₦airaland Forum

Akinpresident:
The most kleptomaniac ever seen in Africa.

77star:
Please shed more light about ken saro wiwa,

I heard how great he was and his plan for his people before abacha executed him too, like he executed others

Babinski:
Abacha clearly had the desire to rule after Babangida and did demonstrate his loyalty. However, it appears Babangida did not believe Abacha had what it takes mentally to be the President. While Abacha was loyal and a fearless soldier, he wasn't necessarily a brilliant guy as we all learnt during his eventually tenure as President.

But how do you tell someone who has been loyal and saved your life that he was not qualified in your opinion to be President? That was Babangida's dilemma and why he said Abacha was a big headache because Abacha was not willing to let go of his ambition and he appeared to have extracted a promise from. Babangida when he saved him during the Orka Coup.

At the twilight of Babangida's tenure, it was Abacha that he feared most and he didn't have much support from his military colleagues to elongate his stay or hand over to a civilian government.

Even when we know Babangida is being economical with the truth, the June 12 election annulment definitely had input from Abacha. In fact Abacha stood as the biggest beneficiary because of his own ambitions to become President which would be stalled or terminated by Abiola becoming President.

Trueprophet91:
Maybe you should go through this account too.


(Part 2)
MY JUNE 12 STORY

-Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar(rtd)

I felt free to warn IBB of the possibility of a military coup if he decided on self-succession as some of his senior officers were speculating. Being the commandant of the armoured corps and a truly loyal subordinate, I had no doubt that my observations had significant impact on the President and perhaps contributed to his decision to step aside as some convenient exit point.

Having said this, I was under no illusion, that a coup against IBB would be an easy task, not with his sophisticated security network, which was reinvigorated after its embarrassing failure to detect Orkar's attempted coup. I believe it is his sense of total control of the military that informed his often- quoted statement that he dominates his environment. Also he operated one of the most generous welfare programmes the military ever had. All the same, self-succession was not on the cards, he assured me. I left him more confused. What I heard was in sharp contrast with Abacha's conclusion. My attitude was to give IBB a chance but at the same time, keep in touch with the Abacha group.

The SDP and NRC primaries were held, with MKO Abiola and Bashir Tofa emerging as their respective presidential candidates. Although security reports scored them as worse than the previous party primaries in the manner of their fraudulent conduct, the government expressed satisfaction with then conduct.

In fact, IBB endorsed the emergence of the two flag bearers when he opined that the nation could not hope for better presidential candidates. I did not share these sentiments but I was satisfied that the transition was making progress. In our subsequent meetings with Abacha, I drew attention to the positive development and urged him to sustain the momentum. He expressed pessimism. I will now fast forward to June 1993.

A few days to the 12 June presidential elections, Justice Bassey Ikpeme (now late) of the Federal High Court, Abuja, granted the Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) a previously unknown political pressure group, an injunction stopping NEC from going ahead with the conduct of the elections.

I met the President and pleaded with him to set aside the court ruling on the strength of an existing law that ousted the powers of all courts to interfere with NEC's conduct of elections and also because of its cataclysmic potential. He agreed and immediately summoned NEC chairman, Prof. Humphrey Nwosu and asked him to go ahead with preparations for the election.
Before I left Aso Rock, I met Brig. Gen. Akilu who told me that the President had just briefed him on my position which he supported. He added that the nation was fast losing faith and that we should support IBB to hand over and leave a good legacy like Gen. Obasanjo had done in 1979. I thanked him.
On my way out, I met a group of officers, including Gen. Abacha, making their way to the President's office. I was later told that their mission was to urge IBB to respect the court's ruling, their reason being that neither Abiola nor Bashir Tofa was acceptable to the military.

Furthermore, the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) had not started yielding the much expected dividends and civilians could not muster the political pluck to sustain it. I really didn't know whether Abacha shared these views or was simply carrying the message of a group which he felt was politically influential in the scheme of things. Whatever the truth was, I became skeptical of Abacha's sincerity.

The presidential elections were held on June 12 as scheduled. They were adjudged as the freest and fairest by both NEC and local and international observers. I phoned the President from Bauchi to congratulate him on the peaceful election. He sounded relieved. Results started trickling in and from all indications, MKO Abiola was leading by a wide margin and one could safely conclude, an unbridgeable margin.
But then, rumours started flying that NEC was after all, not satisfied with the conduct and was about to recommend total cancellation to the government.

About one week later, I met Mr. President and confronted him with the rumours. He denied but added that NEC was still in the process of collating the results, which would be announced in due course. I went back to Bauchi , satisfied that all was well.
We had earlier discussed with Baba Gana Kingibe, who was Abiola's running mate, against the wish of IBB according to him. He told me that the president expressed misgivings about a Moslem-Moslem ticket but had to let go when Abiola assured him that he would have no problem with the Christian community.

Baba Gana visited me on my return to Bauchi. He was agitated. He was as usual very blunt when he warned that they had information about government's plan to annul the June 12 election results. He added that should that happen, Abiola would fight the annulment. I assured him that no such thing would happen. I told him that I was in touch with IBB who assured me that there was no truth in the wicked rumours.
He left, definitely feeling reassured. I got the impression that Baba Gana was more concerned about the dire consequences of an annulment to national stability than losing an opportunity to serve as the Vice- President.

A couple of days later, I was summoned to Aso Rock by Mr. President. He was presiding at a meeting of the National Defence and Security Council when I arrived. He came out on break around 1pm and called me to his office. Looking tired and angry, he said to me, "I am really fed up with all this. I am going to quit this thankless job and allow you guys to find a solution to your problems” or words to that affect. I expressed surprise. He then told me about the security reports he received to the effect that the military was against the election results and that some middle- ranking officers had vowed to topple the new government as soon as he handed over. Some senior officers had become apprehensive of the decision to hand over immediately.

