NDM STAR ARTICLE: Abubakar Umar On Sani Abacha: He Was "A Vagabond in Power" (in TELL August 10, 1998)

[NDM - Nigerian Democratic Movement]

_________________________________________________________________________

NIGERIAN DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT
(NDM)

NDM STAR ARTICLE

Vagabond in Power: The Story of Abacha's Coup against Babangida, Shonekan
and Abiola.

By ABUBAKAR UMAR
(TELL, August 10, 1998)

August 11, 1998
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The military was supposed to be a simple affair. You dedicate your life to
God and your country. Simple. If your country says go and fight, you are
ready to die for the fatherland. You are not supposed to think of the
rainbow clouds, intrigues, betrayals and treacheries. You are to believe
that the boss is an honest and dignified man, an officer and a gentleman.
You are not supposed to reckon that an evil man like General Sani Abacha,
confessed coup plotter, traitor, ogre and uncommon thief could be the man
at the apex of power. You never believed that one man could change the
hue of the Nigerian Army and toy with the fate of the entire Nigerian
enterprise and bring the country to disrepute and dishonour. You invested
your faith in the system and hold as an article of faith that the army
would always represent the best in Nigeria, You persist even when everyone
else had abandoned the cause.

Your name is Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, former military governor of old Kaduna
State and relentless campainger for democracy.

But for the intervention of God and some valiant soldiers, Umar would have
been buried with this story. Now he has survived the evil days of General
Sani Abacha to tell the full story of the Days that Changed Our World.
Before General Olusegun Obasanjo, George Mbah, Beko Ransome-Kuti, Ken
Saro-Wiwa, Major-General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua and many other learnt the
meaning of 'frame-up', Umar had found himself at the centre of a web of
intrigues organised and financed by Abacha in his mad ambition to get to
power. It was in the heat of the June 12 struggle and Umar was a member of
the vanguard bent on ensuring that the military returned to barracks and
hand over power to elected President Moshood Abiola. Abacha, uncomfortable
with this, hanged Umar with a fake coup plot which would have ended in his
facing the firing squad. Luckily for this relentless crusader, destiny
intervened.

Umar is writing a book on those turbulent days of intrigues and betrayals.
After years of spirited effort to persuade him to open up on his inside
knowledge of the annulment and the aftermath, Colonel Umar finally caved
in on Wednesday, July 1, six days before the sudden death of Chief Moshood
Abiola. He spoke to Danlami Nmodu, TELL's Kaduna bureau chief like a man
at war, with his voice rising and falling as his memory unravelled the
intriguing episodes. He spoke on the naked ambition of some military top
brass which aborted Nigerian dream for democracy and the cloak and dagger
game that attended General Ibrahim Babangida's final days in power.
Further more, he spoke on those that surrounded Abacha, the greed and the
madness that dominated the inner court in the tyrant's Aso Rock Villa:
Abdulsalaam Abubakar, the new head of the ruling junta; Ismaila Gwarzo,
the notorious former national security adviser; Wl-Mustapha, the chief
security officer to the late dictator; and many other personalities and
issues. "You have forced me to reveal this June 12 story," he said at the
end of the five-hour interview. "I have done it!" Now the story is
narrated by Umar:-

A General's Ambition

In November 1992. General Sani Abacha me and said, "Dangiwa, I heard what
you have been saying. Let me tell you, I have always had a lot of respect
for you because you can stand up and tell the truth." And I and not
beating my chest, this is exactly what he told me. "And so I want to tell
you that I share your views about this Babangida transition programme. I
have always been telling General Babangida that we must hand over power
and withdraw. Some of us must go on retirement." He went on and on. He
said. "You know General Babangida thinks you are working against him, you
want to get him and because maybe you are interested in Adamu Ciroma or
somebody else to head the government". He claimed he understood that Adamu
Ciroma had promised to make me the chief of army staff. I laughed, because
that time I was just a blinking colonel and how could I be a chief of army
staff? So, I told him it was surprising that that kind of thing could even
be discussed. So, he said, "Okay, the only thing is I have discovered that
General Babangida is the stumbling block and therefore we must go ahead to
do whatever we can to push him, make sure that he hands over power to the
civilians. By the way, did you read my lecture at the War College?" I
told him. "Yes I read it and it raised fundamental issues where you talked
about the military subordinating itself to civilians and all that. And I
believe this is our primary role in the constitution and I am pleased that
you have done this". He kept painting me in most elating terms. He said
"Okay from now on, I want you to work with me so that we get Babangida to
honour his pledge to hand over". And before I left he said even if it
means by his removal forcefully if he (IBB) tries to drag the image of the
military down we must get him out. We must ask him to go and hand over
power peacefully. So. I agreed with him. I left him.

Now, within a few days, the cancellation of the primaries of the 23
aspirants came through and the A4 formula (option A4) was now designed. I
watched General Babangida when he was making his speech after which
General Abacha summoned me to Lagos. He said, "Did you see the speech of
General Babangida? I said I did. He said you see what I was saying, that
this man is playing games. I said: "Sir, I think what should happen is
this: let's have you senior officers go, confront General Babangida and
tell him that look, there are rumblings within the military, these boys
are not happy with what he is doing. So, take the service chiefs, go and
confront him and tell him what exactly the military is thinking. He said,
"No, no, no. I have been doing this and it doesn't seem like he (IBB) is
ready to do it. I said okay, what I intend to do is that I like he (IBB)
is ready to do it. I said okay, what I intend to do is that I will use my
channel, since I could see General Babangida, I would book an appointment
and see him."

I eventually saw General Babangida and told him that if
people get the right cause, they can sit down and plan a coup, "as you
know, and I am not saying that a coup is being planned against you but
what I am saying is that with the goings on, don't be surprised if some of
us disagree with you vehemently. And maybe we discuss with the troops and
this may bring about resentment within the military and your government is
toppled. And I to him, "Please, beware, people that you think have your
interest at heart and the interest of the nation and are telling you to
move this way and that way in the transition programme may not be very
sincere. So, please whatever you are going to do, finish up and hand over
to whoever wins. And I think General Babangida discussed with General
Abacha because General Abacha called me and said. "Your friend, you see,
don't tell him. Don't discuss with General Babangida what we discussed
because he will not hand over". But IBB's response to me then was that the
transition programme was on course, and that he had no intention to stay a
day longer than beware of those around him.

Immediately after the (SDP and NRC) primaries, General Abacha called me
again and said he had discovered that after all, I was just being misled,
after all power was not going to be handed over, that General Babangida
was still playing games. I said, "Look, I think it was sometime in May
(1993), there is no going back, I believe that whatever is going to
happen, even if it means sacrificing our lives, this is what we have to
do. We must continue." So, I just trusted him. As an insider, he had
information which I didn't have. And he said, "No, the only thing to do
now is: I have concluded that Babangida is not going to go. So what do you
think we should do? I said. "What we must do is still what I told you,
that if you senior officers are scared of going to face General Babangida,
let's go and meet him."

I started sensing that something was amiss. So, I said "What we would do
is if you want, let the caucus members (those that toppled Buhari's
government) go and meet General Babangida." He said, "No, no, no, there
is no need." He would not discuss what he has been discussing with us.
This is the first time (I am saying this) I didn't tell IBB this. I only
tried to make him understand that something was going on so that he would
voluntarily quit because I had my loyalty to him and my loyalty more to
the nation. And I thought if the push came to the shove, if it meant
sacrificing everybody in the military to go forward, that is what we
should do. So, I told General Abacha that as far as I am concerned I
think we should go as a group. He said no. He thinks what we should do is,
he didn't mention a coup, he just said, "Your boys are all over. Yes, we
have divisional commanders who are supporting General Babangida... They
are true Babangida boys, but you have a Recce Battalion in each division
and that Recce Battalion is the most potent force that we can use in case
we go to talk to him and he decides to arrest us. Why don't you (Umar)
alert your boys"? I said, that is very easy.

So, I took a tour round, the locations in the name of visiting my troops.
And when I went around I sensitised all the armour battalion commanders to
our problems this that is what is happening: we may reach a situation
where this country will actually disintegrate. I told them that there was
a possibility that a Southerner was going to win an election and if he is
not handed over power that this country is going to disintegrate, okay?
That was in May 1993. So, I went round, did everything. I am so pleased
and I am so proud of these officers. They knew that military would leave
power. But every one of them I spoke to jumped (at it). They saw it as an
honourable duty to stand up and be counted. That if there was anything
(wrong) they were ready to put pressure also, in their own way.

