₦airaland Forum

General Sani Abacha, the late military dictator of
Nigeria, died today, 20 years ago, in contentious
circumstances.

To many Nigerians, home and abroad, Abacha was
perceived and remembered as a totalitarian, who had
Ken Saro-Wiwa hanged, used his power to the extreme
and looted the reserves of the nation.

However, it would be a great disservice to remember
him for just that, as he also did some other significant
things in his time as leader of the Nigerian nation.
Here are 10 notable things/feats ( some bad, some
good ) Abacha would be remembered for;




1. Abacha successfully partook in 2 coups

In 1983, Abacha assisted Ibrahim Babangida in
overthrowing Shehu Shagari, after just being elected to
his second presidential term. Ten years later in 1993,
Abacha overthrew the civilian interim government of
Ernest Shonekan.


2. Abacha killed Ken Saro-Wiwa

Abacha became infamous for the imprisonment, trial,
and execution for treason of writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and
other Ogoni activists who were concerned with the
environmental exploitation of their region by
multinational petroleum companies.


3. Abacha controlled the press and military

During his days, Abacha banned political activity of
any kind, fired a large portion of the military, controlled
the press, and assembled a personal security force of
some 3,000 men.


4. Abacha made Nigerian Army respected

Abacha supported the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS) and its military arm,
ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), by sending
troops to restore democracy in Liberia and Sierra
Leone after a series of military coups in both countries.


5. Abacha created PTF, NLNG

Gen Abacha created the Petroleum Trust Fund and did
significant capital and infrastructural projects across
Nigeria, as well as the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas
company (NLNG).


6. The economy grew in Abacha’s era

The Abacha administration became the first to record
unprecedented economic achievements, going on to
oversee an increase in the country’s foreign exchange
reserves from $494 million in 1993 to $9.6 billion by
the middle of 1997. It also reduced the external debt of
Nigeria from $36 billion in 1993 to $27 billion by
1997.


7. Inflation rate was significantly reduced during
Abacha’s time

Abacha brought all the controversial privatization
programs of the Babangida administration to halt,
reduced an inflation rate of 54% inherited from Ibrahim
Badamasi Babangida to 8.5% between 1993 and 1998,
all while the nation’s primary commodity, oil was at an
average of $15 per barrel.


8. Nigeria’s coffers was well-looted by Abacha

It is widely believed that no other Nigerian leader
looted the Nigerian treasury as much as Sani Abacha.
During his regime, he and his family reportedly stole a
total of £5 billion from the country’s coffers.


9. Abacha is rumoured to have been killed by
prostitutes

Abacha died in June 1998 while at the presidential
villa in Abuja. Many believe he may have been
executed extra-judicially by way of being poisoned by
Indian prostitutes from Dubai, however, the government
identified the cause of death as a sudden heart attack.


10. Abacha never held a political appointment as a
military man

Abacha refused to accept a single political
appointment throughout his military career, Abacha has
been described as the epitome of military discipline.

Though he have some positives,Abacha was a despotic dictator that further bastardized our national life from where his military colleagues left it.

Abacha is the chief looter of Nigeria and a wicked dictator.

boman2014:
Abacha refused to accept a single political
appointment throughout his military career, Abacha has
been described as the epitome of military discipline.

rubbish.

A corrupt discipline military personnel you mean

There is nothing like discipline in the Nigerian military, a discipline military officer will never take part in a coup.

Abacha was not a smart man like abdulsalam and IBB.abacha a Muslim kanuri man wanted to make himself the life president of Nigeria, that was a senseless move by him.

Such a thing can't happen in Nigeria, the best he should have done is to divide the country, and he would be able to rule the north west and north east till he die

And some people will blaming fall in oil prices for their inability to perform. I hope they can read the part where this article stated oil sold for a paltry 15 dollar per barrel.