₦airaland Forum

OrlandoOwoh:
OP, Abacha wasn't the Vice President of the Interim Government, but the Minister of Defence of same.

General Abacha doubled as the Secretary of Defence and Vice Chairman of the ING.
Lt. Gen Joshua Dogonyaro was the Chief of Defence Staff.

femi4:
How can you be about 7-9? Abeg be specific

How does that affect u pls.

The damage IBB did to Nigeria economy is 10 times worse than Abacha's evil. Abacha targeted some people (real and imaginary enemies) - bad though, but IBB's damage brought the economy down on it's knee since then, thereby punishing the present and future generations of innocent Nigerians. Today, IBB is been celebrated as a statesman while Abacha is been cursed by all - just because he is no more alive.

Bridgetown:
The finest president ever, during his time him and his family were stealing alone and there was sanity in the country, while PDP era everybody is stealing those opportune are oppressing the poor masses, lawlessness in all the states, militants and boko boys everywhere.

TAAAAAA. U DEY CRAZE TO POST D ABOVE.

Babs2040:
TAAAAAA. U DEY CRAZE TO POST D ABOVE.

But he said the truth.. The stealing now is unprecedented. so sad!

God bless the maximum ruler, he impacted positively on Nigeria on the world stage.

DollyParton1:
How does that affect u pls.

Cos I m interested in calculating your age.

MrPresident1:
The days when real men ruled. He was one of our best leaders, with the benefit of hindsight. A real strongman.


RIP, General sir!

Niquar don died n u still riding his shrunken and rotted diik? Better ease up homes or you want Ebola up the butt cos that's how u get Ebola up the butt.

lozl. we steel pray. to him good father we can't 4get him as a good leader, more expecially we. (I.N.P) sweet dad lozl.

iamord:
Sadly he has taken a lot of people there with him..and will take lot of descendants. Cos of his long lasting errors and people not joining together to fight for change. But he is childs play compared to papa doc of haiti

That name makes me shiver. Good god, such evil.

Abacha took power ABIOLA na oso na eme

Following General Sani Abacha’s death on June 8, 1998, General Abdulsalami Abubakar assumed power. A month later on July 13, 1998, apparently having seen evidence of monumental looting of the treasury by his late predecessor, then Head of State instituted the Special Investigation Panel to establish “cases of swindled public funds and recover same back to the federal government coffers”. The panel was also to identify the culprits and recover all properties or assets illegally acquired by the culprits.

Within a matter of days, the panel had secured records from the apex back which revealed that between November 1994 when he took over and June 1998 when he died, Abacha had taken from the CBN funds totaling $2,263,520,497 in cash withdrawals, travelers cheques and telegraphic transfers, in the name of “security vote”. However, the job of the panel was made easy by the fact that one of the Abacha family associates, Alhaji Abubakar Bagudu (currently a senator representing Kebbi Central) was ready to cooperate by returning some of the loot.

The first yield came just a few weeks after Abacha’s death when the CBN Director of Foreign Operations, Mr. M. R. Rasheed, on 21 September 1998 acknowledged receiving from Bagudu the sum of US$604,743,187.19 and GB £60,090,984.93. There was an additional GB £ 5.25 million from Bagudu a few days later to complete what was considered full and final settlement with the Federal Government. And with that, on May 26, 1999, just three days before handing over power, General Abubakar promulgated Decree 53 of 1999 on forfeiture of assets by certain persons which listed the monies returned by the Abachas.

The import of the decree was that the family of Abacha and some of their conduits like Bagudu, Gilbert Chagoury, Mark Risser et al would not face any civil or criminal prosecution on account of the forfeitures. But a few months after President Olusegun Obasanjo assumed power on May 29, 1999, it became evident that Abacha and his cronies had actually fleeced Nigeria to the tune of about $ 4 billion in several deals that included inflation of (or unexecuted) contracts, the Ajaokuta debt-buy—back scam, shady oil transactions etc. That began another round of tricky negotiations with the family with then Attorney General and Justice Minister, Mr. Kanu Agabi, SAN, acting on behalf of the federal government.

