Things You Never Knew About Late Nigerian Head Of State, Sani Abacha!

What if I tell you that General SANINEGERIA MOHAMMED ABACHA, the most popular Kanuri person in the world was regarded as the most patient man on earth? My Mum, the Ogidi Abiyamo herself never forgets her airport encounter with him, she was thoroughly stupefied at his height. It was fifteen years ago. A man of diminutive stature (5ft, 4inches). A man of fire, iron and steel, the General lorded absolute power and unbridled authority over 120 million souls.

Not even Generals dare cross his path. Those who did, knelt and wept before him while he offered them tissue paper to wipe their salty tears. Not even a plea from the Pope could melt his heart. Mandela begged him to no avail. No one messed with Abacha. He was gentle. Listening. Cunning. Daring. Attentive. Dangerous. Brave. Brutal. When an American ambassador was irritating the late maximum tyrant, he almost paid with his life. But who was SANI ABACHA, Nigeria's most enigmatic ruler, and the first head of state to die in office without violence (a man of many firsts as you will soon see)? Why and how he almost blew General Diya out of existence? Why his last son was shot in 2011? His links with America's most secretive Christian group, Boko Haram and Imam Abubakar Shekau, its leader and Nigeria's most wanted man? And many more after the page cut...



Known to many as an incorrigible kleptomaniac who will stop at nothing to succeed himself in power, Abiyamo invites you on a spellbinding journey into the rise, rise and fall of the dictator and lawn tennis lover whom IBB called the Khalifa. When IBB was leaving the 'throne', he retired all the service chiefs with the exception of this man: Sani Abacha. Adjust your chair, stretch your legs and let's learn more about the gripping story of a soldier of audacious strategies who proudly bore his Kanuri tribal marks beneath the darkest of goggles.

OVERVIEW

-EARLY DAYS & SCHOOLING

--CAREER & COUPS

--PERSONALS, MARRIAGE, FAMILY & CHILDREN, -PERSONALS (Hobbies, Signature etc)

-AS HEAD OF STATE: CABINET & PRESIDENTIAL STAFF, HIS FIRST LADY, OPPOSITION, SUPPORT, FOREIGN POLICIES ETC

-ACHIEVEMENTS, ACTIVITIES & EVENTS UNDER ABACHA

-INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT HIM

-CORRUPTION

-DEATH

-AFTERMATH AND LEGACIES

-QUOTES (His Words) & What Others Say About Him
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-EARLY DAYS & SCHOOLING
Unlike other leaders who had 'humble' backgrounds, Abacha was not born into squalid poverty. As a matter of fact, his was a prosperous family with his father owning a successful trucking business in Kano State. The family which migrated to Kano in search of greener pastures, also had a bakery they named 'Canteen Abacha'.

-A Kanuri man (Abacha is NOT Hausa or Fulani, that is quite important as some people tend to lump the entire north together as 'Hausa-Fulani' bloc, Hausa is not Fulani and vice versa), he was born in Borno State on a Monday, the 20th September, 1943, grew up in Kano and blended so well that he lies in the soil of the ancient city after he gave up the ghost on another Monday half a century later. His father was positioning him to take over the family's bread baking business and he ensured he got a good education so as to stem the tide of illiteracy in the family although young Sani would be notorious for his truancy rather than astronomical academic wizardry. At about the same time, the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, was promoting a 'northernization' campaign which saw the influx of many eager and enthusiastic lads into the military and other institutions. One of them was a Kanuri boy. Sani.


-City Senior Primary School, Kano.

-Kano Provincial Secondary School (finished in 1957).

-Government College, Kano (1957-1962), now called Rumfa College.

-Nigerian Military Training College (NMTC) (now called the Nigerian Defence Academy, NDA), Zaria, Kaduna State (1962-1963).

-Mons Defence Officers Cadet Training College, Aldershot, England.


While a student his academic exploits become murky as some reports indicate that the former Nigerian ruler did not graduate from high school before proceeding to NMTC. The intellectual height and the depth of Abacha’s sagacity is a subject of intense debate with colleagues like General Olusegun Obasanjo dismissing him a dull personality, an ‘expendable brute not expected to rise beyond the rank of a warrant officer.’

Some even cited his not attending Sandhurst Royal Military Academy as evidence of an intrinsic lack of intelligence. But Abacha had a way of stupefying his opponents and those who underestimated him. He eventually became the Commander-in-Chief of the world’s most populous black nation. That doesn’t sound like what a silly dimwit can achieve.

-CAREER & COUPS

Here is an overview of Abacha’s rise through the ranks in the Nigerian Army:

-Commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant: 1963 -Lieutenant: 1966 -Captain: 1967 -Platoon and Battalion Commander, Training Department, Commander, 2nd Infantry Division, Major: 1969 -Lieutenant Colonel: 1972 -Commanding Officer, 2nd Infantry Brigade, Colonel: 1975 -Brigadier: 1980

Courtesy of: Iyaniwura