So, I reported (back) to General Abacha. He said okay, that was good. Now,
a week later, he summoned me in an emergency fashion and said I should go
and meet David Mark, Lawan Gwadabe, Diya, Ahmed Abdullahi and some other
people. That they would brief me as to what was going on. Of course, they
set a time for meeting. We later met in Lagos and they told me that, look,
there was this problem that General Abacha was putting pressure on General
Babangida. Babangida was not ready to heed warnings that he should
continue with the transition programme and power should shift to the
civilians. And therefore, there was the need for us to be alert and if
possible force, in whichever way, force the transition programme to be
concluded. So, when I told them that maybe what we should do is, we should
delegate General Useni, General Duba and get all the GOCs, sit with them
and delegate these two people to go and tell General Babangida that we are
with his GOCs, we have all agreed that he should relinquish power, that
the transition programme should go on, he should relinquish power that
time. So, they briefed me as to what General Abacha told them. And I said
okay, provided the release of power to civilian (is the aim) ...let
General Babangida be told . That the election (June 12) would go ahead,
They said no, he was not going to do that. That the only thing that was
required was let's get the GOCs together and do this. But before then, I
should alert my boys to do this thing. I didn't realise what was going on
then.

They didn't talk about coup. I think there was a plot within a plot. Of
course, if there was going to be a coup who was going to take over?
General Abacha? I will come to that. We all met Diya and Co. Diya was the
head of the movement then for the continuation of the transition
programme. So, in the end, Abacha decided that the best thing to do, is
call all the GOCs to a meeting. All those that he thought were
influential, a kind of caucus meeting and from there, we can ask them what
their opinions were. And he told me that if their opinions were against
the continuation of the transition programme, for the elongation of
military rule under General Babangida, then we should just arrest them and
go and tell General Babangida that we have arrested his GOCs. He should
resign and hand over. I said, "Okay, so what do we replace it with"? You
know he was struck by that comment. I said between now and the end of the
transition programme, the elections in June, what happens? He said no,
just maybe we can have a kind of military committee, he didn't say who
will head the committee. It was very shoddy to me and when I saw General
Diya, General Diya said he is beginning to wonder what Abacha is thinking
of, that he hopes Abacha is not harbouring a hidden agenda. They just
asked me to wait until the next day and we would discuss more. He must
have convinced them that there was the need for him to take over and have
power transferred to him by General Babangida who would have lost out,
even if it was peaceful. And he would continue the transition programme
and hand over power.

Now, the GOCs were summoned. General Abacha said, "do alert your boys
particularly those ones in Lagos so that if they come tomorrow and decide
to play funny we will put them come to his senses, either continue with
the transition programme or if he is tired he would hand over power to
this committee that I have been talking about." He said I should go and
meet Diya, they would meet with me later in the night. That was a Friday.
So that Friday I met with Diya. Diya said there was going to be a meeting
on Saturday, David Mark was going to head the meeting, himself and Abacha
were not going to be there. So I met David Mark with Gwadabe and co in
David Mark's guest house, that was the night before the GOCs came on a
Sunday. And I had already alerted the boys in Lagos, the Recce Battalion
that is in Lagos under one Colonel Jibrin Isa who was retired mysteriously
by General Abacha. Before then, other people were contacted, who would
support in case of problem. I had Aziza who was commanding a mechanised
brigade contacted. So in that Saturday meeting, I was taken aback, as
soon as I entered, and we started discussing David Mark walked up to me
and said 'Umar, what post would you want to have in this new set up'. I
said which set up? He said 'if there is need for us to create this
committee, what post, you just have to have a post in that. I said, look I
don't think there should be any committee, what I think should happen
is... He told me that the minister (Abacha) said we should give him three
to six months to consolidate during which he would continue with the
election and whoever wins he would hand over.

So I understood that what they want was, General Abacha wanted to take
over power. I told them that was not the agreement. The agreement was we
are going to discuss with these GOCs and see General Babangida and if
General Babangida felt we were coming there to kind of topple him and he
decides that we should be arrested, these people that we have put on alert
would spring into action. And so I told them that if that is the case, if
Abacha was going to take over, I was not going to go on with this. But I
would warn them to beware of Abacha's motive. That I have dealt with
Abacha in the la being sincere with us. That maybe, he is not telling us
exactly what he has been discussing with IBB. That he is only interested
in coming into power and therefore as far as I am concerned.there was no
deal. And I was going to go and tell the troops in Lagos, you know, Ikeja
that they should stand down, that we are not going to go on this. I came
out, I think around eleven o' clock. I went to see General Abacha. He said
did you discuss? He said GOCs had accepted and they were coming the next
day and so we would discuss with them. I said, "Well, sir, there is a
problem because these people are telling me that you want to take over
from Babangida. That is not possible because I cannot see how I can swap
Babangida for you. That I have a feeling that you are developing some
hidden agenda and I want you to tell us really what it is. But I don't see
why I can sacrifice my life because of this project in which you will
emerge as the head of state, that I only thought we'll put pressure on
General Babangida to quit.. He said no, do you mean this and that?
Immediately I went out of his house, I went to Ikeja, saw Isa and told him
to stand down, that there was not going to be anything.

Later, I saw General Salihu (Ibrahim) who was the chief of army staff and
just told him that, "Sir, it looks like tomorrow, General Abacha is
calling for a GOCs meeting and the security situation is not feasible. So,
why don't you tell them that GOCs should not come. That you have heard
there was going to be a meeting but the security situation was not
feasible. My feeling was if I was eliminated in the night, this thing
would go on. So, Salihu said what is it? Do you have any facts, I said why
don't you just tell them (not to come). Later, maybe we will discuss. But
it looks like something is going on. Salihu went to see General Abacha,
uncharacteristically, by 7.30 in the morning, he was in his house. The
meeting (of GOCs) was supposed to be for 10 -11 o' clock in the morning.
So, he saw him, and told him this, that that meeting should not hold.
Abacha said at that meeting he was just going to brief them on the
situation in the country. He said it was just meant to address them. So,
later I went and met David Mark and co, around 10 o' clock in the morning.
I told them, "Look no deal. Tomorrow we are not going to, even if these
people tell us that they are not agreeing with what we have told them, no
arrests, I have told these boys they should not come and all that. So, do
understand, this is the way it will end, because we are not sure what
exactly Abacha wanted. Mind you, we were being pushed along, hurry up,
hurry up. The nation is going to disintegrate" and all that. So, he
called us, they held their meeting. I didn't even attend. I was making
sure that the troops in Ikeja were not involved in anything, that nobody
used them. Ahmed Abdullahi met me before the meeting, around one o' clock
in 'the, morning and said that he was disappointed. That he thought that
we were going to just go ahead with the meeting and do the right thing.
That was after the meeting. So in the end, the whole thing was called off.

The Road to Annulment

Just a week before the (June 12) election, General Abacha called a caucus
meeting of some officers. They were about 29 or so. Unfortunately, I
couldn't be there, but I asked Lawan Gwadabe, by then who was working with
me and a couple of others, to listen and tell us what their feeling,
towards what Abacha was telling these people were. Apparently, Abacha was
pushing them to say that we shouldn't continue with the elections, after
all that we have discovered the economy was not doing well, that the
polity was not stable, that we needed more time and therefore there
shouldn't be an election.

I soon heard about the decision at the caucus meeting and what I did
immediately was to go and see IBB in Abuja. And the day I met him he was
ruffled, he was looking a bit unsettled. I saw that he hadn't slept. That
was a week before the June 12 election, around the June 5 or so. I asked
him what was wrong. He said, "You boys are putting so much pressure on
me." I said what pressure? "Like the (caucus) meeting and telling me not
to continue with these elections, you know. That the military is against
the elections and all that kind of thing." I asked him which military? The
military is simply saying, I thought Abacha has been telling you, that if
you don't get out on time there would be problem, that is the impression I
have. I refused to let Babangida know that this is what we have been
doing. And so he said that is the impression I have been given. I said,
"Let me tell you sir. I think you'd better continue with this election.
It's already too late in the day for you to postpone this election. It's
already too late. And I want to tell you that it looks like this election
is going to be won by Abiola and for goodness sake, it may be, through a
fluke, a power shift to the South and if that happens we should just he
happy because the North has been accused of dominating the political arena
for a long time." He said, well, you see they are already going to court,
they say they would go to court and the courts would stop the election and
so on. I said look, there is already a decree that has ousted the powers
of the courts to investigate into this, so, for goodness sake, don't
listen to them. They will throw this country into crisis and I know who
is doing this. He said who? I said well, I will not tell you but I think
you better beware. So, immediately... he said okay, actually Abacha,
Dogonyaro, Aliyu Mohammed, they are on their way, they are coming to brief
me on what truly the caucus discussed, but they told me on telephone that
they said we should not continue with the election... So, he said, "But I
will now call (Humphrey) Nwosu (NEC chairman) and tell him that we must
continue with this election, I'm fed up."

