So, who killed Abacha and Abiola? By Ochereome Nnanna
So much is touted about the “inviolability” of the sovereignty of nations under the United Nations Charter. It simply means that a nation’s entitlement to full control of its territory and affairs cannot be forcefully intruded upon by external powers. In practice, however, the amount of power a state projects determines its ability to defend its sovereignty while forcing itself on the sovereignty of others in pursuit of its strategic interests.
Nigeria’s sovereignty is at its lowest level today. A superpower like the United States could determine who emerges as president, as in Olusegun Obasanjo (1999); and who leaves that seat, as in Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. The USA recently declared Nigeria a “country of particular concern” and lobbed a couple of Tomahawk missiles in a Sokoto terrorist camp. It walked in with 200 of its soldiers on a military “partnership” it literally foisted on the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.
For that matter, a rash of ragtag jihadist terrorists, Boko Haram fighters, Fulani bandits and Fulani herdsmen (including foreign Fulani jihadist desperados) simply acquired illegal military-grade weapons and invaded our bushes to terrorise millions of indigenous Nigerians with a very tepid response by the Nigerian government. Yet, the same government and its mouthpieces keep mouthing off about Nigeria’s sovereignty! Actually, many of our leaders are agents of foreign powers who sponsor them and stand ready to remove them. The answer to the question of “who killed Abacha and Abiola” says it all about the strength of Nigeria’s sovereignty.
After General Ibrahim Babangida annulled the 12th June, 1993 presidential election, he vacated Aso Villa on 27th August 1993. He constituted an Interim National Government (ING) and left his closest partner in military politics, General Sani Abacha, as the Secretary of Defence of the ING. Abacha, a ruthless dictator, spent only 97 days before he assumed power as Head of State. His fresh military rule lasted for another five years. The June 12 movement, powered by the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), rejected the military government, insisting on the revalidation of Moshood Abiola’s mandate. After declaring himself president at Epetedo, Lagos Island, Abiola was whisked into detention from which he never came out alive.
By June 1998, Abacha’s transition programme was coming to an end. He was poised to pull on his uniform and stand as the sole presidential candidate of the five political parties operated by his supporters. As the world watched with deepening concern, the question was what would become of Abiola and his mandate if Abacha was sworn in as “president.” What would NADECO and the South West do? The principalities and powers that rule the world decided that the only way out of a possible second civil war in Nigeria was to get rid of the two belligerents at the centre of the impasse: Abacha and Abiola.
On 7th June 1998, President of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), Yasser Arafat, paid a seemingly innocuous visit to General Abacha at Aso Villa, Abuja. Abacha saw him off at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. The following morning, Nigerians woke up to the news that Abacha, who was known to be nursing some sort of terminal disease, had died. General Abdulsalami Abubakar was summarily sworn in. The story started making the rounds that Abacha did not die from his illness. The most popular version of “what happened” was that he “ate apples” administered to him by some delectable Indian damsels.
Pro-Abiola groups, especially NADECO, were reenergised and rose to demand that Abubakar hand over to Abiola. Then commenced a series of international visitors to Abiola’s detention suite in Abuja, persuading him to give up the struggle and allow Nigeria to resume on a clean slate. When Abiola, spurred by his supporters, would not budge, the principalities and powers moved again. Tom Pickering, a former US Ambassador to Nigeria and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, and Susan Rice, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, visited Abiola and “drank tea” with him. Moments after they left, Abiola fell seriously sick and died.
Abiola’s mandate was dead, so was Abacha’s ambition to become a civilian president. The Abdulsalami Abubakar regime was free to hurry through an eleven-month transition programme and hand over to an elected civilian president. To answer the question of what to do with Abiola’s mandate, it was resolved that a favoured Yoruba person with international standing should be sponsored to take Abiola’s place. The mantle fell on General Obasanjo, a former military Head of State who was serving a life jail sentence in Yola Prisons. The Northern elite (military, political and traditional), for the very first time, voluntarily forwent their right to contest for president and supported Obasanjo, who fought the Biafra war with and for them.
The question of who killed Abacha and Abiola erupted again recently when Dennis Amachree, a retired Assistant DSS Director, published his memoirs: DSS @ 40: My Journey Behind the Shield, recycling the security establishment’s official claim that Abacha died “in the presence” of a female guest, at 4.05 am. Retired Major Al Mustapha, Abacha’s dreaded Chief Security Officer and fierce loyalist who endured 15 years in detention after Abacha’s death, hotly dunked the official DSS version of the cause of Abacha’s demise.
Meanwhile, as soon as Obasanjo was sworn in in May 1999, he flew to Washington, D.C., to thank President Bill Clinton. They forged a close personal friendship. When Clinton and his wife returned the visit in August 2000, Obasanjo named the road to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, “Bill Clinton Drive.” To date, it is strongly held that Arafat was sent to take care of Abacha with a poisonous handshake while the American delegation to Abiola also delivered as ordered. It seemed America “resolved” that logjam and tapped Obasanjo for president.
Our independence and sovereignty are not really in our hands.
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