HOW GENERAL SANI ABACHA DIED

Late General Sani Abacha

This is an event in 1998 that changed Nigeria’s history. By June 1998, General Sani Abacha had ruled Nigeria for almost five years. Segregated by the West, Abacha promised elections and a transition to civilian rule by October 1998, but with just months to polls, all the political parties nominated him as their candidate for president.

Professor Sadiq Suleiman Wali, General Sani Abacha’s personal doctor, recently revealed the details of the Abacha’s sudden death seventeen years after his mysterious death.

Professor Wali describes Abacha as “a quiet person, calm person. He could be really firm on some issues, but normally he didn’t talk much”.

Professor Wali served as physician to the three previous Nigerian Heads of State after being reluctantly recruited in that role in the early 1980s. He considered himself politically neutral and lived outside the sprawling heavily guarded presidential complex known as Aso Rock in the capital Abuja. But he was always in the presidential entourage.

Professor Wali says Abacha’s health was not so serious  before his death. “Abacha was generally healthy though he had some health issues, he was treated, he’s responded [to that treatment] very well. He didn’t have any heart-related diseases at that time.”

                                           Professor Wali, Abacha's personal physician

On the 7 of June, 1998, Wali had been with Abacha, as he hosted the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat and all seemed well. The next morning General Abacha was due to fly to the OAU summit being held in Burkina-Faso and Professor Wali was due to go with him.

Professor Wali recounts that “around 6 am I had a phone call from his security officers, and they said, "Please come, come to the villa, come urgently!"  Before I even could get ready, they came and picked me. I had no idea what it was all about.”

The car carrying the doctor sped towards the presidential villa through a special entrance – a shortcut which only the president was allowed to use.

The doctor realised something was seriously wrong.

“I arrived and met the Chief security there and he said “doctor come in, please, come in!” We all rushed and I just saw the president. There was another doctor who came earlier, resuscitating him. Abacha was in the sitting room. He was on the couch. He was in his normal work clothes. I didn’t panic. I’ve seen a lot of serious problems before in my practice, but to affect him was very tough, definitely. I joined and we did as much as we could to resuscitate him. But I realised that he was dead because he was fuming. We just continued resuscitation and even injected some things, but it didn’t work.”

After 40 minutes trying to resuscitate the stricken general, Professor Wali said General Abacha had died. “I said, sorry – there’s nothing we can do”.

There was no immediate public announcement, in a country prone to coups, Abacha’s head of security Major Hamza Almustapha first increased the guard around the presidential complex and then called the heads of the armed forces to gather to decide on his replacement.

“Immediately the security officer took over, and he invited all the service chiefs to come to Abuja, by then most of them were based in Lagos,” says doctor Wali.

When the service chiefs arrived, some of them asked to see the body to pay their last respect to their former leader.

“They wanted to make sure that he is dead. And some of them were crying” – says Wali.

Finally, the Professor broke the news of the Head of State’s death to the First Family. But, obviously, the sudden death of the apparently healthy Head of State raised a few questions.

In a piece published by CKN Nigeria, it was said that late General Abacha was in the company of two Indian prostitutes who were sent to poison him. The Nigerian government officials however stated another reason, a heart attack.

However, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late General Sani Abacha, narrates the last moments of the Abacha's death and what preceded it, clearly disclosing what really happened to the former country leader.

"When I got to the bedside of the Head of State, he was already gasping. Ordinarily, I could not just touch him. It was not allowed in our job. But under the situation on ground, I knelt close to him and shouted, “General Sani Abacha, Sir, please grant me permission to touch and carry you.

Contrary to insinuations, speculations and sad rumours initiated by some sections of the society, I maintain that the sudden collapse of the health system of the late Head of State started previous day (Sunday, 7th June, 1998) right from the Abuja International Airport immediately after one of the white security operatives or personnel who accompanied President Yasser Arafat of Palestine shook hands with him (General Abacha) I had noticed the change in the countenance of the late Commander-in-Chief and informed the Aide-de-Camp, Lt. Col. Abdallah, accordingly. He, however, advised that we keep a close watch on the Head of State.

Major Hamza Almustapha - Abacha's Chief Security Officer

Later in the evening of 8th June, 1998, around 6p.m; his doctor came around, administered an injection to stabilize him. He was advised to have a short rest. Happily, enough, by 9 p.m; the Head of State was bouncing and receiving visitors until much later when General Jeremiah Timbut Useni, the then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, came calling. He was fond of the Head of State. They were very good friends.

