Sani Abacha
Sani Abacha | |
---|---|
![]() | |
10th Head of State of Nigeria | |
In office 17 November 1993 – 8 June 1998 | |
Preceded by | Ernest Shonekan |
Succeeded by | Abdulsalami Abubakar |
Chief of Defence Staff | |
In office August 1990 – November 1993 | |
Preceded by | Domkat Bali |
Succeeded by | Oladipo Diya |
Chief of Army Staff | |
In office August 1985 – August 1990 | |
Preceded by | Ibrahim Babangida |
Succeeded by | Salihu Ibrahim |
Personal details | |
Born | Kano, Northern Region, British Nigeria (now Kano, Nigeria) | 20 September 1943
Died | 8 June 1998 State House, Abuja, Nigeria | (aged 54)
Nationality | Nigerian |
Political party | none (military) |
Spouse(s) | Maryam Abacha |
Children | show
See |
Signature | ![]() |
Military service | |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Branch/service | ![]() |
Years of service | 1963–1998 |
Rank | General |
Battles/wars | Nigerian Civil War |
Sani Abacha GCFR (pronunciation (help·info); 20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military general who served as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He was also Chief of Army Staff between 1985 to 1990; Chief of Defence Staff between 1990 to 1993; and Minister of Defence. In 1993, Abacha became the first Nigerian Army officer to attain the rank of a full military general without skipping a single rank.[1]
His rule saw the achievement of several economic feats and also recorded human rights abuses and several political assassinations.[2][3] He has been dubbed a kleptocrat and a dictator by several commentators.[4][5][6][7][8]
Early life[]
A Kanuri from Borno, Abacha was born and brought up in Kano.[9][10] He attended the Nigerian Military Training College in Kaduna, and was commissioned in 1963 after he had attended the Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot, England.[11]
Military service[]
In 1969, he fought during the Nigerian Civil War as a platoon and battalion commander. He later became commander of the 2nd Infantry Division in 1975.[12] In 1983, Abacha was general officer commanding of the 2nd Mechanised Division, and was appointed a member of the Supreme Military Council.[13]
Rise to power[]
The military career of Abacha was marked by involvement in all the military coups in Nigeria. When he was still a second lieutenant with the 3rd Battalion in Kaduna, he took part in the July 1966 Nigerian counter-coup from the conceptual stage.[14] He could well have been a participant in the Lagos or Abeokuta phases of the coup the previous January as well.[15]
In addition, Abacha played a prominent role in the 1983 Nigerian coup d'état which brought General Muhammadu Buhari to power; and the 1985 Nigerian coup d'etat which removed Buhari and brought General Ibrahim Babangida to power.[16] 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 later appointed Minister of Defence in 1990.[17][18][19]
Year | hideRank |
---|---|
1963 | Second Lieutenant (Commissioned) |
1966 | Lieutenant |
1967 | Captain |
1969 | Major |
1972 | Lieutenant Colonel |
1975 | Colonel |
1980 | Brigadier General |
1984 | Major General |
1987 | Lieutenant General |
1990 October | General |
Interim government[]
On 17 November 1993, Abacha, being the Minister of Defence and most senior official within the military hierarchy, forced interim president Ernest Shonekan to hand over.[20] In his nationwide broadcast, Abacha cited the socio-political uncertainties under the Interim National Government as a cause of his resignation.[21]
Head of state[]
He ruled as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In September 1994, he issued a decree that placed his government above the jurisdiction of the courts[22] effectively giving him absolute power. Another decree gave him the right to detain anyone for up to three months without trial. He further abrogated Decree 691 of 1993.[23][24]
Regime security[]
Abacha's chief security officer Hamza al-Mustapha had an iron grip on the apparatus of military-security. Abacha assembled a personal security force of 3,000 men trained in North Korea; and the Nigeria Police Force underwent a large scale retraining. The state cracked down ruthlessly on criminals and dissidents, the National Democratic Coalition was attributed with several bombings across the country, and several members were arrested.[25] When Moshood Abiola proclaimed himself president, he was jailed for treason and subsequently died in custody.[26] Also, former military ruler Olusegun Obasanjo was jailed for treason and accused of plotting a coup together with General Oladipo Diya.[27] In 1997, General Shehu Yar'Adua who was also jailed died in custody. Abacha's regime was accused of human rights abuses, especially after the hanging of Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa (only one of several executions of Ogoni activists opposed to the exploitation of Nigerian resources by the multinational petroleum company, Royal Dutch Shell), whose death later led to the eviction of Nigeria from the Commonwealth Nations.[28] Wole Soyinka was charged in absentia with treason.[18] Abacha's regime suffered opposition externally by pro-democracy activists.
