.
The period between Abacha's sudden death and the time the news
was made available to the
Provisional Ruling Council (PRC) was the most tasking and
difficult for Mustapha. He had to weigh the
options with consultations with Maryam Abacha. First, to seize
power, he needed to secure the support
of all the army's general officers commanding, (GOCs), get fire
backing from the brigades, have the
artillery and armour in his control and successfully place all
the service chiefs under arrest. Major
Al-Mustapha did not have all these. He knew his limitations and
simply played safe. He decided to offer
Brig. General Buba Marwa, former military administrator of Lagos
State and Brig. Gen. Yakubu
Mua'zu, Commander Brigade of Guards the post of the Head of
State. Both of them, it was gathered,
developed cold feet and rejected the offer. Apparently, the two
officers did not trust Mustapha. While
Mustapha sought the acceptance of either Marwa or Mua'zu, the
PRC members who had been
assembled were getting restless. Convinced that the option left
was to settle for Gen. Abdulsalami
Abubakar, favoured by Maryam Abacha, the late dictator's widow
and Gen. Babangida, Mustapha
proceeded to formally inform the PRC about Abacha's death.
Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi, then Chief of Army Staff and a known angler
for the throne, was the first to react.
"How can you assemble us Generals here to deceive us. If it is
false, you will be dealt with," he
reportedly threatened Mustapha. Yet, the silence engulfed the
room and the tension around was
palpable. It was Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar that eventually eased
the tension by demanding that they
all be allowed to see Abacha's dead body. All the PRC members
trooped out, with Mustapha leading,
to see the body themselves. Inside sources disclosed that almost
immediately, the politics of succession
commenced. Bamaiyi started moves to win the support of other
members to become the Head of State.
Mustapha avoided Bamaiyi completely while the PRC meeting
lasted. Mustapha, still in control, had
ordered all the orderlies that came with the PRC members to the
car park. He instructed members of
the presidential Body Guards (BGS) to lock all entry and exit
gates, leaving only one gate at the rear
open. The PRC members were unaware of these developments.
Soon, they were all herded into the aircraft for the journey to
Kano to bury Gen. Abacha. While the
burial lasted, the succession politics went on. Gen. Ibrahim
Babangida, moments after Abacha's body
was lowered into the grave, called Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and
two GOCs, Sar'ki Muktar of the I
Mechanized Division, Kaduna and Brig- Gen. Godwin Abbe of the 82
Division, Enugu, aside.
Babangida simply whispered to the two GOCs: "Remember the
assignment I said you have for me. Call
me." The two GOCs were said to have answered "yes". Thereafter,
Babangida left for Minna after a
short private discussion with Gen. Abubakar. Babangida, even
under Abacha, still had a strong hold on
the GOCs. Abacha knew but was handicapped because he needed
these officers to hold on to power.
With the support of the GOC's who did Babangida's bidding and
the fact that Maryam Abacha and
Mustapha preferred Gen. Abubakar, the latter became the new Head
of State. Useni's role in procuring
the Indian girls that snuffed life out of the late dictator, saw
to his immediate ostracisation from the
emergent centre of power. When Mustapha briefed the BGs and
Strike Force, (SF) members about
Abacha's death, they reportedly urged him to step in as head of
state, pledging their loyalty. But
Mustapha refused. His reason: "what impression do you want me to
create in the minds of the Abachas?
They will think I killed oga."
Indeed, if Abacha had not been murdered by the Indian
'LovePeddlers,' the story would have been
different. The late dictator had plans to elevate his good
friend, Jerry Useni. Two weeks before his
death, TEMPO authoritatively gathered that Abacha had gathered
his service chiefs and told them he
would continue in power. He had completed plans to retire them
and also retire from the Army himself.
The game plan was simply intriguing. He, Abacha would retire
from the Army and move to Kano. Jerry
Useni would, however, be appointed the Chief of Defence Staff
with full powers to complete the
transition programme. Major Mustapha would remain his Chief
Security Officer. To make sure that
Useni play by the script, the BGs and SF will be divided into
two groups. One group will remain in
Abuja with Useni and Mustapha, while the other group will move
to Kano with Abacha.