They stayed and chatted together till about 3.35a.m. A friend of the house was with me in my office and as he was bidding me farewell, he came back to inform me that the FCT Minister, General Useni was out of the Head of State’s Guest House within the Villa. I then decided to inform the ADC and other security boys that I would be on my way home to prepare for the early morning event at the International Conference Centre.

At about 5a.m; the security guards ran to my quarters to inform me that the Head of State was very unstable. At first, I thought it was a coup attempt. Immediately, I prepared myself fully for any eventuality.

As an intelligence officer and the Chief Security Officer to the Head of State for that matter, I devised a means of diverting the attention of the security boys from my escape route by asking my wife to continue chatting with them at the door – she was in the house while the boys were outside. From there, I got to the Guest House of the Head of State before them.

When I got to the bedside of the Head of State, he was already gasping. Ordinarily, I could not just touch him. It was not allowed in our job. But under the situation on ground, I knelt close to him and shouted, “General Sani Abacha, Sir, please grant me permission to touch and carry you.” I again knocked at the stool beside the bed and shouted in the same manner, yet he did not respond. I then realized there was a serious danger. I immediately called the Head of State’s personal physician, Dr. Wali, who arrived the place under eight minutes from his house.

He immediately gave Oga – General Abacha – two doses of injection, one at the heart and another close to his neck. This did not work apparently as the Head of State had turned very cold. He then told me that the Head of State was dead and nothing could be done after all.

I there and then asked the personal physician to remain with the dead body while I dashed home to be fully prepared for the problems that might arise from the incident. As soon as I informed my wife, she collapsed and burst into tears. I secured my house and then ran back.

At that point, the Aide-de-Camp had been contacted by me and we decided that great caution must be taken in handling the grave situation.

Again, I must reiterate that the issue of my Boss dying on top of women was a great lie just as the insinuation that General Sani Abacha ate and died of poisoned apples was equally a wicked lie. My question is: did Chief M.K.O Abiola die of poisoned apples or did he die on top of women? As I had stated at the Oputa Panel, their deaths were organized. Pure and simple!

It was at this point that I used our special communication gadgets to diplomatically invite the Service Chiefs, Military Governors and some few elements purportedly to a meeting with the Head of State by 9a.m. at the Council Chamber. That completed, I also decided to talk to some former leaders of the nation to inform them that General Sani Abacha would like to meet them by 9a.m.

Situation became charged however, when one of the Service Chiefs, Lieutenant General Ishaya Rizi Bamaiyi, who pretended to be with us, suggested he be made the new Head of State after we had quietly informed him of the death of General Sani Abacha. He even suggested we should allow him access to Chief Abiola. We smelt a rat and other heads of security agencies, on hearing this, advised I move Chief Abiola to a safer destination. I managed to do this in spite of the fact that I had been terribly overwhelmed with the crisis at hand.

But then, when some junior officers over-heard the suggestion of one of the Service Chiefs earlier mentioned, it was suggested to me that we should finish all the members of the Provisional Ruling Council and give the general public an excuse that there was a meeting of the PRC during which a shoot-out occurred between some members of the Provisional Ruling Council and the Body Guards to the Head of State

When I sensed that we would be contending with far more delicate issues than the one on ground, I talked to Generals Buba Marwa and Ibrahim Sabo who both promptly advised us – the junior officers – against any bloodshed. They advised we contact General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (former Military President) who equally advised against any bloodshed but that we should support the most senior officer in the Provisional Ruling Council (PRC) to be the new Head of State.

Since the words of our elders are words of wisdom, we agreed to support General Jeremiah Useni. Along the line, General Bamaiyi lampooned me saying, “Can’t you put two and two together to be four? Has it not occurred to you that General Useni who was the last man with the Head of State might have poisoned him, knowing full well that he was the most senior officer in the Provisional Ruling Council?”

Naturally, I became furious with General Useni since General Abacha’s family had earlier on complained severally about the closeness of the two Generals; at that, a decision was taken to storm General Useni’s house with almost a battalion of soldiers to effect his arrest. Again, some heads of security units and agencies, including my wife, advised against the move.

The next most senior person and officer in government was General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who was then the Chief of Defence Staff. We rejected the other Service Chief, who, we believed, was too ambitious and destructive. We settled for General Abubakar and about six of us called him inside a room in the Head of State’s residence to break the news of the death of General Abacha to him.

As a General with vast experience, Abdulsalami Abubakar humbly requested to see and pray for the soul of General Abacha which we allowed. Do we consider this a mistake? Because right there, he – Abubakar – went and sat on the seat of the late Head of State. Again, I was very furious. Like I said at the Oputa Panel, if caution was not applied, I would have gunned him down.