National economy[]
Abacha's administration oversaw an increase in the country's foreign exchange reserves from $494 million in 1993 to $9.6 billion by the middle of 1997, and reduced the external debt of Nigeria from $36 billion in 1993 to $27 billion by 1997.[29][30] Abacha also constructed between 25–100 km of urban road in major cities such as Kano, Gusau, Benin, Funtua, Zaria, Enugu, Kaduna, Aba, Lagos, Lokoja and Port Harcourt.[31] Abacha brought the privatisation programs of the Ibrahim Babangida administration to a halt, reduced an inflation rate of 54% inherited from Ernest Shonekan to 8.5% between 1993 and 1998, all while the nation's primary commodity, oil was at an average of $15 per barrel.[30] GDP growth, despite being estimated to be higher than the 2.2% growth in 1995, was largely limited to the petroleum sector.[32]
Corruption[]
The unprecedented economic achievements coincided with the rapid expansion of corruption. Abacha's national security adviser, Alhaji Ismaila Gwarzo, was accused by the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo to have played a central role in the looting and transfer of money to overseas accounts.[33] Abacha's son, Mohammed Abacha and best friend Alhaji Mohammed M. Sada were also involved. A preliminary report published by the Abdulsalam Abubakar transitional government in November 1998 described the process. The report mentioned that Sani Abacha told Ismaila Gwarzo to provide fake national security funding requests, which Abacha approved. The funds were usually sent in cash or travellers' cheques by the Central Bank of Nigeria to Gwarzo, who took them to Abacha's house. Mohammed Sada then arranged to launder the money to offshore accounts. An estimated $1.4 billion in cash was delivered in this way.[34]
In 2004, a list of the ten most self-enriching leaders in the previous two decades was released;[35] in order of amount allegedly stolen, the fourth-ranked of these was Abacha and his family who are alleged to have embezzled $1 billion – $5 billion.[36] In 2002, false rumours circulated that Abacha's family purportedly agreed to return $1.2 billion. Sources in the Obasanjo administration disclosed that the whole Abacha loot was politicised by the administration for his re-election bid.[37] On 7 August 2014, the United States Department of Justice announced the forfeiture of US$480 million, the largest in its history, to the Nigerian government.[38] Jersey discovered more than $267 million dollars in funds that were allegedly laundered through the U.S. banking system and deposited in a Jersey account (£210m in British pounds). The U.S. Justice Department, Jersey courts and the government of Nigeria completed a civil asset forfeiture against the funds and they will be divided between those countries.[39]
National politics[]
![]() | This provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject.(April 2020) |
Abacha oversaw the reorganisation of Nigeria into six geopolitical zones,[40] in order to reflect cultural, economic, and political realities of the regions;
- North Central: Benue State, Kogi State, Kwara State, Nasarawa State, Niger State, Plateau State and Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria.
- North East: Adamawa State, Bauchi State, Borno State, Gombe State, Taraba State and Yobe State.
- North West: Jigawa State, Kaduna State, Kano State, Katsina State, Kebbi State, Sokoto State and Zamfara State.
- South East: Abia State, Anambra State, Ebonyi State, Enugu State and Imo State.
- South South: Akwa Ibom State, Bayelsa State, Cross River State, Delta State, Edo State and Rivers State.
- South West: Ekiti State, Lagos State, Ogun State, Ondo State, Osun State and Oyo State.
Abacha held a constitutional conference between 1993 to 1995. Early in 1993, Abacha announced that elections would be held on 1 August, with a view toward handing power to a civilian government on 1 October. It later became apparent that Abacha had no intention of relinquishing power. By April 1993, Abacha had coerced the country's five political parties into endorsing him as the sole presidential candidate.
Foreign policy[]
Following the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, Nigeria was suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations.[41][42] While hosting Nelson Mandela, Abacha admitted he was advised against interfering with the Saro-Wiwa's trial—but made assurances that he would use his rank in government to commute the sentence if death sentence was pronounced. Justice Ibrahim Auta was the judge presiding over the proceedings, and sentenced Saro-Wiwa to death by hanging. Abacha did not commute the sentence.