He later summoned Nwosu. I was there. They discussed and he told him that
he should not listen to any court, he should go ahead with the election.
And as I was going out of his office, I met General Abacha, Dogonyaro and
General Aliyu Mohammed had already come into the villa. When Abacha saw
me, he said, "Dangiwa, see me immediately after this meeting at my guest
house," that is the defence guest house in Abuja. I said "Alright sir."
So, I went to General Aliyu Mohammed's office, he was then the security
adviser and he said, "Well, you know, it looks like the boys within the
military are saying, 'that they would not accept these two guys (Abiola
and Tofa) as president." That you know the transition programme is faulty
and all that. But he said IBB had told them that I have been putting
pressure on him, that the election should go on. He said why in the
caucus, did I alone stand out that we should continue with the election
when the whole military was saying we should not continue. I said, "Well,
this is my opinion and it is my reading of the situation that we should
not, in anyway, postpone election. I have been talking to the minister.
He said the minister (Abacha) said he would want to see me immediately
after this. Then I said alright. You know, they left the president and
later on, I spoke with him and he (IBB) said, he had told Nwosu to
continue with the elections. the courts would not influence anything, he
would defy the courts. I said okay, well and good. I met the minister
(Abacha). The minister said, Dangiwa. we have discussed with you several
times, why did you tell IBB that he should go ahead with the elections. I
said I thought that was your interest also. He said, "Well, now I have
been convinced by these boys that it is not eh..." I said nobody is
convincing you. Sir, I am beginning to think that honestly we have not
been honest to one another, That this election will continue, there is no
going back, IBB has been convinced that this is what will happen. Okay, to
cut the long story short, the elections were held. As soon as the
elections were held, I was in Bauchi, I heard that people were putting
pressure still, Abacha and co were coming to see General Babangida that it
would be very dangerous if this election results were released and all
that. So five days later, on the 17th (of June) I went and saw IBB in
Abuja again from Bauchi. I told him there are stories (about pressures on
him to stop the election results), He said, "I don't know what is going
on." I said like what? He said, so much pressures coming from some of your
colleagues that they think there is a rumbling within the military. I
said it is not true. I said the military is 85 per cent and above for the
installation of the winner of this election. And already, about 14 states
(results) had been released and Abiola had won even in Kano. So, I said
sir, write your name in gold. If you hand over power to the winner, you
will be hailed as the Ataturk (Turkish statesman) of Nigeria. He said he
would go ahead, he has already started packing his things, he is quitting.
I said don't do anything that will endanger the unity of this country...
Before that I told him that if, for any reason, they convince you to
cancel these elections I'm going to resign my commission. He said no, it
would not come to that, I said well because you know, I didn't see what
one will remain to do because from then on, the military would have lost
its credibility, totally. He said already I will not do that. Okay, when I
was coming out, I met Nwosu again in Aso Rock, I looked at him, he was
looking so confused. I asked him what was wrong with him. He said let me
tell you colonel, I have never seen it so bad in my life. I said what is
wrong? He said the way these people, I said I know what they are doing,
"Look they are telling you to go ahead and advice on the cancellation of
the results of this election. Now, as a Christian, you know better than to
think of any cancellation, You know what has happened. An election, has
been held, results are already trickling in and we can see the trend and
so for goodness sake do not contribute to the creation of anarchy in this
country. As a Christian, stand by the word of your Lord and don't do
anything that would jeopardise our future." Believe me, he knelt down and
he was thanking me for that advice. He was convinced that that was the
right thing to do. And he said he would not accept any annulment himself,
he would go ahead and if they did, he was going to resign. He actually
told me that they had received (results from) over 20 states and Abiola
had won. That is what he told me, Abiola had won. So, we left, I went back
to Bauchi.

On the 23rd I heard on the BBC that there was an annulment, I couldn't
believe it. Immediately, I phoned Aso Rock and I was told that Babangida
had gone for the burial of General Shehu Yar'Adua's father. Now, I asked
one of the security officers whether it was true there was an annulment.
He said they have released the statement. I said he should tell the
operator that as soon as Babangida came back, they should call me, I think
around 12 o'clock, General Babangida called. He said well, unfortunately
we discussed this and this and that, but unfortunately there are officers
here that feel this is the way it should go and sorry, he didn't discuss
with me before he did this. So, I told him that the contract was still on
but if the annulment was real, I was going to resign and I am going to
write a letter today to resign because I cannot serve again. I said I had
already drafted my letter, and if he wanted me to give him a gist, it's to
say that the military is now becoming the stumbling block to the
transition and therefore I was resigning. He said we should discuss
further. But I sent my letter immediately. I asked an officer to take my
letter to the chief of army staff and the military secretary and I told
the chief of army staff that I was coming to see him later to discuss
this. I later addressed my officers, and I told them what had happened.
That I was leaving the army. Intrigues and Betrayals

And so, I went to Lagos, saw General Salihu. Now, as soon as I saw General
Salihu, I also went to General Abacha's house. I said, well, this is what
has happened, I have already given my letter of resignation. I'm leaving.
He said, "You know Dangiwa, you should not do that. I heard some officers
saying that you should actually be court-martialed. But I am prevailing on
the president." I asked, what for? He said, for resigning and that "you
have written, resigned and the letter has leaked to the press" and that
therefore I should be court-martialled. I said, "Well how can you court
martial me, I have every right. I have been in service since 1969, so I
have put in the right years and I can resign my commission voluntarily. I
am leaving." So, he said, "He was talking to the president not to
court-martial me, not to even do anything, even my retirement would not be
accepted." But it is not too late, we can still work together to ensure
that the right thing is done." So, he said, "What do you think we should
do?" So I said, "What we should do is get IBB. if he is the stumbling
block, let's get him out. Let's call Nwosu to announce the balance of the
results" and you know, he said. "Well, I think that is the right thing to
do. We should not allow the military to be humiliated in office." So, he
said, "What we started before, do you know that I am no more interested in
all this hanky-panky, let's deal with each other honestly, let's hand over
power to the winner of the election." I said, "Who is the winner?" He
(Abacha) said Abiola is the winner, of course. I said, "Okay, we will just
do it the legal way. We'll call Nwosu to release the results, I tell you
we are hell-bent on going ahead. So, he said, "What we should do now is
you know, talk to your colleagues again, do convince them that this is the
right thing to do. I said I have already spoken to those that matter. He
said, you know, the GOCs are still their problem. but you see, we should
do it this way. Let's get IBB to go." I said, "How do you get him to go?"
He said, "Well, some of us will talk to him. But we will also appreciate
if you go and talk to him. You know, unknown to me, he was pushing IBB to
retire me saying that because I was becoming a stumbling block I would not
accept his idea of staying behind. And then he was coming and telling me
that it was Akilu and Co that were saying I should be retired,
court-martialled. I later found out it was not true. A week later General
Abacha called me to his Kano house. He asked Brigadier-General Yakubu
Muazu to summon me to Kano. I met General Abacha seven days later. And he
said, Dangiwa you know what we should do, we should just put pressure on
IBB to go. But before he goes, he should leave me behind, because I have
this plan to hand over power to Abiola. As soon as he goes, it would be
very easy. "I said "What does he replace it with?" He said, "We have
already convinced General Babangida to create an ING (Interim National
Government) and we have convinced him to allow (Chief Ernest) Shonekan to
head this ING. As soon as he goes, the climate would be conducive for a
change of government. But now, he has got his GOCs in place, he has got
everybody. They will not allow it. So, it would be a bloody business if we
should attempt to ask him to go by force. So, he said they had convinced
him. I said, "Well, is he going?" He said Babangida would go by the 27th
of August. He has accepted. I said, "Sir, if that is the case, what I
think we should do is, all of you should go, and I assure you those that
remain behind would hand over power to Abiola. He said, "Lock, if you
attempt to change government there are already his GOCs that he has put in
place. He is going to leave some of his cronies and they will not listen
to you. So the best thing is for me to remain behind." I believed him
then, that he swore by the Almighty God, that was what he was planning.
But at the back of my mind, I had this feeling that Abacha was playing
games. To cut the long story short, he convinced (General Oladipo) Diya.
He swore by the Almighty Allah that he was going to call Abiola, going to
make sure Abiola was sworn in as the president of this country. I believed
him. Now, Abiola just took flight... So, Abiola left the country saying
the annulment was carried out because he is a Yoruba man and all that. In
my presence, Abacha called Abiola and told him, "Chief, listen, I have one
of your admirers here. He has been working day and night to make sure that
you are sworn in. But for goodness sake do understand, don't make any
statement, I assure you that these boys are serious, you will be the
president of this country."

In the meantime, Babagana Kingibe had been seeing me or calling me on
telephone that, "Please do hurry up, this country may break up." Babagana
Kingibe was even seeing some boys in the 245 Recce Battalion telling them
"listen to Umar all the time, please he is a good man" And all that, And
he (Abacha) told Abiola that "Just take heart, we are going to swear you
in." Now Babangida, for some reasons, decided that Abacha
would be left behind. He convinced Babangida that he should not retire me
even when the chief of army staff had already told me that decision had
been
reached that I would be retired. And I told him that "Look, I was ready to
go." But Abacha prevailed on Babangida (not) to retire me because he knew
of my hold on the Armoured Corps, and he wanted, by all means, to, maybe,
use that force if it came to a fight. I would assist him in fighting. By
now. Babangida accepted to leave. Abacha said we should continue with our
meetings and so on. We met several times with all the officers that agreed
with this, the Ahmed Abdullahis, General Diya, David Mark, Lawan Gwadabe,
Bamaiyi, Aziza. That if IBB goes, we should hand over power to Abiola. At
least, that was the impression I was given.

