Depression to Destiny: The Abdulsalami Story

Strange but true: General Abdulsalami Abubakar would never have been Nigeria’s head of state if not for depression. You heard me right. After finishing at the Provincial Secondary School, Bida, in 1962, he got admission into the Technical College, Kaduna, but, having also attended an interview for the Nigerian Military Training College (NMTC) — now known as the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) — he opted for a military career and was enlisted into the newly formed Nigerian Air Force in 1963. He was sent for training in Germany, where everything was going smoothly with his flight lessons until he had depression. He was forced to drop out as he could not take part in the final round of training.

But another door opened: he returned to Nigeria and transferred to the Nigerian Army. In Nigeria’s history, only the army produced military heads of state. If he had not dropped out of the air force, he would never have been head of state. It so happened that when Gen Sani Abacha, the head of state, died suddenly on June 8, 1998, Abdulsalami was chosen by the Provisional Ruling Council (PRC), Nigeria’s highest ruling body, as his successor. He went on to organise the transition to civil rule in record time, leading to the birth of the fourth republic in May 1999. Nigeria has now practised democracy non-stop for 27 years. Until now, the longest spell was six years, from 1960 to 1966.

Abdulsalami, born on June 13, 1942 in Minna to a Hausa father from Kano and a Kanuri mother from Nguru, marked his 84th birthday yesterday by unveiling his autobiography, ‘Call of Duty’, taking readers through the story of his life: his birth, childhood, youth, military career and family. In addition to Abdulsalami, he was also named “Abdullahi”. The Emir of Kano at the time of his birth was Alhaji Abdullahi Bayero dan Muhammad Abbas who reigned from 1926 to 1953. It was an honour to be named after a king — he also became known by the nickname “Mai Kano”, the traditional title of the emir. But the amazing detail was how he became, so to say, “Mai Nigeria”.

He recalls the depression episode: “As a result of my state of mind, I was grounded. I couldn’t continue with my training as an Air Force pilot. It was part of the weeding process of the academy.  Not all students who started the training usually completed it. For example, if a trainee pilot was not able to log in 15 hours in the small two-propeller aircraft, he would not continue the training. He was weeded out and sent to another arm of the Air Force such as engineering, logistics and ordnance.” On his return to Nigeria, he decided he was going back to his first love: the army. He was not going to stay back in the air force to join the engineering or logistics or ordnance unit, or anything of the sort.

“Looking back,” he writes, “I would say without any doubt that God had a hand in everything. It was not entirely my decision. I went for Air Force training only to miss out on the final stages because I had depression. It was not my fault or my design. I ended up in the Army where I had wanted to be at the beginning. I rose to the highest rank in the Army. I ended up as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, a position I could not have attained as an Air Force officer. I would say God used depression to shape my destiny. It is beyond human comprehension. Maybe I would have crashed and died in training if depression had not halted my training.” Perspective.

The retired general seizes the opportunity to do mental health advocacy. “Depression is a serious mental health issue that we often downplay or mystify in Nigeria. Many people experience it in one form or the other manifesting as anxiety, panic attacks, low moods and suicidal feelings. We often make depression look trivial or spiritual. People who suffer from it stand the risk of being classified as mad. We need to pay more attention to this. People should also feel free to share their experiences to help others who might benefit from knowing more about depression,” he counsels. His own experience ended in praise; many others commit suicide, get stigmatised or are stoned to death.

In ‘Call of Duty’, Abdulsalami also takes us through stories of the near misses in his military career. The earliest ones were during the civil war. After a short training in Kaduna, he transferred to the army when the war had broken out in 1967. He lost a rank and became junior to his mates, notably Ibrahim Babangida, Mamman Vatsa, Gado Naso, Mohammed Magoro and Garba Duba, among others, who joined the army immediately after secondary school while he went to Germany. He commanded a battalion under the 9th Brigade during the war. The brigade was under the 2nd Infantry Division, which had just been set up with then Colonel Murtala Muhammed in command.

He twice escaped death during the war. In February 1968, Biafran troops attacked the army convoy, including petrol tankers, and this resulted in an explosion. “It was a most terrifying scene. Many soldiers died. I was lucky to escape,” he said. This was after the capture of Awka and Onitsha. But a closer shave happened not long after. He had just gone to brief Colonel Femi Daramola, the commander of the 8th Brigade and rear command. It was early evening, between 5pm and 6pm. On his way back to Udi, where the brigade headquarters was located, his Land Rover was ambushed by Biafrans. There were three other passengers in the vehicle: the driver, his orderly and signal operator.

