Security Officer of Gen. Sani Abacha, former
Nigeria military head of state from November
1993 to his death in June 1998.
In this alleged personal essay, the CSO writes
that he was at the bedside of the late dictator
just prior to his death, and insists that Abacha
did not die by poisoned apple, or while with
Indian prostitutes as has been speculated. The
narrative also details the alleged
manipulations that followed till a new head of
state was sworn in. Read below...
Via African Telegram
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.
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 9p.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
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 PRC?"
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.
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.
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.
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