The yields from those negotiations were: $110 Million from Uri David; $50 million from Abdulkadir Abacha (younger brother to the late Head of State); $170 million from Doraville Properties and various sums totaling hundreds of millions of US Dollars from Switzerland. Since then, the Abacha family, even while instituting several legal actions of its own against the Federal Government, has been seeking a closure to the civil and criminal proceedings in Switzerland, United Kingdom, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Spain, New Jersey (USA) etc. as well as at home. That was what the Jonathan administration recently obliged and interestingly, part of the deal is that “the Abacha family would wish to bring assets back to Nigeria so that these could be invested in the Nigerian economy.”

Last week, June 25 to be specific, the Federal Government received the sum of $227 million from the Government of the Principality of Liechtenstein as part of the looted funds from the Abachas and another $380 million is expected from Luxembourg within the next two weeks. And quite typically, a committee has been set up by the Jonathan administration, this time on how to spend Abacha loot! Yet for me, since these monies are coming in because of a deal that grants reprieve to the Abacha family, the Federal Government needs to come out clearly to tell us how much has been recovered from 1999 to date, how much has been spent (and on what and when) and what remains (if any). Aside the issue of transparency, the fact also remains that Abacha loot really does not belong to the Federal Government alone but indeed the Federation which means the 36 states and the 774 Local Governments ought also to be beneficiaries.

However, the jury is still out as to whether the deal between the Federal Government and the Abacha family will stand. For instance, Decree 53 promulgated by General Abubakar was premised on the assumption that the Abacha family had “vomited” enough of the loot. Under Obasanjo, there were also three of such agreements that never worked. The first one was in 1999 but the most interesting was that of March 2002. Acting on behalf of the Obasanjo government, Agabi had signed the “Global Settlement Agreement” which also stipulated a complete resolution of all civil and criminal issues worldwide between the government and the Abacha family as well as associates. The seven-page document also did not stand. So, I am waiting to see how this one too will work out and if it does, whether another government will not in future discover reasons why the Abacha family should “cough out” more money.

I know many people have wondered how Abacha was able to take as much money from the Nigerian treasury but the manner in which he did it would make for a bestseller novel because the details are actually stranger than any fiction: His National Security Adviser, Allhaji Ismaila Gwarzo, would make a request, Abacha would endorse and the CBN would release the cash. And it all started less than two weeks after he took over power from Chief Ernest Shonekan.

In a letter dated 30th November 1994, Gwarzo requested for US $100 million to combat “an economy that was deflected and distorted through the black market”. By the arrangement, the dollar was to be sold through Bureau De Change dealers at the then prevailing exchange rate, with a view to mopping up the naira, and beefing up its value. Having apparently been briefed by Abacha, then CBN Governor, Dr. Paul Ogwuma released the cash in the following sums: US $95 million and GB £ 3.2 million. Abacha’s son, the late Ibrahim was to sell the dollars in the black market and remit the naira equivalent to the CBN through Gwarzo. The transaction was indeed carried out even though the money eventually returned to the CBN was not up to what was received.

However, the import of that first transaction was that Abacha had realized just how easy it was to directly take money out of the CBN and that became a perfect scam for him. All that was then needed was a letter from Gwarzo seeking approval for any sum of money in the guise of “security” and the CBN would release such demand in cash. So primitive was the whole arrangement that the principal job of some security officials was to be bagging and re-bagging millions of Dollars and Pound Sterling. The following are a few of the documented transactions:

On February 13and 15, 1995 Gwarzo collected US$200,000 and US$600,000 respectively (totaling $800,000) from the CBN. This was sequel to Abacha’s approval of his letter dated 15th February, 1995 in which he requested for US dollars $4 million and GB£ 2million “to take care of some developments in a number of areas…” The $800,000 was part payment for the approved sum of US $4 million while the balance was paid in Travellers’ Cheques. On 29th December 1995, Gwarzo collected from the CBN the sum of US $5 million based on Abacha’s approval of his letter to deal with “situation at hand”!

The reasons given in many of the letters seeking approval to take money out of the CBN beggar belief but having “started small”, Abacha apparently became more emboldened with time. On 23rd August, 1996, Gwarzo collected US $30 million from the CBN following Abacha’s approval of his letter dated 20th August 1996, requesting for the said money to “assist our immediate neighbours and others within this sub-region”. On 18th December, 1996, Gwarzo collected US $ 66.5 million and GB £20 million following Abacha’s approval of his letter to meet “some requests from Heads of State of some Francophone countries, and to cultivate African solidarity.”

