₦airaland Forum

How Abacha Kissed The World A Final Bye

He was 54 at the time he took his final breath deep down the night of June 8, 1998 in Aso Rock, Nigeria's presidential seat of power. It was a major drama celebrated by many, mourned by some. That was the end of General Sani Abacha, the country's dreaded head of state at the time.

Many years later, his former Chief Security Officer (CSO), Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd), said his boss never died from eating an apple from his concubines as broadly insinuated.

Instead, he said Abacha's health collapse suddenly started on June 7, 1998, right from the Abuja International Airport, immediately after one of the security personnel, who accompanied President Yasser Arafat of Palestine shook hands with him.

"Shortly after the hand shake, I noticed the change in the countenance of the late Commander-in-Chief, and I immediately informed the Aide-de-Camp, Lt. Col. Abdallah, who advised that we keep a close watch on him.

“Later in the evening of June 8, 1998, around 6pm, his doctor came around and administered an injection to stabilise him. He was advised to have a short rest. “Happily enough, by 9pm, he was bouncing and receiving visitors until much later when General Jeremiah Useni, the then minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), came to see him. He was fond of the Head of State. They were very good friends. They stayed and chatted together till about 3.35 a.m.

“A friend of the house was with me in my office and as he was bidding me farewell, he came back to inform me that the FCT Minister, Useni, was out of the Head of State’s Guest House within the Villa. I then decided to inform the ADC and other security guards that I would be on my way home to prepare for the early morning event at the International Conference Centre.

“At about 5 am, the security guards ran to my quarters to inform me that Abacha was very unstable. At first, I thought it was a coup attempt. Immediately I prepared myself fully for any eventuality.

“As an intelligence officer and the Chief Security Officer to the Head of State for that matter, I devised some means of diverting the attention of the security boys from my escape route by asking my wife to continue chatting with them at the door. She was in the house while the boys were outside. From there, I got to the Guest House of the Head of State before them.

“When I got to the bedside of the Head of State, he was already gasping. Ordinarily, I could not just touch him. It was not allowed in our job. But under the situation, I knelt close to him and shouted: ‘General Sani Abacha, Sir, please grant me permission to touch and carry you.

“I again knocked at the stool beside the bed and shouted in the same manner, yet he did not respond. I then realised that there was a danger. I immediately called the Head of State’s personal physician, Dr. Wali, who arrived in the place in eight minutes from his house. He immediately gave oga (Abacha) two doses of injection, one at the heart and another close to his neck. This did not work apparently as the Head of State had turned very cold.

“He then told me that the Head of State was dead, and that nothing could be done after all. So I asked the personal physician to remain with the dead body while I dashed home to be fully prepared for the problems that might arise from the incident.

“As soon as I informed my wife, she collapsed and burst into tears. I secured my house and ran back to where Abacha was. At that point, the Aide-de-Camp had been contacted by me, and we decided that great caution must be taken in handling the grave situation.

“Again, I must reiterate that the issue of my boss dying on women was a great lie just as the insinuation that Abacha ate and died of poisoned apple was equally a wicked lie.

“It was at this point that I used our special communication gadgets to diplomatically invite the Service Chiefs, military governors and some few elements purportedly to a meeting with the Head of State by 9am at the Council Chamber.

“That completed, I also decided to talk to some former Nigerian leaders to inform them that Abacha would like to meet them by 9am.

“The situation became charged when one of the Service Chiefs, Lieutenant General Ishaya Rizi Bamaiyi (rtd), who pretended to be with us, suggested he be made the new Head of State after we had quietly informed him of the death of Abacha. He even suggested we should allow him access to Chief MKO Abiola.

“We smelt a rat, and other heads of security agencies, on hearing this, advised I move Abiola to a safer place. I managed to do this in spite of the fact that I had been terribly overwhelmed with the crisis at hand.

“But then, when some junior officers overheard the suggestion of one of the Service Chiefs earlier mentioned, it was suggested to me that we should finish all the members of the Provisional Ruling Council and give the public an excuse that there was a meeting of the PRC during which a shoot-out occurred between some members of the Provisional Ruling Council and the body guards to the Head of State.