Gen. Abacha, after retirement, will declare his intention not to
step into politics. Emirs, chiefs and
prominent pro-Abacha northern politicians had been lined up to
pay him visits and to urge and insist that
he contest as a civilian to become the president. Marches,
demonstrations, media campaign and adverts
were to follow suit with the same plea, that Abacha must
contest. Abacha will then announce his
candidature on the strength of the pressures from prominent
Northerners, Nigerians and the masses.
Useni was to conduct a kangaroo presidential election and hand
over power to General Sani Abacha.
An inside source disclosed that the latest plan was a well-
knitted one and not even all the members of
the Abacha kitchen cabinet knew about the details. Then the
Indian girls came calling and that put paid
to all the plans of self- succession. The manner and timing of
his death caught everyone around him
napping and scampering. Before they could recover, things moved
and changed fast. The Abacha family
came under heat. Gen. Abubakar played the Babangida script to
the letter.
While Nigerians rejoiced that the dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha
finally bit the dust, different theories about
his death flew around. The theory of Viagra; and the speculation
on heart attack and injection by the
Indian girls were bandied across the country. This theory of
injection was given some reinforcement
about 10 months after Abacha's demise, when his widow, Maryam,
alleged that the strongman did not
die of any illness but was murdered by some of his close
associates. In an interview published in a Lagos
weekly tabloid, Mrs. Abacha said her husband was hale and hearty
but would leave the resolution of
Abacha's sudden death to physicians.
Mrs. Abacha's howls did not seem without some justification
against the background that Gen. Abacha
still performed a state function the day before his death. It
was the former strongman himself who
received and saw off, at the Abuja Airport, Palestinian
Liberation leader, Yasser Arafat who came for a
one- day official visit to the country. Nigerians were, however,
unbothered about what killed their
outgone tormentor and whether he was murdered or not. What
mattered then was that they were rid of
the dark-goggled dictator, who unleashed so much terror and
deaths on the people.
Africa News Service
(Copyright 2000 Africa News Service)
Lagos - Contrary to a long string of conjectures and theories
surrounding the death of late Gen. Sani
Abacha, fresh information confirm he was indeed murdered by a
powerful clique. Sunday Dare,
Bamidele Johnson and Goodluck Ebelo report.
January 11, 1998, was a joyous one for late head of state, Gen.
Sani Abacha. On that date, about 200
members of his personal security outfit, the notorious Body
Guards (BGs), graduated from their training
academy in Libya. Much as he would have loved to, the former
dictator, due to escalating opposition to
his rule at home, could not be physically present at the BGs'
passing out ceremony. He was, however,
represented by his close friend and then Solid Minerals
Minister, Alhaji Kaloma Ali, and his Chief
Security Officer, Major Hamza Al- Mustapha. Kaloma,
authoritative sources said, played a huge part in
facilitating the training of the BGs in Libya. He is said to
have a Libyan wife as well as being close to the
Libyan Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Dedi, whom sources say, has his
family root in Kano. Libyan leader,
Col. Muamar Ghadaffi was also not present but sent one of his
sons as a sign of the cosy relationship
that blossomed between him and Gen. Sani Abacha.
The training of the BGs, TEMPO learnt, involved extremely
rigorous sessions in dealing with perceived
physical opponents of Abacha's transmutation plans. They were
given elaborate lessons to make them
dexterous kidnappers of perceived enemies in addition to the
other terror skills they had learnt in the
Asian country of North Korea.
Sources said Al-Mustapha's eyes gleamed with satisfaction at the
deftness the graduands displayed at
their passing out ceremony. His satisfaction was said to have
been accentuated by the fact that the BGs
would be capable of dealing with the myriad of domestic
opposition to his boss' envisaged
transmutation. Ghadaffi was said to have severally warned Abacha
that it was only a matter of time
before domestic civil and military opposition shoved him aside.