A month later on 30th September, 1996, Gwarzo collected US $ 50 million and GB £20 million from the CBN sequel to his letter dated 24th September 1996, requesting for the money to “prop some African and other Third World countries” to assist in Nigeria’s “democratization and economic recovery”. On 28th April, 1997, Gwarzo collected US $60 million GB £30 million sequel to Abacha’s approval of his letter dated 22nd April 1997, in which he requested for the said sums for “public relations to international communities and organizations”.

On 9th July, 1997, Gwarzo collected US $ 5 million from the CBN following Abacha’s approval of his letter dated 23rd May, 1997 to meet all “demands and commitments as directed”. A month later on 8th December, 1997, Gwarzo collected US $120 million and GB £50 million sequel to Abacha’s approval of his letter dated 26th November 1997. And on 19th January, 1998, Gwarzo collected from the CBN the sums of US $100 million and GB£ 50 million to “counter insinuations that (Lt. General Oladipo) Diya’s coup was not real, and the government framed them to remove and replace the coupists with stooges.”

The interesting thing about this particular transaction was that while re-bagging the money, “four cartons containing a total of about US$ 8 million were set aside” in Gwarzo’s own residence, while the balance of US $57 million and GB£ 30 million were delivered to the late Head of State through Mohammed Abacha. On 25th October, 1997, Gwarzo collected US$ 80 million and GB £40 million “to sponsor military intervention in Sierra Leone, and garner support for same in the West African Sub-region.” On 30th April, 1998, a few weeks before Abacha died, Gwarzo collected US $ 80 million, GB £50 million and N250 million based on his letter dated 29th April 1998 for the conduct of an enlightenment campaign on the “virtues” of an “Abacha Presidency”.

On 5th July, 1996, Gwarzo collected from the CBN the sum of US $8.1 million and GB £ 5.2 million based on his request dated 14th June 1996, to support five presidential aspirants in the Niger Republic general elections. On 21st February, 1997, Gwarzo collected from the CBN the sums of US $60 million and £20 million for “pro-Nigeria propangada” abroad. On 1st April, 1998, Gwarzo collected from the CBN the sums of US $65 million and GB £30 million for “Public Relations at home and abroad, to counter the European Union campaign against the transition programme.” On the 8th of May, 1996 Gwarzo collected US $3 million and US $9 million respectively from the CBN. Out of this sum, he reportedly sent US $ 7 million (on behalf of Abacha) to then President Matthew Kerekou of Benin Republic as “assistance to the country to pay outstanding workers’ salary” while US $2 million was for Kerekou himself.

On 13th November, 1996, Gwarzo collected US $5 million and GB £3 million from the CBN based on his letter dated 7th November, 1996 “to take care of foreign dignitaries who will attend the burial ceremonies of the first President of Nigeria, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.” On 10th September, 1997, Gwarzo collected US$ 60 million and GB£ 30million from the CBN “to finance a campaign for a seat on the Security Council of the United Nations Organisation.” On 9th December, 1996, Gwarzo collected US $5 million from the CBN sequel to Abacha’s approval of his letter dated 21st November, 1996 in which he requested the said sum “to finance the purchase of ten Toyota Land Cruisers, and ten Peugeot 505 saloons for the Republic of Mali”.

I can go on and on because the list is actually very long but I believe the point is already made, even though it need to be said that more than half of the entire money was diverted to the private accounts of Abacha and his cronies, rather than for the purposes for which they were collected.

Today is my 2 year wedding anniversary



Nov,17 2012

intergral:
Will remembering him solve the problem 9ja is going through or will it reduce the price of garri in the market??

goat!

Anybody that hasn't watched SAWOROIDE should do the needful.

thinkdip:
Thank God the era's long gone and I pray Nigerians won't use their bare hands in voting a military man again who will torment and have no tender mercy for his co-human.
#iBelieve

The last time I checked ..almost all the military leaders have hidden their uniform in the wardrope and put on coat or agbada. Something you can identify with

DollyParton1:
No way will this happen. Not after all we went through in the hands of his father. Even if he rigged his way in, he can't stay in that power.

Yeah it can't happen again..cos of democracy .he was contesting for governorship. and by the way. what's the use of being violent when there are new innovative ways of embezzling money.

uzolexis:
I remember the day Abacha died vividly as the next day 9th june was my birthday. that night my parents were so happy and dancing i thought they had started celebrating my birthday earlier . My neighbours, everyone came out, drinking, singing, fireworks everywhere, the mood was so joyful and when i ltr found out they were celebrating someone's death i was very confused. Is death not supposed to be a bad thing now i know better.