Directly infringing UN Sanctions on Libya, Muammar Gaddafi's West African Tour in 1997 to Sani Abacha to mark the new Islamic year was greeted by thousands of Abacha's supporters who came out to demonstrate their loyalty to Abacha and the Libyan leader in Kano.[43] The Libyan leader made no commitments to Nigeria but merely sought to strengthen relations with the country, many saw the visit as a way to strengthen his agenda of Pan-Africanism.
Abacha intervened in the Liberian Civil War. Through the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group, Abacha sent troops to Liberia to fight against the rising insurgency in the country and political tensions. The Civil War, which began in 1989, saw an influx of Nigerian troops from 1990 when Abacha was defence minister.
Despite being repeatedly condemned by the US State Department,[44] Abacha did have a few ties to American politics. In 1997, Senator James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) travelled to Nigeria to meet with Abacha as a representative of the "Family", a group of evangelical Christian politicians and civic leaders. Abacha and the Family had a business and political relationship from that point until his death.[45][46] Abacha also developed ties with other American political figures such as Senator Carol Moseley Braun (D-Illinois) Rev. Jesse Jackson and Minister Louis Farrakhan. Several African American political leaders visited Nigeria during his reign and Farrakhan supported his administration.
Death[]
On 8 June 1998, Abacha died in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja. He was buried on the same day according to Muslim tradition and without an autopsy, fueling speculation that he may have been assassinated.[47] The government identified the cause of death as a sudden heart attack.[48] It is believed by foreign diplomats, including United States Intelligence analysts, that he may have been poisoned.[49] His chief security officer, Hamza al-Mustapha, believed he was poisoned by Israeli operatives in the company of Yasser Arafat.[50]
After Abacha's death, General Abdulsalami Abubakar became head of state. General Abubakar's short tenure ushered the Fourth Nigerian Republic into existence.[51]
Personal life[]
Abacha was married to Maryam Abacha and had seven sons and three daughters, he became a grandfather posthumously; as of 2018 he had thirty-three grandchildren.[52]
References[]
- ^ Paden, John N. (2005) Muslim Civic Cultures and Conflict Resolution, Brookings Institution Press. p. 240. ISBN 0-8157-6817-6.
- ^ https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/09/world/new-chapter-nigeria-obituary-sani-abacha-54-beacon-brutality-era-when-brutality.html
- ^ http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Urgent_Action/dc_6596.html
- ^ Barrett, Devlin. "U.S. Seizes Largest Ever Embezzlement by Foreign Dictator". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ "African kleptocrats are finding it tougher to stash cash in the West". The Economist. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ Olawoyin, Oladeinde. "Again, Buhari lauds late kleptocrat dictator, Sani Abacha". Premium Times (Nigeria). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ "U.S. Freezes More Than $458 Million Stolen by Former Nigerian Dictator in Largest Kleptocracy Forfeiture Action Ever Brought in the U.S." US Department of Justice. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ "Nigeria to recover $300m stolen by its former military ruler". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
- ^ "20 things to remember about Abacha". TheCable. 8 June 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
- ^ "Sani Abacha | Nigerian military leader". Encyclopedia Britannica.
- ^ "NEW CHAPTER IN NIGERIA: THE OBITUARY; Sani Abacha, 54, a Beacon of Brutality In an Era When Brutality Was Standard". The New York Times. 9 June 1998. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
- ^ Akyeampong, Emmanuel Kwaku; Gates, Henry Louis (2 February 2012). Dictionary of African Biography. OUP USA. ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5.
- ^ Balogun, M. J. (2009), Balogun, M. J. (ed.), "Leadership as an Imposition: the Military Shortcut to Power", The Route to Power in Nigeria: A Dynamic Engagement Option for Current and Aspiring Leaders, Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 163–193, doi:10.1057/9780230100848_9, ISBN 978-0-230-10084-8
- ^ Siollun, Max (2009). Oil, Politics and Violence: Nigeria's Military Coup Culture (1966–1976). Algora. p. 97. ISBN 9780875867090.
- ^ Siollun, Max (2009). Oil, Politics and Violence: Nigeria's Military Coup Culture (1966-1976). Algora Publishing. ISBN 978-0-87586-709-0.
- ^ "Nigeria: Palace Coup of 1985 By Dr. Nowa Omoigui". www.waado.org. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
- ^ Oyewole, A. (1987) Historical Dictionary of Nigeria, Scarecrow Press. p. 385. ISBN 0-8108-1787-X.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Encyclopedia – Britannica Online Encyclopedia". eb.com.