IBB's Exit

When IBB was going, I advised that he should not, for goodness sake,
change Salihu (chief of army staff). I knew then that Abacha could not
take over if Salihu was around because Salihu was widely respected in the
military and of course, he knows his onions. He commanded wide respect
within the military and I thought leaving him behind would counterbalance
Abacha. At a point in time, I would be able to talk to Salihu about this
Abiola issue and I am sure Salihu would have accepted, so also Ayuba and
Co, all of them. I will not mention a lot of officers that are still in
service today for obvious reasons. Now, I tell you, (General Oladipo) Diya
started telling me that he is entertaining fears that Abacha has a hidden
agenda. You know, one night, I must tell you, Abacha again called me. IBB
had left. About two or three days later, Abacha called me. Sorry, when IBB
was going, he appointed Abdulsalam (Abubakar) the chief of army staff.
Dogonyaro as chief of defence staff, CDS, changed the service chiefs
against all wishes and left Abacha behind. He created a government of
national unity. Shonekan kicked against leaving Abacha behind if he
(Shonekan) was going to head an interim government. By then. of course,
they said okay. Please let's have a smooth transition, don't create
problems, and forget about that... So, where this thing started to show
was on the day they were escorting IBB to Minna. Now Abacha said look, he
wanted a change of chief of army staff because it would be easier for him
to work with General Aliyu Mohammed rather than Abubakar. What he realised
then was that Abdulsalam Abubakar was not contacted in these goings-on.
Nobody contacted him about the plan to make sure Abiola was sworn in. We
did not contact him. You know, he is largely... em, people just said,
please don't tell him, he will not... well, we didn't contact him because
Abdulsalam Abubakar was in no way involved in politics or, if I may say,
military politics. But later, Abacha thought we were very close to
Abubakar. He started nu going to use him, he would accept that Abiola
should be the head of state. Thus, he wanted somebody else. So on the
whole, he just decided I don't know what he did to IBB, but he got IBB to
change that posting of Abubakar as chief of army staff. Abubakar was
replaced by General Aliyu Mohammed. He found it easier to deal with
General Aliyu Mohammed than Abubakar. So Abubakar was dropped
mysteriously. And he wanted Dogonyaro to be dropped so that Diya would be
the CDS. IBB refused to do that. I think, time was short and he (IBB)
said the changes are getting too many. "So just go and work with each
other, sort yourselves out." As soon as IBB withdrew, three days later, I
again saw Abacha, by then I was regularly visiting him. He said: "Look,
you should virtually camp in Lagos, so that we should be discussing how to
bring Abiola back." So, he said, Dangiwa, I'm going to call the senior
officers for a meeting, brigade commanders and above. He was then the
minister of defence, next to Shonekan. H said, "What I want you to do when
we come for this meeting, you see these GOCs that Babangida has left
behind if we are going to hand over power to Abiola, they are not going to
accept. So, you see, what I will, I will replace them. I said: "You can't
replace them. The head of state is Shonekan, so how do you replace them?"
He said. "I am going to prevail on him, I am going to convince him to
replace GOCs. He needs new GOCs.

He said, "So when we go for this meeting, I know you're a bold man. So,
what I want you to tell the group is this: You ask a question, why is it
that the minister of defence is a Northerner, the chief of defence staff
is a Northerner, the chief of army staff is a Northerner and so on? That
there is the need to put a Southerner in between." He convinced me that he
was doing it because it was unfair to the South.

The Plot Thickens

By then of course, I knew that Abacha was unsure of Dogo (Dogonyaro). he
didn't know whether Dogonyaro would accept him as the new head of state.
So he wanted to ease Dogonyaro out. I said, "Look sir, I would not do
that." He said, "Why, but I thought you are not on the best of terms with
Dogo?" I said, No, there is nothing between me and General Dogonyaro. But
it would appear like you ar trying to. I mean, nobody is a fool, that all
you are trying to do is remove Dogonyaro, put Diya because you think Diya
is an easier person to deal with. We can all see what is happening sir.
But I tell you, it would be a great tragedy if you attempt to come (to
power)." Then he was giving the outside world the impression that he was
going to do that because he wanted to balance. And you know the papers
praised him after... But I told him I was not going to say anything like
that at the meeting. So he said Ahmed Abdullahi should say it. I refused
to go for the meeting. So, when they went to the meeting, Ahmed Abdullahi
asked this question and officers were saying, "So, we must remove
Dogonyaro and put Diva." Shonekan, of course, acquiesced, he didn^Rt know
what was going on. Some days later, he asked him to replace the GOCs.. . I
came and saw him and told him that: Look, the way you are going, it looks
like there is something going on. He (Abacha) said: "Look Dangiwa. I have
sworn with Almighty Allah that my mission is we must allow Abiola. He is
the only way to go forward. It's the only way forward. I have already
discussed with the man. I have given him my words." So I said, "Who is
going to rule, is it Shonekan?" He said, No, I have told you that we
should ease Shonekan out, we should hand ove to Abiola immediately. But
you know before we do that, I would need at least three to six months to
correct the judiciary, to carry out reforms of the judiciary because the
judiciary had disappointed with the role of people like Dahiru Saleh who
said that elections should not go on. And that the military also needs
purging. Tha needed three to six months as head of state to do that
because he didn't have the power since Shonekan was around. I said no, we
would not accept that. And when I met Diya, I met David Mark and so on. I
told them, Look, General Sani Abacha is up to something. What I am
telling, you is we either move against General Abacha or General Abacha is
going to move against you guys. I was not attending his meetings because
he had already started losing his patience with me. I understand he was
having meetings with you people constantly which I don't know anything
about. But what I am telling you he has a hidden agenda, he wants to come
to power and if he does, we are going to be in problem." So. Diya said,
Well. I am begining to understand, you know, Dangiwa, the military is
against Abiola himself." I said look, don't come with that. That was when
I made the statement that he (Diya) was riding on a tiger, that he was
going to lose out. He said "No, the minister has convinced me that there
is need to purge the military". I said there was no need to do anything.
So, he replaced the GOCs, he made Shonekan to replace the GOCs. Later, he
called me and told me, you should go round and talk to the GOCs about this
Abiola case. That is Abacha. I went round, I saw M.C. Ali, I told him what
had been happening for the last almost nine months or so. The movements
with Abacha. M.C. Ali said, "Look, why do we even have to wait because
Abacha said we should remove Shonekan around the first of October. Why do
we have to wait that long? If we are going to swear in Abiola, everybody
knows that Abiola won this election, so why don't we immediately move
against Shonekan, what is Shonekan going to do? "So, I left him, meaning
to go back and tell Abacha. I met Olanrewaju. Olanrewaju was very nervous
when I told him this thing. He started, "Are you sure the minister knows
about this and all that? "I said, Look, minister knows, everybody is
ready, we would install Abiola. So, I went back to Abacha. So when I left,
Olanrewaju called Abacha. Ab s not true." He said he (Olanrewaju) should
forget about me. "I went back to Lagos, met Aziza, told Aziza the same
thing, talked to people like Tanko Ayuba, started talking to officers
within Lagos. What incensed me most was that I kept insisting that Abacha
should meet with all the group. That is all those people involved in this
move. He refused. He would see us one by one... He called everybody to his
house but he would see us one by one. So, what he told me was different
from what he told Bamaiyi, it was different from what he told Diya and so
on. I just didn't understand. So, my idea was look, Let's get rid of this
man. Let's get him out and do the right thing. By then of course, some of
my colleagues were convinced that Abacha, either they were convinced
because he made promises to them that they would achieve upward mobility
or whatever. But he convinced them that he was going to be the head of
state.