“I lost two people instantly: my orderly and my signal operator. Both of them sat at the back of the Land Rover. My driver was the only one lucky not to have been hit. I was hit in the arm as I tried to protect him. I was sitting by his side. I knew I had to protect him. If he was killed, there was no way any of us would be able to survive the attack. But the driver dexterously drove through the ambush. If we had somersaulted at the speed at which he was moving, I would most likely have ended up in a body bag that day. By the time we escaped the ambush and reached a safe zone, I was already covered in blood. I was shot in my right arm. I also got another injury on my left arm,” he recalls.

Another near miss: Abdulsalami was about to be dismissed from the army in 1979. He was seconds away from being arrested and court-martialled. It was that close. He had been preparing to lead a contingent of Nigerian soldiers to Lebanon for peace-keeping. They were housed at the Ikeja Cantonment. Then he got a message that his wife, Fati, had just had a miscarriage. His family was living in Owode, on the Republic of Benin border, at the time. He dashed down to Owode to be with her, planning to return early the following day to Ikeja. The state he found his wife was distressing. He describes leaving her to return to Ikeja “was one of the most excruciating experiences in my life”.

He got back to Ikeja in the morning to find that a very senior officer from the army headquarters had arrived unannounced and, despite being told of the miscarriage, was angry that Abdulsalami went to Owode. The brigadier told him: “You are a useless officer!” An enraged Abdulsalami, who was then a major and far junior, gave it back to him in full measure. “I looked at him straight in the eye and told him no one, not even any one of my seniors, had ever called me a useless officer in my entire military career. I told the officer it was only my life I hadn’t given the unit. I informed him it was people like him that would discourage me from giving my life,” the former head of state recounts in his book.

The officer reported the matter to Lt-Gen Danjuma, the army chief, who ordered that Abdulsalami be arrested immediately. “But as God would have it, Major-General Emmanuel Abisoye was at the Army Headquarters when the officer was reporting me. Without waiting for my side of the story, Major-General Abisoye immediately came to my defence. He said I must have been provoked,” he recalls. “I’m eternally grateful to Abisoye. He not only saved my military career, but he also prevented certain imprisonment. He later pulled my ears, saying: ‘You idiot. You’ve committed a court-martial offence. Do you want to be sent to prison? Just go away, I don’t want to hear any word from you.’” Destiny.

All in all, I am happy Abdulsalami has finally told his own version of history, including on issues such as the deaths of Abacha and Bashorun MKO Abiola, the 1999 Constitution, and the depletion of foreign reserves under his watch. He is known as a peacemaker and you can tell from the tone of his narration that he is not interested in ruffling feathers — even though the journalist in me would want something quite controversial. We have been challenging many of our former leaders to write their stories. They are finally obliging us. Gen Yakubu Gowon just did, after Gen Babangida. It’s a shame we never heard from Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, but we are better off not crying over spilt milk.

AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…

LOVE YOUR COUNTRY

In his Democracy Day speech on Friday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said something that caught my attention: “Criticise me, disagree with me, but never stop believing in Nigeria.” That is exactly my attitude. I used to equate the president with the country and poured invectives on Nigeria rather than those in power. One day, it dawned on me that presidents come and go but Nigeria remains my country. I have to love it. The Bible directs Christians to “pray for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity”. In Nigeria, many pastors have abandoned the divine duty of intercession because of their political prejudices and biases. Sad.

NDC VS OBIDIENTS

There was a mini crisis in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) over a number of issues, notably primaries and the place of Mr Peter Obi, the adopted presidential candidate, in the party hierarchy. Senator Seriake Dickson, the founder of the party, had to come on ARISE TV to lay down the marker, declaring that the NDC was not going to be an SPV and so on. Obidients are angry and some are already calling Dickson names and threatening to support only Obi in the general election. I have been wondering for a while: Obi had three solid years to prepare for the 2027 elections but it seems he is now caught in no man’s land. What would it have taken him to found his own party? Baffling.

FREED BUT NOT FREE

Thankfully, the sister of Chief Adebayo Adelabu and her twin sons were rescued from kidnappers by the police after a well-executed operation in Ibadan, Oyo state. I heard people complain that the sister of a “rich man” was rescued while the “poor people” that were abducted in Ogbomoso remain in captivity. What I found obvious was that it was “petty” kidnappers that did the Ibadan kidnappings whereas the Ogbomoso abductions were carried out by terrorists. Their modes of operation are markedly different. While I am glad that the police operation in Ibadan was successful, I can only hope that we will soon come up with a more effective approach to tackling terrorism. Imperative.

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Nigerians on social media have not been taking it easy with South Africa since they lost 2-0 to Mexico in the opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. There is the football rivalry, and there is also the South African xenophobia against black Africans, Nigerians inclusive. South Africa’s performance against Mexico was so pathetic that they could not complain about being shown two red cards for late and reckless tackles. Their forward line was particularly tame and barely troubled the Mexicans. I enjoyed this particular tweet: Commentator 1: “Why aren’t the South African players attacking?” Commentator2: “It’s because… they only attack when they see black people.” Hahahaha…