Even the diaspora in Nigeria were so happy.. My dad had some fire works he kept for christmas. But he blew it up that day.. And we all chop belleful.. Then I thought my dad received national cake.

He was just an illitrate in power...I remember tthen, I was only 5 when he came into power, and 10 when he died, yes I can still remember I was confused, cried, and danced too after. Listening to what he was doing to my parents.

Ishilove:
A lot of today's younger generation cannot remember the day Abacha seized power (myself included). But I do remember my dad holding his stomach and having himself a good laugh. Lol. I got this very interesting. article which I felt I should share.

Remembering today in history: The day Abacha seized government
by Adedayo Ademuwagun

November 17, 1993 is one of the most notable dates in Nigerian history. That day, General Sani Abacha seized the government and became Nigeria’s seventh military dictator.

The incident happened at a time when Nigeria was in free fall. Ibrahim Babangida had just left government having ruled for eight years. The economy was bleeding. Institutions were collapsing. Corruption and fraud had become the backbone of the society.

Mustapha is one of the people who lived through the era. He says, “All the 419, fraud, corruption you see today have their roots in the Babangida era. Those things were not only acceptable, they were the norm. You could defraud anyone as long as you were smart enough. All kinds of wrong things began to happen — smuggling, bunkering, drugs — and Babangida encouraged it. Fraud and corruption became the prevalent ways to really make money. The society descended into utter depravity.”

That year, after Babangida cancelled results of the June presidential election that Abiola won, there were riots in some parts of the country especially the south-west. A lot of

Nigerians had looked forward to 1993 as the year they’d be free from dictatorship, and they put their hope in Abiola and the 1993 election. They called it Hope ’93. So they were both furious and gutted when Babangida nullified the election and held on to power.

As the country boiled and support for Babangida faded, he set up an interim government in August and appointed Ernest Shonekan to head it, with Abacha as the vice. Then he left Aso Rock. Some people believe he stepped aside as part of a calculation to tacitly work his way back into Aso Rock.

Anyway, people rejected the interim government, rioting continued and a federal court declared the government illegal. The situation grew more chaotic. In the middle of this, Abiola and his supporters continued to heap pressure on the government in order to force a change in his favour.

Three months later, it happened. That day, Abacha and his soldiers marched into Aso Rock and coerced Shonekan to resign. Then he took over the government.

Timothy says, “Many of us were very happy when Abacha took over. We just wanted Shonekan to go away. His government didn’t get any respect. We didn’t vote for him. Someone just picked him and installed him there. Nobody wanted him. In fact I think if the interim government had lasted some more time, there would been catastrophe, because Shonekan didn’t have the mandate of the people and he couldn’t control the army since he wasn’t the constitutional head of state. So when Abacha kicked him out, I was relieved and hopeful again that we would soon have our man, MKO, in the place.”

But Abacha obviously wasn’t interested in that direction. Soon after he became head of state, he began a bloody tyranny that Nigerians who lived under his rule would never forget.

Mustapha says, “If there’s anything that Abacha would be remembered for, it is that his regime was a regime when blood flowed freely. They imprisoned. They killed. Abacha had people killed either because they were opposition or because he needed them for human sacrifice as his witches wanted. You’ll just see a brand new car park, people would step out and shoot someone and drive away. That was the end. He was merciless.”

“By then, life was tortuous for the common Nigerian,” says Bose. “That time, things were not as costly as now. If you had N100, you could cook a potful of soup with a lot of meat and all that. But how would you get that N100? You couldn’t even get kerosene. It got to a time, because of the hardship, people invented a stove called Abacha stove (everyone remembers it till today). That stove, you get an empty tin and stuff it with saw dust. Then you add a little kerosene and light it. You’re ready to cook. Such was the poverty that we suffered.”

“I remember that it was around then I lost my bank job because the bank downsized,” Deborah says. “I was a single mother living with my two kids in Lagos. I became so poor that I had to relocate with my children to my home town. At least, my mother would take care of us there and we would live with her. We won’t have to pay rent.”

Nigerians endured all that for five years while Abacha continued his plot to remain in power for as long as he was alive. Then on June 8, 1998, he died.