Umar's Arrest

In frustration, I just said, "You guys, if this is what you want, I am
going back. Whenever you are ready for the right thing, meet me. But all I
know is that you cannot use the Armoured Corps to bring Abacha to power."
Somebody went and told Abacha. So. I went to Yola to visit the 23 Armoured
Brigade, all this in preparation. I was in Yola when a signal came that I
was wanted urgently in Lagos, that was, I think, on the 6th of October,
1993. I went to Lagos. I was so happy that maybe Abacha had finally
accepted to (do the right thing). So when I reached Lagos, they said: the
chief of army staff wanted to see me. I met the chief of army staff,
General Aliyu Mohammed. He hit me with the news. He said: Ah, Dangiwa so
you have been plotting a coup and you didn't tell me. I said, Ah, if you
are not involved in the coup how could I tell you. Didn't you plot a coup"
before, so why should I tell you? Who told you I was plotting a coup?" He
said, "The minister told me that you're plotting a coup. I said the
minister was not sincere with you. I was not plotting a coup. I opened up.
"There was a move to de-annul the results and if the minister was telling
you that I was the only one in that move, then it's not true, let's go to
his office." He (Abacha) was then the minister of defence. I said, "Let's
go to his office, I will tell him exactly the piece of my mind in your
presence. So, as he was just talking he 'buzzed', his MA (military
assistant) who was Jaafaru Isa. Jaafaru Isa was in the know of this.
(Tanko) Ayuba was also there as chief of policy and plans under General
Aliyu Mohammed. They were all in the know about this and they were
honourable officers. They believed that Abiola should be sworn in. He
(Aliyu) buzzed Jaafaru and asked Jaafaru to call Ahmed Abdullahi. Ahmed
Abdullahi was then (in) the DMI. Abdullahi came dressed in combat dress,
with walkie-talkie. He came with his officers, apparently, the order was
given to arrest me and take me to Kirikiri. So, Ahmed Abdullahi came in
and Aliyu said, Ahmed in vie plot, I have discussed with Dangiwa, it looks
like it's true. So you go ahead with him..." Ahmed took me to a room,
there were officers and soldiers there guarding the room. So, I was
already under arrest. Ahmed threw some papers to me and said: Okay,
Dangiwa, write your statement, unfortunately, we have already arrested
some of your officers because of this coup plot story. We arrested the
commanding officer, C.O 243 Recce Battalion in Jos, that is Kunle
Oshanopin, lieutenant colonel. We have arrested some of your officers.
They have made useful statements" and all that kind of thing. So, I said,
Ahmed Abdullahi, what statement would I make? Everything I was involved
in, you know. Is there any other thing than what we have been talking
about all this time. So why should I write a statement? If I am going to
write a statement, you write statement, take us to the minister (Abacha)
let him write a statement too. He said well, you know they have given me
instructions to take you to Kirikiri. I said, "Go ahead and carry out your
instructions, but I will not write any statement. But the only thing you
should understand from today, I don't consider you as an officer and a
gentleman, both you and the minister. You're not officers and gentlemen.
"Now, he went back to General Aliyu and told him. As soon as I went out,
apparently Jaafaru Isa understood what was going on. He called on Ayuba,
discussed with him that this is what was going on. Aliyu had told Jaafaru
what was going on. So in an honourable way, Jaafaru Isa called Ayuba and
said this was what these people was saying. And so, Ayuba and Jaafaru went
in to see Aliyu Muhammed. They told him everything they knew about the
movement. They said they were involved in it, it is an honourable thing.
that they felt this country would disintegrate unless Abiola was sworn in
and there was no independent coup by the colonel Umar. "The minister is
playing games, he wants to take over power. Aliyu was surprised. So, I
think he called Ahmed Abdullahi and said: "Look Ahmed, tak s go and talk
to the minister." So, Ahmed Abdullahi took me to the Bauchi (state)
liaison office that night. He brought a captain to guard me with some
soldiers. And said I should not go out. In the night, I got ready to go
and see Diya and find out from him what was going on. So, this captain
approached me and said sir, we have been given orders not to allow you to
go out. But stories have filtered out in army headquarters that was what
was going on. If you want to go out, I can escort you to wherever you are
going to but if you don't want my escort you can go. This is what that
captain told me. This captain is from Intelligence, an honourable man, not
even a Southerner. I trained this captain in my school. He came for
captain to major promotion exam in my school and he knew me very well. He
said this is what we have heard and so if you are going. sir, you can go.
So, I told him, Your instruction is that you should guard me, so let's go
together. We went together to Diya's house, he stayed outside. If I
wanted to escape, I could have escaped. But this officer knew, an
honourable man, I will not mention his name. I met Diya, I told him. He
said, "You see Umar, this is what I have heard." I said, "Well I have just
come to report to you that it is a mystery, that I am most disappointed in
you guys and I am sorry for this country if this is the way senior
officers behave." So, he was apologetic a lot. In the morning, Ahmed
Abdullahi came, he said we would go and see minister together. General
Aliyu Mohammed sent Ahmed Abdullahi to come and tell me that I should get
ready we were going to see the minister together. Since he got the story,
he wanted to plead with the minister. So. Ahmed Abdullahi came, took me
out, we went to the army headquarters. General Aliyu said I should go and
attend the meeting, there was a conference in which the minister said he
should come and tell the officers what was going on. So, I attended the
meeting, a training conference, I think, in army headquarters. I sat there
as if nothing happ army headquarters to make sure I didn't go out. So,
immediately after the conference he said I should go and see the minister.
I met his MA (Military Assistant) Colonel Muazu, the MA was in the picture
of what was going on." He said, Sir, I don't know what is going on. He
was remorseful, an honourable officer. that the way these people are
taking this thing is unfortunate. So, he told the minister that I was
around. That was around 11.00 o'clock. The minister said I should come
hack by 2.00 o'clock and see him. You know, he didn't want to see me. I
went out, came back again 2.00 o'clock. He was seeing Coomassie and Jerry
Useni. He said I should come back by 3.00 o'clock. All this time, I was
still under arrest but within the army headquarters. So, he said I should
come back again by 3.00 o'clock. Come, 3.00 o'clock, I went back. I was
sitting there up to 5 o'clock. He didn't want to see me actually. At 5
o'clock, he said finally, I should come in. I met General Abacha and he
said, "Well, Dangiwa." He was not looking at me. He couldn't look at me.
He said, "I pity you that all this intelligence coming in is messing up
everything. They are sending all sorts of information." He kept blabbing.
When he finished, after five minutes, I said. "Well, at least you
understand I was not plotting any independent coup... That the whole thing
we are fighting for is to install Abiola as the head of state and you are
in this scheme and if you have changed your mind it's just too bad. You
should have told me, so that I would quit. I mean, I would just go ahead
and resign and there is no need for all this waste of time, this is over
nine months now. It is not fair. So, he said well unfortunately this was
what they had told him. I told him, "They didn't tell you anything, you
want to get me out, so that you can take over. It would appear I am the
threat." So he said, "No, I am not getting you out, we have appreciated
what you have been doing. Various officers have been coming back to tell
us what you have been doing, at least i transformed that school into one
of the most enviable institutions. So, we have decided that that
retirement letter you've written, we will accept it. And we will make you
the ambassador of Nigeria to the United States, and we know that you are
not one of those officers that abused your office, you didn't make money,
so we will assist you with oil contracts... If you go voluntarily, we will
help you in future, you know." He took a file, the file that was in front
of him was the file of oil contracts, I think that was one of the few
files that Abacha was dealing with when he was jockeying to come to power.
So, I said, "Look, sir, I am not interested in any oil contract. I can't
be the ambassador of Nigeria to United States. If you are going to take
over, I don't know how to sell you. I want to tell you that I have never
believed that you can be the head of state. In fact, if I must be honest
with you, when (Major Gideon) Orkar struck, I was one of the few people
that told General Babangida that you should not be the chief of army staff
and I'm therefore just leaving. I'm resigning, yes. But let me be very
honest with you, it will be a miracle I I serve under you as the head of
state and you are going to throw this country into crisis" He said. "Well,
between me and you, 1 must tell you that whatever I am doing I do it in
the best interest of this country. I said, "No, if you are doing it best
interest of the country, Abiola should be sworn in as the head of state.
And anything short of that, you will throw this country into crisis.
Whatever Babangida cannot do, you cannot do it. I must be very honest with
you. And I must tell you that the soldiers will not be loyal to you. They
are not loyal. Not many officers think very highly of you." He said, Well.
this is your usual self, you will never change. But anyway go and see your
chief. "I went and saw General Aliyu. He told me the same thing. I said,
Look I am not accepting anything." That was how it ended. Since that day I
left Abacha, up to the time he died, I ne