Thus, Mustapha's joy was bolstered by
the tremendous form his wards were displaying and believed
Abacha could not be touched in his desire
to perpetuate himself in power.
About seven months later, Abacha's supposedly impregnable wall
of protection (BGs et al) was
breached and fatally too. The former dictator suddenly gave up
the ghost in the early hours of 8 June,
1998, throwing the entire nation, except, perhaps, his family
and cronies, into unfettered fits of jubilation.
The official disclosure of Gen. Abacha's death came in form of a
statement signed by the then Chief of
Defence Staff (CDS), Major-Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar. The
statement read: "The Head of State,
General Sani Abacha passed away in the early hours of this
morning." It was silent on the circumstances
or causes of his death. With the silence began a prolific
spinning of theories as to what killed Gen.
Abacha. One of these claimed the strongman passed away in his
sleep while another said he died in the
Aso Rock Villa's guest rooms. Yet, other theorists claimed that
the general's much-publicised battle with
a liver ailment killed him. The theories were legion. All of
them, however, agreed that Gen. Abacha
loved life and power. And through these two indulgences, TEMPO
can reveal, he finally reached his
denouement.
While he ruled, Gen. Abacha appropriated and enjoyed the power
and the paraphernalia that came with
it. During his reign, the nation was on a permanent auto-drive,
while he soaked himself in sybaritic
pleasures. One of such, sources claim, was sex. He reputedly
kept the company of several nubile girls of
various nationalities who were ferried, in droves, into the
inner precincts of Aso Rock like prized goods.
Senior military officers and civilians who served him knew how
best to please their leader by an
unebbing supply of crumpets. It was this intimate weakness that
was eventually exploited to get him off
the scene. TEMPO can now authoritatively reveal that Gen. Sani
Abacha was indeed, murdered.
Exasperated by Abacha's intransigence over his transmutation
scheme and a realisation of the near
futility of a forcible removal, sources say, a few serving and
retired military officers came to the
conclusion that Abacha's removal could best be achieved by
exploiting the general's weakness for
women.
A few days before his death, the plan to kill Abacha was
perfected. Brig- Gen. Halilu Akilu,
ex-president Ibrahim Babangida's hatchet man and alter-ego, was
said to have set it in motion. He
procured two Indian girls whom he introduced to Abacha's
philandering pal and former Federal Capital
Territory Minister, Lt. Gen. Jeremiah Useni, reliable sources
confirmed. The two Indian whores were
actually introduced by Akilu as reputable business tycoons in
search of business connections in Nigeria
. With a hefty carousing reputation, it did not take Useni a
long time to think up of other uses the girls
could be put. The international plank of Akilu's plan has always
generated heat because of the
implications it has to the overall resolution of the political
crisis, especially the inescapable link it has to
the natural death theory of Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola's passing.
Even, the Americans confirm that the
direction of press reports tallied with much of the classified
materials they had. James Rubin, American
State Department's spokesperson said then: "With respect to Gen.
Abacha, we do not have a
conclusive evidence that Gen. Abacha was poisoned," but
acknowledged "we are aware of reports to
that effect." Intelligence analysts in the United States of
America also agreed that Abacha was poisoned.
TEMPO sources say that the international intelligence agencies
were aware of the poison option but
thought of it as one of many possibilities. Akilu, still
retaining vital links with the Nigerian security
apparatus, literally sauntered, undetected, past the corterie of
Abacha security men and loyalists. Useni
seemed the perfect choice for the job. Akilu who picked him was
said to have had a mountain of
intelligence files on Useni while in office under Babangida. It
is also said that the cosy relationship
between Abacha and Useni, even before the latter took over
power, was sustained by their mutual
interest in sex romps. And Useni reaped immensely from procuring
girls for his boss. Though the
Federal Capital Territory Minister, Useni easily worked his way
into a virtual number two position in the
regime, his unhindered access to the man, an advantage that
Useni never declined from using even in the
ungodly hours of the day, was a cinch to Akilu's plot.So it was
an unwary Useni who willingly agreed to
get Akilu's ladies linked to Abacha. Without any hitch, the two
girls got access to Abacha and instantly
had a direct line to his loins. Investigations further revealed
that the two Indian girls were not exactly
two- bit whores but intelligent ladies recruited to carry out a
predetermined mission. The girls acted out
the script perfectly. Information available to TEMPO reveal that
the night of 7 June, 1998, was one
heavily sex-laden night with the Indian 'spices.' Abacha was
said to have taken on the two ladies in a
heady party. Useni, keen on making his boss happy, left
before midnight so Abacha could have
some privacy.
