anulaxad: why are you doing this ok i am an economist who works with the British government and in secondary school in England the second year they learn about this mans crazy genocide mate it only takes one year to develop Nigeria he destroyed he did not do nothing i don't want to argue with you there's videos and pictures of himself killing innocent people and hold yes obasanjo did bring democracy back go learn some history about Nigeria then come back when you learn a bit and stop posting your corrupt newspaper articles it's just a waste of time.you can not compare the western world to a African black leader the African of course is lying and is more corrupt.and wiki leaks never lies so check it out and go watch documentaries about sani abacha and how democracy reached Nigeria. Becuase obasanjo wanted democracy and wole Soyinka and other great nobles like abiola they were thrown in jail by this evil human and you are here talking crap. abiola lost his life because abacha was scared and was a coward if that the elections went through abiola will win. obasanjo may be corrupt but fighting corruption was not his thing it was democracy and he brought it. abacha killed nigeria he took away the culture of Nigerians protesting when they fell threatened and if they have a problem but its slowly coming back.

GenBuhari: ^ You were 12 or 13 years old when Abacha died.

clearly you like most people on NL are not old enough to assess Abacha's govt from personal experience or memory.

It is also not surprising that you have formed your opinion based on the anti- Abacha propaganda by Obasanjo and the press aimed at dicreditng and demonising Abacha.

This thread would tell you the truth about the Abacha regime - which happened to be one of the least corrupt and best performing governments in our history. Please take time to read the evidence and articles posted on this thread.

GenBuhari: [size=18pt]The Re-emergence Of Abacha[/size]
Abba Mahmood's picture
Wed, 14/11/2012 - 11:51pm | ABBA MAHMOOD

The Thursday Column

General Sani Abacha died on June 8, 1998. He first came to national limelight when he announced the overthrow of the civilian administration of President Shehu Shagari on December 31,1983. He subsequently emerged as general officer commanding, 2nd Division, Ibadan; chief of army staff when General Babangida emerged as president after the overthrow of Gen. Buhari in 1985; chief of defence staff and minister of defence before becoming head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces from November 17, 1993, to the day he died in 1998.

He was the first four- star general who never jumped any rank before attaining that rank. From 1984 till he died, he was serving at the highest level of decision-making, perhaps the longest Nigerian to do that at a stretch for more than a decade.

Abacha was one of the most maligned leaders Nigeria has ever produced. He was not only criticized for human rights abuses but also for corruption with the famous “Abacha loot”, which has paled into insignificance because there were treasury looters of trillions in the subsequent administrations.

He served at the highest decision-making level of government for 14 years as member and subsequently chairman of the ruling military council; now 14 years after his death, his name has come back to national limelight.

First, Abacha’s name reappeared recently - on October 1, 2012 - in President Jonathan’s home state of Bayelsa at the marking of the anniversary of the creation of the state by the Abacha regime, during which the current governor, Seriake Dickson, praised Abacha to high heavens. He said anybody could hold any views on the late Abacha but, to them, he was a hero who created a homogenous state for the Ijaw in the heartland of the Niger Delta of Nigeria.

The last six states created by the Abacha administration - Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ekiti Gombe, Nasarawa and Zamfara - are some of the most viable and therefore most deserving. Abacha was a patriot who never had time for bigotry or ethnicity. For instance, his service chiefs – army, Gen Ishaya Bamaiyi; navy, Admiral Mike Akhigbe and air force, Air Marshal Nsikak Eduok -- were all not only Christians but from what is known as minority ethnic groups.

He only saw competent Nigerians to work with regardless of the fact that two of these three are from the Niger Delta. This was in addition to the fact that his petroleum minister Dan Etete, foreign affairs minister Tom Ikimi and finance minister Anthony Ani were all from the same south-south zone!

Secondly, when the federal government refused to go to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to seek a review of the unfortunate October 9, 2002, judgement by the ICJ which ceded Nigeria’s Bakassi peninsula to Cameroun till the 10-year period expired on October 9, this year, many people took to the streets in Calabar denouncing the federal government. Some carried placards which had “Abacha, Our Hero” on them.

Anytime anyone does any act in the national interest, however long it takes, there will be acknowledgement, if not immediate then certainly later. Abacha took active and effective possession to the Bakassi peninsula. He not only stationed Nigerian troops there to protect Nigerian citizens from occasional hostile acts of Cameroun but actually gave the peninsula local government status.

Thus, Bakassi is one of the 774 local government areas in the Nigerian constitution which has not yet been changed to this day.

Moreover, the ICJ ruling has not been domesticated by the National Assembly, so it is not binding on Nigeria; thus the ICJ judgement does not have any force of law here. The federal government ought not to have accorded it any recognition as such.