Abacha in Power

He abused trust as soon as he came to power. He said he was taking over to
forestall the collapse of this nation. That is not true. General Abacha
took power so that he could corner the resources of this country. Let me
be very honest with you, with all this background that I gave you, you
know the officers are in there, people like Ahmed Abdullahi are retired
today. They are there to confirm or deny what I have said. As soon as I
left Abacha, Ahmed Abdullahi was grousing that Tanko Ayuba went to tell
General Aliyu things that we did in the past that nobody knew about. So
what Ahmed Abdullahi was saying was "Why did Ayuba let the cat out of the
bag?" Perhaps he should have allowed me to be taken to Kirikiri and tried
for treason and killed. They would have covered evidence. This is Ahmed
Abdullahi, an officer and a gentleman. And that he was blaming Ayuba for
saying this. He was blaming Jaafaru Isa. Let me tell you, this is what led
to Ayuba's retirement. General Ayuba is one of the most honourable
Nigerian army officers. He was retired because this was what he told
General Aliyu Mohammed. Were it not for the two of them (Ayuba and
Jaafaru Isa), I would have been executed. And all evidence would have been
obliterated. But they saved my life. And so, Ahmed Abdullahi used the
press to spread all sorts of false information against me that I was
plotting a coup. And you can't believe how when I saw the story that I was
plotting an independent coup and coming from that paper, I almost felt
like committing suicide. But thank goodness I was saved and I left. And I
left General Abacha that respect. He respected my stand. And this is why
later when I was criticising Abacha's government he didn't arrest me. He
didn't arrest me because he knew whatever I said privately, I said it in
public. When he took, over power, I was shocked. The first time Abiola
came back, he called Abiola and told him that, "Look, wait, wait, we have
troublemakers like Umar who are trying to take over power and kill all of
you and us. So let's deal with Umar and co. As soon as I left, of course,
he retired people like David Mark. He retired many of the officers.
Unfortunately, Abiola believed him. I was the troublemaker. I was trying
to take over power, that was what he told Abiola. Abiola didn't know me.
I met him only once in the stadium. So he believed (Abacha). And of
course, I don't know what they discussed with Abiola,but he gave Abiola
the impression that he needed just three months, the same thing he told
us. "Give me three to six months, I will do everything, purge the military
of Babangida's boys. Okay." Immediately, he started retiring people like
Shagaya, Daku. Now I ask you, you know the nation was clapping for this
man, they didn't know Abacha. No mistake about it, Abacha took over to
corner the resources of this country. Abacha had nothing to offer.

Deceit and Deception

Concerning the caucus members who had been given the impression that they
were coming to install Abiola. Well, some of the members that followed
Abacha, I think he made some promises to them. Thus, they accepted his
candidature as the president of this country. Look, some of the people I
dealt with didn't believe that Abiola should be sworn in. In fact, I
became like a madman when I talk to this man. The next day I went back to
him he changed. The officers that stood by me, I am happy many of them are
in service today. I am happy, honourable officers. And so when people are
disparaging the military, I don't mention names, I look at those officers
as some of the most honourable officers. But let me tell you, Abacha is a
dead man, people say we should not speak (ill) of the dead. But that is
not true, when you set up a system, people should analyse. At least, with
my relationship with General Abacha, I should be able to tell the world
what kind of person that man was, okay. Forget about what he did to me,
but look at what he did to Abiola. He took Abiola, he swore with Almighty
Allah that he was going to swear the man in, that he knew the man was
shortchanged, look at what he did to him. He arrested him and incarcerated
him. Look at what he did to the so-called Babangida boys. The head boy of
the group was General Abacha himself. No sooner did Babangida go than he
realised that he was used by centrifugal forces. He couldn't sit there and
watch the nation disintegrate, thus he decided if it was in the interest
of the country, let him step aside and put a Yoruba man. I will tell you
something (people) say this Babangida why are you still with him? You
know while I was arrested that night, I didn't know how Babangida got the
telephone number of the guest house. He phoned, he asked what was going
on. I told him I don't know, I think he must have played a role in making
sure that I was not executed or something... So for goodness sake you said
you were retiring Babangida's boys. And the press was praising you for
retiring Babangida's boys. A system that will take out somebody like
Brigadier-General John Shagaya, a fine officer and a gentleman, and
keeping somebody like Onoja in the system and saying that he kicked out
Shagaya because Shagaya was an IBB boy. He is one of the most brilliant
officers I have come across. And I had nursed the desire that Shagaya
would one day become chief of army, you know even if he misunderstood me
sometimes. For example, he misunderstood my political motive and whatever.
He felt maybe I was an ambitious officer. But he was a fine officer.
Abacha kicked him out and the press clapped. That was in the infantry. You
kicked Shagaya out and then you keep (somebody) who was very close to
Babangida and you say it was because Shagaya was an IBB boy, and this man
was not. And then you kicked somebody, an officer and a gentleman like
Daku and you say you are going to leave Raji Rasaki (in) the Artillery
and that you are kicking a Babangida boy out and then you keep Raji
Rasaki. That was a great miscalculation. If you look at Colonel (Mumuni)
Aminu (NFA chairman) has some of the best credentials in the Armoured
Corps. He is one of the most brilliant officers that have been in the
Armoured Corps (He has one) of the best credentials. So when people were
saying Ah! Aminu, you have not saved the NFA, Aminu said look at my
credentials. Truly, Aminu has some of the best credentials that I have
ever read. I was the head of the corps and I know his credentials. I went
on course with Aminu, I know the kind of officer he is. But you kick Aminu
out and then you leave Lawan Gwadabe? Not that Lawan Gwadabe was not a
fine officer, but you say because Aminu was a Babangida boy, and Gwadabe
was not one and then the press clapped... Why? Because Abacha was
deceiving them" that Diya replaced Dogonyaro because Abacha had the
interest in the South. He deceived people into believing that the country'
was collapsing. And you know, I almost felt like committing suicide when
Abacha's virtues as an officer and a gentleman, a no-nonsense officer had
come on stage to save this country from disintegration. The wisest thing,
the most patriotic thing to do then was to call Abiola and swear him in as
the head of state. But he took over, destroyed all the political
structures and pushed this country to the precipice and people were saying
it was to avert disintegration. No, I told everybody that cared to listen
that Abacha came in because of selfish interests. Let me tell you, we must
talk of the dead otherwise why would God allow people to talk of the
Pharaoh? Pharaoh died, but up till today people are still talking about
him. Concerning the role played by civilians in the annulment of June 12
election? Well, I'd say that I don't know much of that. I was concerned
about what was going on in the military. Safe to say, at a point in time,
when we heard the results coming out, I called some politicians at the
NICON-NOGA. Bamanga Tukur was one of them, Alhaji Lawal Kaita and co and I
told them that it would appear like the trend is well-known. When I heard
the rumblings by some senior officers about the annulment, I called them
and said, Look, I hope you guys, when the results are announced, you will
ensure that the right thing is done, that the man who wins this election
will be handed over power," I warned them, They said, "This is what we are
going to do." Some of them said they had already started talking to Bashir
Tofa to write a letter of acceptance. But I think again from the military,
word came out that Bashir Tofa should not write that letter. I understand
that letter was crafted. That letter was written, Bashir Tofa was supposed
to release it. Sultan Dasuki, I understand, also wrote that the winner of
the election should be sworn in but for some reason all the two letters
were not allowed to see the light of day. I remember Dasuki's letter was
leaked out but later, it was retrieved. So I don't know of this thing. But
in my tribute to General Yar'Adua, you read what I wrote, that there was
no evidence that Yar'Adua was against Abiola's emergence as the winner of
the election. Remember, the SDP machinery which was used totally by Abiola
to win the June 12 election was set up by Yar'Adua. I have no evidence to
prove that Yar'Adua was involved in the annulment.