“When I sensed that we would be contending with far more delicate issues than the one on ground, I talked to Generals Buba Marwa and Ibrahim Sabo (all retired), who both promptly advised us-the junior officers- against any bl00dshed. They advised we contact General Ibrahim Babangida, who equally advised against any bl00dshed, but that we should support the most senior officer in the Provisional Ruling Council (PRC) to be the new Head of State.

“Since the words of our elders are words of wisdom, we agreed to support General Jeremiah Useni. Along the line, Bamaiyi lampooned me, saying: ‘Can’t you put two and two together to be four? Has it not occurred to you that Useni, who was the last man with the Head of State, might have po!soned him, knowing well that he was the most senior officer in the PRC?”

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This is life.. you come and you go no matter how powerful and influential you believe you are. A whole dictator like abacha died and the country jubilated like the devil was struck by God himself.. Nigerian know and expect the current president to be expelled and just know that God is watching

This story get kleg but Abacha is far better than what we have at aso rock currently, security wise.

Mustapha was a good and loyal soilder...



Putting abacha first even at the risk of his wife and family. His family was at risk and he was thinking first of abacha.


Also abacha was gasping and the man was adhering to strict protocol.

The man was a soilder's soilder.

He had the opportunity of grabbing power also after abacha's demise.


Mustapha could have been head of state if he wanted and played his card right.


I think he was too loyal and took his job too seriously to do so... or maybe he just didn't have the balls ( which I doubt)


We don't have soilder's built like this anymore!

brain54:
Mustapha was a good and loyal soilder...



Putting abacha first even at the risk of his wife and family. His family was at risk and he was thinking first of abacha.


Also abacha was gasping and the man was adhering to strict protocol.

The man was a soilder's soilder.

He had the opportunity of grabbing power also after abacha's demise.


Mustapha could have been head of state if he wanted and played his card right.


I think he was too loyal and took his job too seriously to do so... or maybe he just didn't have the balls ( which I doubt)


We don't have soilder's built like this anymore!

No doubt he was a loyal soldier and display a professionalism but at time certain condition dictate we act with discretion it is was demanded. He would lend an helping hands during that critical knowing fully is seriousness of the situation, who knows he might save his life.

Again, the thought of seizing power will only would have been ephemeral because even if succeeded in taking out must senior officers then, he will surely be taken out too. So it's straight signing warrant of his death too.

What save him is adherence to advice give him to by his closest retired senior general and hence is eventually grace of still living today.

The lesson here for all of us is that we would equally die one day even a fortify villa, death can come knocking without any hinderance. May God forgive the dead and also we the sinners that are yet to die.

Delat521:
No doubt he was a loyal soldier and display a professionalism but at time certain condition dictate we act with discretion it is was demanded. He would lend an helping hands during that critical knowing fully is seriousness of the situation, who knows he might save his life.

Again, the thought of seizing power will only would have been ephemeral because even if succeeded in taking out must senior officers then, he will surely be taken out too. So it's straight signing warrant of his death too.

What save him is adherence to advice give him to by his closest retired senior general and hence is eventually grace of still living today.

The lesson here for all of us is that we would equally die one day even a fortify villa, death can come knocking without any hinderance. May God forgive the dead and also we the sinners that are yet to die.

Bro nothing suggests he didn't act with discretion here after first acting with professionalism...


If he had taken out the senior officers then who would have taken him out?




Every military head of state knows he is always at risk of a counter coup to take them out. That's why they are always on their toes and do everything to consolidate their stay in power from time to time. That's not a new thing. It's like the job hazard.


It might be a risk he wasn't willing or didn't have the balls for to do what it took as I admitted. It's a possibility.


But I still believe he was too loyal to abacha and his job to have done what he needed to do.


Also the death happened too suddenly that he might not have had enough time to react. It's also possible that he initially had the thoughts to take over but acted too late... hence the part about junior officers suggesting he finished members of the PRC. He may not have acted fast enough.


Everything he could have done to become HOD depended on the military not being aware of abacha's death at the time thereby making use of the limited window of opportunity.