In any case, Cameroun is the most hostile neighbor Nigeria has, and they do not have any pretence on this. For instance, I can’t remember if Paul Biya, the Camerounian president for the past 30 years, has ever paid a state visit to Nigeria. Why are we pretending, that with this obvious contempt in which they hold our country, in spite of our enormous goodwill to them over the years, that they will ever like us even if we surrender all our territory to them, God forbid?

Abacha did not stop there. He took other diplomatic measures to give effect to all these patriotic moves. Knowing that Cameroun was claiming the area and had taken the case to ICJ, and considering the fact that the then ICJ president was a French citizen and Cameroun a francophone country, Abacha started attending Franco-Africa summits, knowing that Nigeria is surrounded by French colonies, and made it clear that if France allowed any anti-Nigeria judgement French investments in Nigeria would suffer.

And this was not a small matter, considering the fact that French investments in Nigeria were greater than almost the entire French investments in francophone Africa!

By this ill-advised and really unfortunate decision of the federal government not to seek a review of the Bakassi case at the ICJ, when we are legally allowed to do so under the UN Charter, our compatriots on the peninsula are now like bats. If they remain on their ancestral land where they have their farmlands and have buried their navels and ancestors, they become stateless because they would be Nigerians on Camerounian territory.

And if they are asked to vacate the peninsula, where else will they be given land, since every land is owned by a community and we already have many conflicts over land ownership? So they will be landless. Either way, this is not good for one of the most peaceful people not only in the Niger Delta but indeed in the country.

If Nigeria had requested a review, at least we would be buying time – it might take so many years to conclude, within which we could take some diplomatic initiatives to think of a peaceful way of resolving the matter, such as asking for a referendum for the people to determine where they want to be, since self-determination is a principle recognised universally.

It is very clear that Bakassi people are proud Nigerians and this is not the best way to abandon them to a bad fate. If there is anything Nigeria can do, President Jonathan should please do so immediately and explore every means in the interest of peace, stability and national sovereignty. Arise O Compatriots! God save Nigeria.

http://www.leadership.ng/nga/columns/40092/2012/11/14/reemergence_abacha.html

GenBuhari: Thank you.

Below is culled from post from thoth on another thread:

I have well documented reports of the role my country played in discrediting Abacha and also the roles two other European nations Switzerland and Leichtenstein(suprised ?) played as well. It is no secret in the intel community what promises was made to Abdusalami Abubakar to hand over to civilians.

It is also well documented how the CIA was visiting and arranging schemes with Obasanjo while he was at Andy Uba's residence in the USA during Abachas regime. At that everyone already knows that Obasanjo would be the next puppet president of Nigeria that MTN, exxon,Haliburton,IMF and others were meeting him and signing agreements with him even before he was made president. And the international intel comunity also knew that the character of Abacha would not exit without a fight so we knew whatever plan that was hatched for him must result in his death.

I would rather ask you these very simple questions:

[size=13pt]If Abacha has any substantial savings in a foreign bank why didn't the usa after leveling hundreds of sanctions on Nigeria and another thousand ban on Abacha did not freeze the money and all his assets as was done to other presidents ?
How come Abacha with all the sanctions against Nigeria and at $9 pb of crude and 1.6 million barrels per day crude production and without borrowing a cent from any bank was able to keep the dollar at 21 naira per dollar, accomplish vast social works and national projects and generally outperform Obasanjo and others whom were enjoying no sanctions, $75 per barrel, 2.5 million barrels daily crude output, borrowed billions of dollars from foreign banks ?

Howcome Nigeria was respected as a powerful figure in Africa and has the means to either persuade or coerce other african nations to Nigerias interest and suddenly lost that image after the death of Abacha ? Was it that keeping them in line was against european exploits ?

How quickly and easy was it for Cameroun to get the Bakassi penisula just after Abacha died ?

I am sorry all i can give you are questions not documents or audios, Nigerians are so simple minded that you have to force them to think for themselves.

Abacha may have done some favors but he has nothing in those banks.[/size]

Wadeoye: The only good shining idea during Abacha was PTF - one of the reasons I am always on the side of Buhari.


GenBuhari, stop bringing up Abacha issue when it comes to Buhari - they are two different characters. Yes, he gave Buhari free hand to operate PTF but Buhari didnt trust him before joining his government - the reason Buhari gave him conditions for the appointment. I know Buhari might have seen a different Abacha after joining the government but Nigerians didnt see that - and how will they see it with the assasination of Kudirat, 1million man-match for his life presidency ambition. Abacha and probably the sycophants around him created the bad image that still persist in the mind of people till today.