Need for Power Shift

There is always a mistake that is being made. Look at what power is doing
to the North actually. Political power is devastating the North, let me
tell you. Ah, it is in the best interest of the North for power to shift.
If there is any conspiracy, it is the conspiracy of the elite that exists
here in the North. In fact, somebody came out (Frank) Kokori I think, and
said perhaps the coming of Abacha did something good, in the sense that it
has now brought out the charlatans of the society, that is what he has
done. And let me tell you, if the devil tomorrow is incarnated, there are
people that because of naira, because of dollar, will follow him. Obasanjo
said that much in his BBC interview that some people will tell you that
no, they will just support this man Abacha or whoever because we want to
contribute our quota, we want to influence decisions. And he said you
don't influence the devil. If God wants to change the devil He would have
changed him. There are people that you cannot influence. It is in the best
interest of the North for power to shift to the South. The initial stage
was through Abiola's installation as the head of a government of national
unity that I had been talking about. Two, you must look at how power has
devastated the North and it is only a clique that has been holding on to
this power. And. of course, they would always want to see their type in
Aso Rock. If you get a very brilliant Northerner in Aso Rock today, be
sure the same group will undermine that Northerner. If you get art honest
brilliant man in Aso Rock, they will not allow him, they will find reasons
to influence the military to topple that kind of character, or they would
not vote for him. Because it serves their own private interests, their own
narrow interests. In fact, there are no long but short term interests I
would say. So when people are looking at how power is changing hands,
they must look at the role of the elite. And the way to break the cycle of
such hegemonistic tendencies is, I think, through a constitutional
provision in which power should shift between the North and South. This is
what I believe in initially. After all, we are talking of a home-grown
democracy, What better way of showing that this democracy is grown at home
than taking care of those issues that strain the unity of this country. I
believe that power sharing between the North and the South is the best way
to start. And I believe, this time around, the North must make supreme
sacrifice of allowing this power to. shift and subsequently allowing a
Southerner for once to take over. Sadly enough, people keep wondering how,
for goodness sake, can a Fulani man from the Sokoto royal family really
fight for the interest of a Yoruba man (over the June 12 issue). There are
people that are skeptical because of my geographical extraction, because
of who I am, my personality. They cannot believe that I could support the
cause of June 12 if that means swearing in a Yoruba man. What they don't
understand, the point they miss is that one is not fighting purely for a
Yoruba man. One is fighting for justice. One is fighting for truth and
truth really has a universal language, And if you are fighting for
justice, it doesn't matter who it affects. For example, I am one of the
few people that fought for the release of Obasanjo, and that of Yar'Adua,
I came out strongly and criticised the Abacha administration when it was
very dangerous to do so. The military and phony coups from my own
experience, you will see, since that struggle when Abacha plotted to
execute me, I have been very skeptical about accepting coup stories. It is
in the nature of General Sani Abacha to go to the extreme of even
eliminating individuals through accusations within the military of coup
plots. I am a clear case in point. I have seen it done. Then, the case of
General Olusegun Obasanjo. I can put my hand on the Quran and swear by
Almighty Allah that Obasanjo was not involved in a coup, Yar'Adua was not
jinvolved in a coup. If there was any coup, then the whole case must be
reviewed because we now know that people were tortured and evidence was
got under duress. And by virtue of the fact evidence was got under duress
the whole trial of the alleged coup plotters of 1995 was not sound. The
fact that journalists were hounded and tried out the opposition. Obasanjo
was not involved in any coup. And I will call on this government to create
an investigation panel so that all the officers and men that were involved
in this set up will be brought to book. Because the implication is if a
former head of state could be implicated just because of an order from the
top, an officer has been told not to obey an unpopular order, an order
that will lead to illegal act. Now, if the officer is told to do this,
then anybody who accepts to implicate a former head of state or whoever
and his vice president, he must be brought to book. There are officers, I
l believe, that knew that Obasanjo was not involved out the opposition.
Obasanjo was not involved in any coup. And I will call on this government
to create an investigation panel so that all the officers and men that
were involved in this set up will be brought to book. Because the
implication is if a former head of state could be implicated just because
of an order from the top, an officer has been told not to obey an
unpopular order, an order that will lead to illegal act. Now, if the
officer is told to do this, then anybody who accepts to implicate a former
head of state or whoever and his vice president, he must be brought to
book. There are officers, I l believe, that knew that Obasanjo was not
involved in this coup, people that sat in the investigation panel. I hope
Aziza one day as a good Christian will make a statement and repent.
Because I believe that Obasanjo was not involved in any coup. We thank God
(for Obasanjo). Yar'Adua mysteriously died, we would want to know how he
died. But investigations will show that Yar'Adua was not involved in any
coup and Obasanjo will make a statement, and thank goodness, Bello Fadile
is still alive and he will make a statement. And I hope, once it is
established that Obasanjo is in no way involved, which I believe, then
government must apologise to him, government must pay compensation to all
those that were found guilty wrongly just because Abacha wanted to shut
them up. Any injury that Obasanjo suffered because I know you cannot wind
the clock back and say, "Look Obasanjo has not been to prison". He has
been to prison, or traumatised, so not much can be done, but at least
return his honour to him. I was amazed that many senior officers decided
to keep quiet in the face of this injustice meted out, particularly
retired officers. They know clearly that Obasanjo was not involved in the
coup and the fact that they didn't speak out speaks volume of the societal
decline, if you want. The society has declined so much that senior
officers are unwilling to stick their necks out just because of maybe what
they can get out of government or fear that they can suffer the same fate.

As regards Diya and Co, well... I know Malu to be a disciplinarian. But
you see, you must look at the system under which people are working. I am
sure the PRC would have gotten all the facts. It must have gotten a
feedback from the public as to what people think. Do understand that the
PRC is serving the public and the public is saying how could you have a
situation where only six persons have plotted a coup to the extent of
execution, that even a lady had written the coup speech, and only six
people were found guilty of that plot. And the rest of the people that
were added, it was just to give semblance of credibility to the whole.
Most of them are not supposed to be at the miscellaneous offence tribunal.
You are talking of Bako. You are talking of Yakassai. People were accused
of embezzling money why should they go to treason trial tribunal. Just
like the journalists they said were arrested because they sent papers out
and so were arraigned before the tribunal. At best maybe contact a court
if you want. But to associate them with treason trials and find them
guilty of those acts, I think is most preposterous. And I think in the
ease of Diya, this government must investigate and review that case since
the PRC is going to sit and review the case of these officers. The most
annoying thing is how Diya was humiliated. An officer that fought the
civil war, a regular combatant officer, an officer that served Abacha very
well, you subject him to that kind of humiliation to take his video films
that he was crying doing dobale to Abacha. I think Abacha was very
heartless to do that kind of thing.

Abacha as a Fraud

Everything positive that they said Abacha did is wrong. It is not speaking
(ill) of the dead, may his soul rest in peace. If God wants, He can
forgive him. But what I am saying is when I look at the treatment Abacha
meted out to Abiola. When I look at the contract Abacha entered with us -
that he was going to redress the issue of June 12, when I look at the way
he treated people like Obasanjo, the way he treated people like Lawan
Gwadabe, the way he kicked out some of the officers that were very loyal
to him, the way he created a transition programme that was about to break
up this country assures me that Abacha just came to power for some selfish
motives. And I will tell you the motives and before I tell you, since we
are dealing with the economy now, let me tell you that there was no
political stability under Abacha because the transition programme was
meant to make Abacha the perpetual leader of this country so that he could
cover up his crime. I will come to that later. At least, on the political
scene, why he jailed Abiola was that he didn't want Abiola to tell people
exactly the mutual understanding between the two of them about the
de-annulment of the June 12 election. He didn't want Obasanjo to come out
and tell the world what actually transpired.

My retirement by Abacha was illegal. He was not the head of state then. If
I wanted to contest that retirement and if the courts were working, of
course, I would have been paid some compensation or I would have been
reinstated. So it has nothing to do with that. I wrote to resign my
commission even before Abacha came on stage. So the question of being
bitter, no. I was fighting Abacha because one, the June 12 struggle we
engaged in, in which he went back on his words, very much unlike an
officer and a gentleman. And I knew his motive then was to corner the
resources of this country, particularly oil. Two, I knew that Abacha was
going to use this opportunity of taking over to fight against people that
he perceived as his enemies - people that didn't agree with him in the
past. Either because of monetary deals or people that he just didn't like
their guts, like the Babangida boys he retired. I will give you an
example, like M.C. Ali that he retired, like Kazir. I mean what called
for these retirements - just because of minor disagreements with him. The
alleged Obasanjo's coup of 1995, if you look at it, today I'm actually
calling on this government to investigate into what (transpired). And now
that I have come to the economy. I will tell you why Abacha didn't want
his tracks to be seen, he wanted it covered up by continuing perpetually.
So there was no political stability. But socially, this country has never
had it so bad in terms of ethnic crisis, in terms of armed robbery. in
terms of killings of people. we are talking of (Kudirat) Abiola, we are
talking of Alfred Rewane, we are talking of all the mysterious murders. We
are talking of the killing of General Shehu Yar'Adua in prison. But when
it comes to the economy, let me make one thing clear: even me, as I am
criticising Abacha's economic (affairs) that has to do largely with
corruption, I hope my era, since I am now making these accusations, I hope
my era as Federal Housing Authority, FHA, administrator will be
investigated by this government. Then my rule as governor of Kaduna State
will be investigated. That I want to make this declaration. The
declaration I would make is that the popular view then was that these
Babangida's boys were benefiting from oil contracts. I want to say this
for the reading public: that if under General Babangida there was one
barrel of petrol which I either directly or indirectly sold and benefitted
from one cent from, may God Almighty destroy whatever I have on this earth
and when I die, may God not take me to heaven. And I hope every person
that reads this interview would say Amen." I will tell you that the
account I met in the FHA, was in the red. Before I left in 1985, 1 left
the sum of N87 million which was then N87 million, and I want people to
confirm that. I never awarded a single contract when I was in the FHA. So
I left that N87 million. As governor of Kaduna State, I never awarded a
contract of over N50,000 without the council approving that contract. So,
I want people to investigate this and know the kind of person that is
talking. Now, coming back to the Abacha economy, I made the statement that
I believe that Abacha was interested in coming to power because of
personal gains. I know that people don't speak (ill) of the dead, some of
the Abacha boys are still left behind and all that. We can't be
intimidated by that, we have to tell the truth, we have to speak about an
era, an era in which we were being told that Abacha should be elected as
our perpetual leader so that he would consolidate his gains. I want to now
talk about the "gains." You know when Abacha came to power, he met
capacity utilisation of the industries at least at over 45 per cent. By
the time of his death on June 8, it was less than 25 per cent. The economy
had all but collapsed and so people were going to bed hungry. People were
dying of minor ailments. Malaria was killing people. Death through
childbirth that was tremendously reduced was the order of the day. Many
businessmen lost their businesses. You had to be an Abacha crony to be
able to make any living. And this was why honourable people turned into
sycophants because unless you sang the praises, wrong praises of General
Abacha, there was no way you could make it. I asked in my TEMPO interview
that the government must look into the oil contracts, even if it is to
have records so that little by little, that money would be taken back.