I was shocked by this revelation and assured IBB that such reports were baseless. They were the creation of senior officers who did not want to retire from service. I told him that my reading of the situation was that Abiola did very well in the barracks and most officers I spoke to expressed satisfaction with the results received so far and were happy that the military was after all relinquishing power. He looked unsure.
Well, I beseeched the President not to even contemplate annulment. It was already evident that Abiola had emerged the winner after the results of 29 states were already known to NEC. Abiola's win was an added bonus because it would achieve the much desired power shift to the south. He agreed. Before taking my leave, I informed the President that I planned to retire from service as soon as he found any need to annul the June 12 election. I also informed him that some newspapers had that morning mischievously and falsely identified me as the leader of a group
that met and recommended that the President should annul the result of the election. He was very sympathetic. I took leave.

lightwind:
The Yorubas are very very dangerous set of people.

malali:
Your attempt to humanize Babangida doesn't pass the smell test. In what way was Babangida more presidential than Abacha, Babangida looted more than Abacha, Babangida prolonged democracy for 8 years and cancelled the freest and fairest election. Babangida also killed a lot of military officers, he was even more ruthless than Abacha. Babangida wanted to be the last don at all cost. At the cost of annuling the elections and killing Abacha. Because we all know Abacha was killed. Abacha wasnt killed by Abiola, because he was locked up. That leaves only one person that could have organized it from the outside.
If you connect the dots, its very obvious what happened, IBB killed both of them and installed his men, men that would remain loyal to him. Because he definitely has something to hide. One day the truth will come out. We are not all fools. Transition from Abacha to Abdusalam was a palace coup.

Babinski:
There is no gainsaying that both Babangida and Abacha are cut from the same cloth in their ability to murder and repress anyone perceived as their opponents. Abacha had his fair share of assassinations as attested by Sergent Roger and Major Hamza Al-Mustapha.

However, your attempt to make Babangida look like a Supreme Don has no basis in fact. If he could kill Abacha and did orchestrate his killing as you claim, Innis to what end and benefit? None that I could see. He could as well have retired Abacha from. The military.

But even Babangida in his book stated that it was practically impossible for him to retire Abacha without getting into trouble.

Babangida in his book admitted and I quote in relation to any attempt to retire Abacha:

“The military was so factionalised that any move against Abacha at that time would have, to put it mildly, been problematic,” Mr Babangida said. “The situation was so unstable that any wrong move on my part could have led to a bloodbath of a military coup.”

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/776040-why-i-didnt-retire-abacha-from-military-ibb.html

If it was very difficult to retire Abacha when Babangida was still in power, who would believe your claim that it was now easier for him to kill the same Abacha after Babangida left power amd Abacha had become more powerful as the President?

He was a bloody general. And his excuse is "fear'
When it was time to kill Dele Giwa he didnt bat an eyelid
When it was time to annul june 12 he didnt bat an eyelid
When it was time to kill vatsa he didnt bat an eyelid
When it was time to kill orkar and co-conspirators he didnt bat an eyelid
When he was getting the 12 billion dollar gulf war windfall he didnt bat an eyelid.

But when it came to Abacha “The situation was so unstable that any wrong move on my part could have led to a bloodbath of a military coup.”

Greatness09:
Saro-Wiwa was the leader of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), which campaigned against the environmental destruction of Ogoniland in the Niger Delta by oil companies, especially Shell. He accused Shell and the Nigerian government of polluting Ogoni land and neglecting the people.

In 1994, four Ogoni chiefs were murdered during internal conflicts within the movement. Saro-Wiwa and eight other MOSOP leaders (known as the Ogoni Nine) were arrested and accused of inciting the killings. Despite international protests, they were convicted in a controversial trial widely seen as unfair.

TUANKU:
You this pedophile, your days are numbered.

SadiqBabaSani:
The Abacha son is disrespectful to Christians.


He should have used the Quran in his illustrations of IBB's book.


Cannibalistic son

77star:
Thanks

Truthcat:
I understand why you feel that way, it has always been the case when you feel small in the world, envious and want to be Yoruba so badly but can't.

malali:
Very true.
Abacha faced rebel forces, gun blazing
Armed and ready to die driving in his peugeot (which was not armored or bulletproof)
This was after Babangida had sacrificed his ADC UK bello
And escaped through the back route.
It was this single act of loyalty that Babangida promised to hand over to Abacha when he retires.
He did not give Abacha this accolade in his book, He left it out on purpose and decided to paint Abacha as a villain. The same way they complain about Abacha's loot...Like IBB didnt steal 100 times more than Abacha.

Sincerely sir, you sound like an insider.
Babangida wants to take glory and paint himself a saint. I even learnt that Safiyat, the wife of Mamman Jiya Vatsa said, her husband wiped off Babngida's name in the coup against Murtala as he was part of the plot.

I imagine what Abacha will be thinking of in the underworld now hearing what this evil genius is saying concerning him

A lot of people alive know this story.

TemplarLandry:
Gbadamosi can never end well, let's wait and see.

malali:
Very true.
Abacha faced rebel forces, gun blazing
Armed and ready to die driving in his peugeot (which was not armored or bulletproof)
This was after Babangida had sacrificed his ADC UK bello
And escaped through the back route.
It was this single act of loyalty that Babangida promised to hand over to Abacha when he retires.
He did not give Abacha this accolade in his book, He left it out on purpose and decided to paint Abacha as a villain. The same way they complain about Abacha's loot...Like IBB didnt steal 100 times more than Abacha.

A lot of people alive know this story.