- ^ Siollun, Max (29 August 2019). Nigeria's Soldiers of Fortune: The Abacha and Obasanjo Years. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-78738-202-2.
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- ^ "Nigeria Coup Video, Abacha Coup". YouTube.
- ^ Gros, Jean-Germa (24 September 1998). Democratization in Late Twentieth-Century Africa: Coping with Uncertainty: Coping with Uncertainty. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-37090-8.
- ^ "Nigerian Military Ruler Assumes Absolute Power". AP. 7 September 1994 – via The New York Times.
- ^ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | U.S. Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices 1998 - Nigeria". Refworld. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
- ^ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | Nigeria: Bombing incidents at Lagos airport between June 1996 and November 1997, including identity of persons injured, reaction of authorities and outcome of investigations or prosecutions". Refworld. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
- ^ "Nigeria: Human Rights Watch Africa". www.africa.upenn.edu. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
- ^ "NEW NIGERIA CHIEF PLEDGES A RETURN TO CIVILIAN RULE". The New York Times. 10 June 1998.
- ^ Arnold, Guy (2005). Africa: A Modern History. London: Atlantic Books. p. 789. ISBN 9781843541769.
- ^ "Why we honoured Abacha - Nigerian government - Premium Times Nigeria". 1 March 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
- ^ Editor. "Why did a U.S. magazine label Nigerian leader Sani Abacha as 'Thug of the Year' in 1995?". Ogoni News. Retrieved 24 May 2020.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
- ^ United States Department of State, Nigeria Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1996, 30 Jan 1997, available at: https://1997-2001.state.gov/global/human_rights/1996_hrp_report/nigeria.html
- ^ Elizabeth Olson (26 January 2000). "Swiss Freeze A Dictator's Giant Cache". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
- ^ Lewis, Peter (2007). Growing apart: oil, politics, and economic change in Indonesia and Nigeria. University of Michigan Press. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-472-06980-4.
- ^ "Introduction to Political Corruption" (PDF). transparency.org. London. 25 March 2004. p. 13.
- ^ "Late Nigerian Dictator Looted Nearly $500 Million, Swiss Say". The New York Times. 19 August 2004. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
- ^ The Worldwatch Institute. (2003) Vital Signs 2003, The Worldwatch Institute. p. 115. ISBN 0-393-32440-0.
- ^ "U.S. Forfeits Over $480 Million Stolen by Former Nigerian Dictator in Largest Forfeiture Ever Obtained Through a Kleptocracy Action". The United States Department of Justice. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
- ^ "Dictator's £210m seized from Jersey account". 4 June 2019. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
- ^ Nwala, Uzodinma T. (1997). "Nigeria: Path to Unity and Stability Abuja National Constitutional Conference (1994-95)" (PDF).
- ^ "Commonwealth Suspends Nigeria Over Executions". New York Times. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
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- ^ "A Different Perspective On 'The Family' And Uganda". NPR.org. 22 December 2009.
- ^ "General Sani Abacha Profile". Africa Confidential. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
- ^ Weiner, Tim (11 July 1998). "U.S. Aides Say Nigeria Leader Might Have Been Poisoned". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
- ^ https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/11/world/us-aides-say-nigeria-leader-might-have-been-poisoned.html
- ^ Opejobi, Seun (19 June 2017). "Details of how Abacha died in 1998 – Al-Mustapha". Daily Post Nigeria. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
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- ^ "Newsmaker Profiles: Sani Abacha Nigerian President". Archived from the original on 8 April 2004. Retrieved 26 September 2014., CNN.
External links[]
- Works by or about Sani Abacha in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- "Sani Abacha collected news and commentary". The New York Times.
- Abacha dies at 54, BBC News, 8 June 1998
- 1943 births
- 1998 deaths
- 20th-century Nigerian politicians
- Abacha family
- Chiefs of Army Staff (Nigeria)
- Defence ministers of Nigeria
- Heads of state of Nigeria
- Kanuri people
- Leaders who took power by coup
- Nigerian Army officers
- Nigerian generals
- Nigerian Muslims
- Participants in the 1966 Nigerian counter-coup
- Participants in the 1983 Nigerian military coup
- Participants in the August 1985 Nigerian military coup
- People from Kano
- Rumfa College alumni