I want to state that, at least, over 80 per cent of the oil contracts that
were issued out were issued to General Abacha and his family. The balance
went to the people that were singing his praises, that were really selling
their conscience so that Abacha would continue in power. Even deliberate
refusal to repair the refineries was done by Abacha so that they, his
companies or his fronts, would import fuel. And because the companies were
so squeezed, the companies that were importing this fuel, were so
squeezed, they had to bring in off specification oil, which the press
referred to as toxic fuel. Largely, the contracts were going to Abacha's
fronts. This is quite true and people should investigate this. Most
parastatals that were engaged in corrupt acts, you could see, were headed
by General Abacha's cronies. We are now talking of NAFCON. You heard what
went on. The MD heard that he was going to be investigated because General
Abacha said he was going to create some tribunals, he ran out of the
country. He was given a free passage. He came hack after eight months and
contested (election) in the Abacha transition programme. While people
that embezzled in a purely civil case, the failed banks, may be N5
million, have been in detention for the last three or four years, without
any trial. Some of them have died. Now, somebody who was carr thing to
happen. We heard of some money that was embezzled in the Federal Ministry
of Industries relating to the fertiliser company here in Kaduna, nothing
has happened, there is no investigation. The EPI, at least N114 million
was taken as loan, the vaccines were said to have been imported, we know
that the Federal Ministry of Health didn't tell us the truth. Instead the
(Abacha) family was again given that contract, not enough vaccines for
that amount of money were supplied.

The Ikot Abasi Smelter. The contract started for about N1.7 billion. I
want this government to investigate it. I understand, by now, about N3
billion has been expended on that project, not that there is any change in
the level of work. You know, the national assembly building, which is
going to cost N5.3 billion is going to an Abacha front. It was taken away
from Julius Berger and given out. The NDA contract has been lingering on
in the last 12 years up till now. NDA permanent site here in Kaduna, we
don't know how much has been expended on that. But you know this is a
contract that an Abacha front is executing. The NNPC Housing units
(contract) was given to the Abacha family and they gave it to Julius
Berger. This contract is over N3 billion for just eleven housing units.
Now, I know that the ministers have their own housing units already
constructed, why should the minister of petroleum have a different kind of
house that would cost about N400 million. Why? . . .We have to look at the
custom uniform contract that was given to Abacha's brother. There were
some disputes between the minister of finance and minister of petroleum.
When the minister of finance was talking about transparency and
accountability, he told us that he released 2 billion to the NNPC. Now,
why should there be a quarrel between them? Is it that they cannot find
the records? Is it that Abacha could not reconcile them and call them to
order. If you are arresting people because of civil cases (and take them)
to failed banks tribunal, now why didn't you arrest your minister of
petroleum or whoever was wrong. Then I must tell you, there was an
unprecedented removal, direct theft of government funds from the CBN. I
stand to be contradicted... There was a memo that was raised, and your
paper (TELL) published it on the 16th of October, 1997. Your magazine did
an honourable job by alerting the nation that money was being taken out of
the treasury. Gwarzo knew about it. I'm so pleased that he has been
retired. But government should follow up. Governmen
Most of the kickbacks went to Bermuda, money being taken instead of going
through the right security channels went to Brazil, they went to
Switzerland. Government must find this money and bring it back. Landed
property? The Abacha family has not less than 500 landed property in this
country which includes the Durbar Hotel which was said to have been bought
by Kabo. We want the government to call Kabo and let him swear by the
Quran that that Hotel belongs to him. That hotel belongs to the Abacha
family. You know the C and C towers (Lagos), you know it was supposed to
be rented by LNG, (Liquefied Natural Gas). I want the federal government
to say who furnished that place. That building belongs to Abacha.

The federal government must investigate... It must also investigate as to
why MD Yusufu was ditched as chairman of that LNG. What really transpired?
We want the federal government to investigate. Why was it that Abacha
abolished all the boards and allowed the chief executives of the
parastatals to operate as sole administrators, whereas some boards were
reconstituted with Abacha's cronies (manning them). So this is why I was
criticising General Abacha because of June 12. I knew his motive before he
took over.

Vagabond in Power

This man that you said is a soldier's soldier was coming to the office by
1p.m. A soldier's soldier everyday will come to work by I p.m and close
by 3.30 pm and you call him a soldier's soldier just because you couldn't
see his eyes. I mean, in the academy we were told not to wear goggles. How
can a general, a commander-in-chief, be wearing goggles when he was
addressing the smallest unit in the Nigeria Army? Is that an officer-like
quality? How can a soldier's soldier encourage officers and men to wear
his badge like Kim Il Sung (the North Korean leader) in the Nigeria Army
that has an honourable British tradition? The dark glasses Abacha was
wearing, he was hiding something and that was the crime that was being
perpetrated the arrest, the theft, incrimination... I am surprised that
the elite knew then that this was what Abacha was doing but they were
telling us that we should allow this man to consolidate. To consolidate
what? Consolidate the theft. the killings, the arsons. the incrimination
of people. We take exception to that and this is why we confronted this
men. And we have no regrets that we had done it

Threats to my Life

Gwarzo wrote his memo (He wrote memos). for example. this coup story that
TELL reported. Truly, they wrote a memo which Gwarzo took to Abacha that I
was visiting places -Minna and Kontagora - and plotting a coup against
Abacha's government. That (memo) is real. And plans were done to eliminate
me. Why I was not eliminated, God knows. But I know it's the prayer of all
those good persons that believe in the just cause I have been fighting. It
is the invisible hand of God that protected me. It is the same God that
protects people that stand by the truth. So, there were threats, I have
heard every report they wrote. People warned me that I should be careful.
But there was no way I could be careful. The only way I could be careful
was to keep quiet. But I kept talking, I kept speaking out against
injustice. And God has promised. that if you do stand by justice and
truth, he will protect you. And he has protected me this far. If I died
in the struggle, I will tell you, I have no doubt, that that same God
today. The man who engineered all this, has died. All that their
machinations would have done was to kill me. But, nobody killed Abacha.
Abacha died on his own. And Gwarzo was there helpless. And he has lost
power. But I hope this government will follow up and make sure that Gwarzo
does not escape with the colossal sum of money that he has taken out of
the economy of this country.

EI-Mustapha too?

Please, please, this is a young man. A captain in the Nigerian army and
later a major. Let's look at who gave the orders, you know, what system
the chap was serving. I don't want to talk about a junior officer in that
fashion. But let's give everybody his due. I know this boy but I will not
say much about him other than that people should please first of all get
facts right. I have just given you facts about General Abacha, that I
know, that I dealt with. Mustapha, there are rumours about his misdeeds in
Aso Rock. But people must get facts right. By the time they get the facts
right, I am sure they will be in a better position to make their
judgment... I am not making any (statement) about whether he is bad or
not. I know the role, I know the various actions that this officer took to
ensure that really... em, he is still in service, let me not jeopardise
his career by discussing him in the open. But let people understand the
role this boy played. Let them get their facts right. By the time the
facts are out, then it is only fair that you can reach a judgment.

Epilogue: (Abacha Must Be Probed)

I am sure the reading public would want to challenge me on IBB's own
(economic) deeds. What I would tell you is that I didn't speak about them
because when Abacha came into power. he deliberately instituted probes
against the Babangida administration. The reports of, the probes are
there, why didn't he release the reports? That is the way I would answer
the question. This is what the public should ask. I didn't speak on the
Babangida economy because I know there was a probe. Mind you all I have
been saying is that this government must also probe what Abacha did. He
probed what Babangida did. And I know when Buhari came to power, he probed
what Shagari did. To some extent, when Obasanjo's government was accused
of some two-point-something billion, there was a probe. And before then,
Murtala's regime investigated Gowon's regime. So it's being persistent.
He investigated Babangida's regime but he didn't bring out the report,
why?

___________________________________________________________________

NDM Commentary:

To state that Abubakar Umar's account above from a military stand-point,
coupled with Prof. Omo Omoruyi's civilian account, is Byzantine is an
understatement. This is no way to run a country of 110 million
inhabitants, intelligent, resourceful and God-endowed. The two accounts
re-inforce our view that the Military must leave governance IMMEDIATELY
since there is absolutely no assurance that this same kind of mindless
intrigue and large-scale corruption exhibited by Abacha, his family
members and their cronies are not still going on as we speak, nor are
we sure that disaffected members of the military are not moving to ensure
that they are not discovered.

The Military must go, and must go now.

Released by the Executive Council of the NDM

______________________________________________________________________

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