The six-room villa guest house, has a floor which served as the
slaughter house for all the damsels that
Useni and others procured for Gen. Abacha. While the party with
the Indian girls downstairs went on,
Abacha was said to have dashed upstairs at intervals to see
Onyinye, the Igbo beauty, who was not
allowed to venture downstairs. Onyinye, perhaps the most visible
Abacha girlfriend is known to cruise
around Abuja in her 4-wheel jeep. In accomplishing their
mission, the Indian girls employed the intervals
Abacha left them to savour the beauty upstairs. The apples and
drink were spiked with noxious
substances. As they worked on Abacha sexually, they urged him on
to have generous bites of the apple
and naturally the drink to wash it down. After about three hours
of vigorous love-making, Abacha
suddenly began to jerk, at first mildly and later violently.
Within 30 minutes, he collapsed and died.
Major-Al-Mustapha, Abacha's Chief Security Officer, now facing
trial for political assassinations,
promptly arrested the Indian ladies. Sources disclosed that he
changed his plan to arrest Gen. Useni in
order not to let out the news too quickly that his boss was
dead. He needed time to make contacts and
to plot. Mustapha was equally said to have realised that a major
arresting a Lt. General, when he did not
plan a coup, would have raised eyebrows and backfired.
The period between Abacha's sudden death and the time the news
was made available to the
Provisional Ruling Council (PRC) was the most tasking and
difficult for Mustapha. He had to weigh the
options with consultations with Maryam Abacha. First, to seize
power, he needed to secure the support
of all the army's general officers commanding, (GOCs), get fire
backing from the brigades, have the
artillery and armour in his control and successfully place all
the service chiefs under arrest. Major
Al-Mustapha did not have all these. He knew his limitations and
simply played safe. He decided to offer
Brig. General Buba Marwa, former military administrator of Lagos
State and Brig. Gen. Yakubu
Mua'zu, Commander Brigade of Guards the post of the Head of
State. Both of them, it was gathered,
developed cold feet and rejected the offer. Apparently, the two
officers did not trust Mustapha. While
Mustapha sought the acceptance of either Marwa or Mua'zu, the
PRC members who had been
assembled were getting restless. Convinced that the option left
was to settle for Gen. Abdulsalami
Abubakar, favoured by Maryam Abacha, the late dictator's widow
and Gen. Babangida, Mustapha
proceeded to formally inform the PRC about Abacha's death.
Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi, then Chief of Army Staff and a known angler
for the throne, was the first to react.
"How can you assemble us Generals here to deceive us. If it is
false, you will be dealt with," he
reportedly threatened Mustapha. Yet, the silence engulfed the
room and the tension around was
palpable. It was Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar that eventually eased
the tension by demanding that they
all be allowed to see Abacha's dead body. All the PRC members
trooped out, with Mustapha leading,
to see the body themselves. Inside sources disclosed that almost
immediately, the politics of succession
commenced. Bamaiyi started moves to win the support of other
members to become the Head of State.
Mustapha avoided Bamaiyi completely while the PRC meeting
lasted. Mustapha, still in control, had
ordered all the orderlies that came with the PRC members to the
car park. He instructed members of
the presidential Body Guards (BGS) to lock all entry and exit
gates, leaving only one gate at the rear
open. The PRC members were unaware of these developments.