Who allowed him to sit on the seat of the Head of State?

The revolution the boys were yearning for would have started right there. The assumption that we could not have succeeded in the revolution was a blatant lie. We were in full control of the State House and the Brigade of Guards. We had loyal troops in Keffi and in some other areas surrounding the seat of government – Abuja. But I allowed peace to reign because we believed it would create further crises in the country.

Subsequently, we followed the advice of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and the wise counsel of some loyal senior officers and jointly agreed that General Abdulsalami Abubakar be installed Head of State, Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces immediately after the burial of General Sani Abacha in Kano. It is an irony of history that the same Service Chief who wanted to be Head of State through bloodshed, later instigated the new members of the Provisional Ruling Council against us and branded us killers, termites and all sorts of hopeless names. They planned, arranged our arrest, intimidation and subsequent jungle trial in 1998 and 1999. These, of course, led to our terrible condition in several prisons and places of confinement."

General Abdulsalami Abubakar - Abacha's Successor

For those familiar with history, General Sani Abacha was a Nigerian Army officer who served as the de facto President of Nigeria from 1993 to 1998. He attended the Nigerian Military Training College and Mons Officer Cadet School before being commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in 1963.

Abacha was commissioned in 1963 after he had attended Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot, England. Previously, he had attended the Nigerian Military Training College in Kaduna.

Abacha's military career is known to be distinguished by a twine of successful coups. He was by some records the most successful coup plotter in the history of Nigeria. When he was a 2nd Lieutenant with the 3rd Battalion in Kaduna, he took part in the July 1966 Nigerian counter-coup from the conceptual stage. He might have allegedly been a participant in the Lagos or Abeokuta phases of the coup the previous January as well.

Abacha was also a prominent figure in the 1983 Nigerian coup d'état which brought General Muhammadu Buhari to power, and the August 1985 coup which removed Buhari from power. When General Ibrahim Babangida was named President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1985, Abacha was named Chief of Army Staff. He was subsequently appointed Minister of Defence in 1990.

In 1990, Abacha became the first Nigerian soldier to attain the rank of a full General without skipping a single rank.

On 17 November 1993, Abacha overthrew the short-lived transitional government of Chief Ernest Shonekan. In September 1994, he issued a decree that placed his government above the jurisdiction of the courts, effectively giving him absolute power. Another decree gave him the right to detain anyone for up to three months without trial.

The Abacha administration became the first to record extraordinary economic achievements in the history of Nigeria. He oversaw an increase in the country's foreign exchange reserves from $494 million in 1993 to $9.6 billion by the middle of 1997, reduced the external debt of Nigeria from $36 billion in 1993 to $27 billion by 1997, brought all the controversial privatization programs of the Babangida administration to halt, reduced an inflation rate of 54% inherited from the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida to 8.5% between 1993 and 1998, all while the nation's primary commodity, oil was at an average of $15 per barrel.

Despite the achievements, Abacha's government was accused of human rights abuses, especially after the hanging of Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa by the Oputa Commission;  Moshood Abiola and Olusegun Obasanjo were jailed for treason, and Wole Soyinka charged in absentia with treason. His regime suffered opposition externally by pro-democracy activists, most of which were Nigerians. He however supported the Economic Community of West African States and sent Nigerian troops to Liberia and Sierra Leone to help restore democracy to those countries.

Early in 1998, Abacha announced that elections would be held that August, with a view toward handing power to a civilian government on 1 October. It soon became apparent, though, that by April 1998 he had strong-armed the country's five political parties into endorsing him as the sole presidential candidate.

Abacha died in June 1998 while at the presidential villa in Abuja. He was buried on the same day, according to Muslim tradition, without an autopsy. This fueled speculation that he may have been executed extrajudicially by way of being poisoned by political rivals via prostitutes. The government identified the cause of death as a sudden heart attack. It is reported that he was in the company of two Indian prostitutes imported from Dubai. It is thought that the prostitutes laced his drink with a poisonous substance, making Abacha feel unwell around 4:30am. He retired to his bed and was dead by 6:15am.

After Abacha's death, Maj. Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff, was sworn in as the country's head of state. Abubakar had never before held public office and was quick to announce a transition to democracy, which led to the election of President Olusegun Obasanjo a few months later.

General Abacha was married to Maryam Abacha and had seven sons and three daughters. He left fifteen grandchildren: eight girls and seven boys.

Late Abacha's Signature

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