May God forgive us all!

insidelife22:
This story get kleg but Abacha is far better than what we have at aso rock currently, security wise.

ABACHA WAS A SECURITY IDIOT.

The hardships under abacha was so hard because they were stealing alot of monies and moving it out of the country.


Any time there is severe hardship, it's because a group of people are moving huge ffunds out of the system.

Very terrible humans

When uou compare abacha to all the people after him...

You will understand that Abacha is a saint.

Do you know that Abacha , stopped the first influx of jihadists with so much brutality that they didn't dare speak?

Abacha pegged the naira and the economy had stability even with scantions.



The only people against Abacha are the current people , who claimed to be Democratic in nature but have been discovered to be Dictators , worse than Abacha himself.

Leave Abacha to enjoy his peace, he was and still is far better than the rogues that came after him.

Denalarian:
This is life.. you come and you go no matter how powerful and influential you believe you are. A whole dictator like abacha died and the country jubilated like the devil was struck by God himself.. Nigerian know and expect the current president to be expelled and just know that God is watching

Na Jeremiah Useni Kpai ABACHA...

You left the man's house by 3. 35 am and by 5 am, he is gasping for breathe...

Na him poison Abacha...

That visit was to land the final blow...

SlavaUkraini:
Na Jeremiah Useni Kpai ABACHA...

You left the man's house by 3. 35 am and by 5 am, he is gasping for breathe...

Na him poison Abacha...

That visit was to land the final blow...

But you didn't see the part where abacha's countenance changed after the handshake...


You didn't see he was even administered medication (injected) after.


It's always easy to throw wild allegations and jump to conclusions without even the basic facts. Even when the facts are there you will still ignore and choose what suits you or what you want.


Abacha was a Muslim... if not perhaps a post mortem of his corpse would have been conducted and the cause of death established. Muslims are always in a hurry to bury their dead.


It's possible his death/ countenance had nothing to do with the handshake. Might be just coincidence.


Lastly, abacha's doctor also has questions to answer. What was he treating abacha for and administering injections and medication for. You must know what is wrong with someone before administering treatment.


Una like to quote person out of context here. I'm not saying the doctor had anything to do with his death. I'm just asking what he was treating him for.


Some people will still quote me on that because they no dey ever comprehend no matter how you explain!

Judging from the condition of the country during his time and what we have today, I can boldly say that Abacha was the best so far, things was far better than what we have today.

brain54:
Mustapha was a good and loyal soilder...



Putting abacha first even at the risk of his wife and family. His family was at risk and he was thinking first of abacha.


Also abacha was gasping and the man was adhering to strict protocol.

The man was a soilder's soilder.

He had the opportunity of grabbing power also after abacha's demise.


Mustapha could have been head of state if he wanted and played his card right.


I think he was too loyal and took his job too seriously to do so... or maybe he just didn't have the balls ( which I doubt)


We don't have soilder's built like this anymore!

He did absolutely well, he was a trusted CSO to late general.

brain54:
But you didn't see the part where abacha's countenance changed after the handshake...


You didn't see he was even administered medication (injected) after.


It's always easy to throw wild allegations and jump to conclusions without even the basic facts. Even when the facts are there you will still ignore and choose what suits you or what you want.


Abacha was a Muslim... if not perhaps a post mortem of his corpse would have been conducted and the cause of death established. Muslims are always in a hurry to bury their dead.


It's possible his death/ countenance had nothing to do with the handshake. Might be just coincidence.


Lastly, abacha's doctor also has questions to answer. What was he treating abacha for and administering injections and medication for. You must know what is wrong with someone before administering treatment.


Una like to quote person out of context here. I'm not saying the doctor had anything to do with his death. I'm just asking what he was treating him for.


Some people will still quote me on that because they no dey ever comprehend no matter how you explain!

Is guesswork not involved in medicine before ??

This was back in the days when Army used to deal with terrorists and finish them off. Back in the days when someone can travel from Porttharcourt to maiduguri without fear of anyone. Back in the days when Army was Army.
Nowadays bandits and terrorists are over running Army barracks, cutting Army officers heads, and showcasing the uniforms and weapons they collected from Army on social media.