Soon, they were all herded into the aircraft for the journey to
Kano to bury Gen. Abacha. While the
burial lasted, the succession politics went on. Gen. Ibrahim
Babangida, moments after Abacha's body
was lowered into the grave, called Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and
two GOCs, Sar'ki Muktar of the I
Mechanized Division, Kaduna and Brig- Gen. Godwin Abbe of the 82
Division, Enugu, aside.
Babangida simply whispered to the two GOCs: "Remember the
assignment I said you have for me. Call
me." The two GOCs were said to have answered "yes". Thereafter,
Babangida left for Minna after a
short private discussion with Gen. Abubakar. Babangida, even
under Abacha, still had a strong hold on
the GOCs. Abacha knew but was handicapped because he needed
these officers to hold on to power.
With the support of the GOC's who did Babangida's bidding and
the fact that Maryam Abacha and
Mustapha preferred Gen. Abubakar, the latter became the new Head
of State. Useni's role in procuring
the Indian girls that snuffed life out of the late dictator, saw
to his immediate ostracisation from the
emergent centre of power. When Mustapha briefed the BGs and
Strike Force, (SF) members about
Abacha's death, they reportedly urged him to step in as head of
state, pledging their loyalty. But
Mustapha refused. His reason: "what impression do you want me to
create in the minds of the Abachas?
They will think I killed oga."
Indeed, if Abacha had not been murdered by the Indian
'LovePeddlers,' the story would have been
different. The late dictator had plans to elevate his good
friend, Jerry Useni. Two weeks before his
death, TEMPO authoritatively gathered that Abacha had gathered
his service chiefs and told them he
would continue in power. He had completed plans to retire them
and also retire from the Army himself.
The game plan was simply intriguing. He, Abacha would retire
from the Army and move to Kano. Jerry
Useni would, however, be appointed the Chief of Defence Staff
with full powers to complete the
transition programme. Major Mustapha would remain his Chief
Security Officer. To make sure that
Useni play by the script, the BGs and SF will be divided into
two groups. One group will remain in
Abuja with Useni and Mustapha, while the other group will move
to Kano with Abacha.
Gen. Abacha, after retirement, will declare his intention not to
step into politics. Emirs, chiefs and
prominent pro-Abacha northern politicians had been lined up to
pay him visits and to urge and insist that
he contest as a civilian to become the president. Marches,
demonstrations, media campaign and adverts
were to follow suit with the same plea, that Abacha must
contest. Abacha will then announce his
candidature on the strength of the pressures from prominent
Northerners, Nigerians and the masses.
Useni was to conduct a kangaroo presidential election and hand
over power to General Sani Abacha.
An inside source disclosed that the latest plan was a well-
knitted one and not even all the members of
the Abacha kitchen cabinet knew about the details. Then the
Indian girls came calling and that put paid
to all the plans of self- succession. The manner and timing of
his death caught everyone around him
napping and scampering. Before they could recover, things moved
and changed fast. The Abacha family
came under heat. Gen. Abubakar played the Babangida script to
the letter.
While Nigerians rejoiced that the dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha
finally bit the dust, different theories about
his death flew around. The theory of Viagra; and the speculation
on heart attack and injection by the
Indian girls were bandied across the country. This theory of
injection was given some reinforcement
about 10 months after Abacha's demise, when his widow, Maryam,
alleged that the strongman did not
die of any illness but was murdered by some of his close
associates. In an interview published in a Lagos
weekly tabloid, Mrs. Abacha said her husband was hale and hearty
but would leave the resolution of
Abacha's sudden death to physicians.
Mrs. Abacha's howls did not seem without some justification
against the background that Gen. Abacha
still performed a state function the day before his death. It
was the former strongman himself who
received and saw off, at the Abuja Airport, Palestinian
Liberation leader, Yasser Arafat who came for a
one- day official visit to the country. Nigerians were, however,
unbothered about what killed their
outgone tormentor and whether he was murdered or not. What
mattered then was that they were rid of
the dark-goggled dictator, who unleashed so much terror and
deaths on the people.
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