Deborah says, “I remember my daughter was watching the news and I was sitting outside with neighbours. Then she came to tell us she heard in the news that Abacha was dead. You should see the joy! We danced. we sang. We wept. We had never been that joyful in a long time. Even the Hausas in the kiosk across the street were rejoicing.

“My girl was only nine and didn’t understand what was going on. So she asked me why everyone was so excited to hear that a man died. I told her, ‘Juliana, that man was a bad man who tormented us, and now that he’s dead, we have hope for the future again.”

https://dailypost.ng/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Sani-Abacha.jpg

Source: http://ynaija.com/remembering-today-in-history-the-day-abacha-seized-government/

Cholison:
God bless the maximum ruler, he impacted positively on Nigeria on the world stage.

Guy!!! The sk you dey smoke don do!!!

MissMeiya:
That name makes me shiver. Good god, such evil.

Even as hither was one of the worlds greatest tyrants. Papa doc deserves a place there.. His type of evil I never see before. making a zombie army!!! If this crop of black leaders rule the world............... !!!

QMark:
Those days were better than now IMO.

What's the essence of democracy when the walls of Aso Rock is too thick for the voice of the people to be heard?

obviously you didnt live in those days

[quote author=VICTORCIZA post=28087939]UNFORTUNATELY THAT WAS THE MAN BUHARI SAID WAS A SAINT AND NOT CORRUPT.
BUHARI HANDLED PTF FOR HIM AND HELP IN DIVERTING FUNDS FOR HIM [/quote

Many people including me didn't hear buhari say that, but we all saw Gej giving him a national award.

The hardship was due to the accident of very low crude oil prices with an average oil price of approx $15 per barrel

remsonik:
Abacha era was an unforgettable era. Things were hard and people suffered, no matter how bad democracy is it would still ve been better than a military era

I was a little kid when this animal seized power, but I still got some hazy memories of 93, & I vividly remember the riots. Abacha was the first Nigerian head of state I knew & I remember my dad used to discuss him with his friends.

I was always a kid who understand & was interested in politics, & I remember back then, Abacha was a symbol of fear, (with his heavily decorated military uniform & dark googles) he was like the boogeyman, you dare not speak ill of him in public.

I will say however, life was relatively peaceful for us back then, most of the insecurity worries with Nigeria now, were absent then.

I clearly remember the day Abacha died, I heard the breaking news on a car radio, the jubilation was insane. I could remember my dad being excited the tyrant was gone but at the same time so worried about the uncertainty that we considered moving back to Britain. Then about a month later, Abiola died.. Abdusalam Abubakar (the fastest thief in Nigeria's history) was installed as interim head of state, OBJ was released from prison & was to stand in the elections..... Memories.

Abacha was a savage foo*l who had nothing upstairs except ways to loot brazenly & oppress the weak or whoever challenged him. So bold and foolish were his family that when he died, his wife tried smuggling suitcases filled with foreign currencies out of the country.

The only thing I liked about Abacha was his ability to stand up to other world leaders, the guy was no push over but he was a thief & fool... What do you expect of a man who had the likes of Ghaddafi as confidant.

Nigerian needs another tyrant (without the stealing) to clean up its mess, restore sanity & discipline.. That only is the solution to Nigeria's problems.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhG3OU8FZZk

I am surprised that you said that.

Abacha was one of our greatest leaders.
Please forget all the propaganda to demonise him; it was all started because Abacha was to patriotic accept the West ruinous IMF and world Bank loans , which was why he had to go.

barcanista:
Gen Sani Abacha belong to the darkside of Nigeria history. He won't be missed

please forget this date ohhhhh

remmeber 2015 is around the corner before

some people leave boko haram and start thinking of where the aso rock is..................

Congrats on being the only person who has not had his judgement clouded by propaganda agains the great leader.

donmalcolm21:
Abacha stood up to the West and dammned their embargo on Nigeria, we need more of African soilders like him and GEJ who told the West to suck it with their gay rights thing.

Macelliot:
Who is Abacha? Cos I schooled in Gongoyaro.

Why are people form Congo allowed to comment on this Forum?

kraftykc:
Niquar don died n u still riding his shrunken and rotted diik? Better ease up homes or you want Ebola up the butt cos that's how u get Ebola up the butt.

Get lost!

Children who lack manners, symptomatic of failed parenting and of perhaps parentage.