How Sani Abacha REALLY Died – Al-Mustapha
Kola Fabiyi
by Ephraim Adiele | Staff Writer
2015-01-24 21:36
Major Hamza Al Mustapha, the Chief Security Officer to former Military Head of State, Sani Abacha from November to his death in June 1998 has come out to tel his version of the events that led to the death of the former dictator.
Speaking to Africa Telegram, Al Mustapha, who spent a number of years in detention rebuffed many popular versions of Abacha’s death.
Read a full text of his statement:
“When I got to the bedside of the Head of State, he was already gasping. Ordinarily, I could not just touch him. It was not allowed in our job. But under the situation on ground, I knelt close to him and shouted, “General Sani Abacha, Sir, please grant me permission to touch and carry you.” Contrary to insinuations, speculations and sad rumours initiated by some sections of the society, I maintain that the sudden collapse of the health system of the late Head of State started previous day (Sunday, 7th June, 1998) right from the Abuja International Airport immediately after one of the white security operatives or personnel who accompanied President Yasser Arafat of Palestine shook hands with him (General Abacha) I had noticed the change in the countenance of the late Commander-in-Chief and informed the Aide-de-Camp, Lt. Col. Abdallah, accordingly. He, however, advised that we keep a close watch on the Head of State.
“Later in the evening of 8th June, 1998, around 6p.m; his doctor came around, administered an injection to stabilize him. He was advised to have a short rest. Happily, enough, by 9p.m; the Head of State was bouncing and receiving visitors until much later when General Jeremiah Timbut Useni, the then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, came calling. He was fond of the Head of State. They were very good friends.
“They stayed and chatted together till about 3.35a.m. A friend of the house was with me in my office and as he was bidding me farewell, he came back to inform me that the FCT Minister, General Useni was out of the Head of State’s Guest House within the Villa. I then decided to inform the ADC and other security boys that I would be on my way home to prepare for the early morning event at the International Conference Centre.
“At about 5a.m; the security guards ran to my quarters to inform me that the Head of State was very unstable. At first, I thought it was a coup attempt. Immediately, I prepared myself fully for any eventuality.
“As an intelligence officer and the Chief Security Officer to the Head of State for that matter, I devised a means of diverting the attention of the security boys from my escape route by asking my wife to continue chatting with them at the door – she was in the house while the boys were outside. From there, I got to the Guest House of the Head of State before them.
“When I got to the bedside of the Head of State, he was already gasping. Ordinarily, I could not just touch him. It was not allowed in our job. But under the situation on ground, I knelt close to him and shouted, “General Sani Abacha, Sir, please grant me permission to touch and carry you.” I again knocked at the stool beside the bed and shouted in the same manner, yet he did not respond. I then realized there was a serious danger. I immediately called the Head of State’s personal physician, Dr. Wali, who arrived the place under eight minutes from his house.
“He immediately gave Oga – General Abacha – two doses of injection, one at the heart and another close to his neck. This did not work apparently as the Head of State had turned very cold. He then told me that the Head of State was dead and nothing could be done after all.
“I there and then asked the personal physician to remain with the dead body while I dashed home to be fully prepared for the problems that might arise from the incident. As soon as I informed my wife, she collapsed and burst into tears. I secured my house and then ran back.
“At that point, the Aide-de-Camp had been contacted by me and we decided that great caution must be taken in handling the grave situation.
“Again, I must reiterate that the issue of my Boss dying on top of women was a great lie just as the insinuation that General Sani Abacha ate and died of poisoned apples was equally a wicked lie. My question is: did Chief M.K.O Abiola die of poisoned apples or did he die on top of women? As I had stated at the Oputa Panel, their deaths were organized. Pure and simple!
“It was at this point that I used our special communication gadgets to diplomatically invite the Service Chiefs, Military Governors and some few elements purportedly to a meeting with the Head of State by 9a.m. at the Council Chamber. That completed, I also decided to talk to some former leaders of the nation to inform them that General Sani Abacha would like to meet them by 9a.m.
“Situation became charged however, when one of the Service Chiefs, Lieutenant General Ishaya Rizi Bamaiyi, who pretended to be with us, suggested he be made the new Head of State after we had quietly informed him of the death of General Sani Abacha. He even suggested we should allow him access to Chief Abiola. We smelt a rat and other heads of security agencies, on hearing this, advised I move Chief Abiola to a safer destination. I managed to do this in spite of the fact that I had been terribly overwhelmed with the crisis at hand.
“But then, when some junior officers over-heard the suggestion of one of the Service Chiefs earlier mentioned, it was suggested to me that we should finish all the members of the Provisional Ruling Council and give the general public an excuse that there was a meeting of the PRC during which a shoot-out occurred between some members of the Provisional Ruling Council and the Body Guards to the Head of State When I sensed that we would be contending with far more delicate issues than the one on ground, I talked to Generals Buba Marwa and Ibrahim Sabo who both promptly advised us – the junior officers – against any bloodshed.
“They advised we contact General Ibrahim Babangida (former Military President) who equally advised against any bloodshed but that we should support the most senior officer in the Provisional Ruling Council (PRC) to be the new Head of State.
“Since the words of our elders are words of wisdom, we agreed to support General Jeremiah Useni. Along the line, General Bamaiyi lampooned me saying, “Can’t you put two and two together to be four? Has it not occurred to you that General Useni who was the last man with the Head of State might have poisoned him, knowing full well that he was the most senior officer in the PRC?”
“Naturally, I became furious with General Useni since General Abacha’s family had earlier on complained severally about the closeness of the two Generals; at that, a decision was taken to storm General Useni’s house with almost a battalion of soldiers to effect his arrest. Again, some heads of security units and agencies, including my wife, advised against the move.
“The next most senior person and officer in government was General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who was then the Chief of Defence Staff. We rejected the other Service Chief, who, we believed, was too ambitious and destructive. We settled for General Abubakar and about six of us called him inside a room in the Head of State’s residence to break the news of the death of General Abacha to him.
“As a General with vast experience, Abdulsalami Abubakar, humbly requested to see and pray for the soul of General Abacha which we allowed. Do we consider this a mistake? Because right there, he – Abubakar – went and sat on the seat of the late Head of State. Again, I was very furious. Like I said at the Oputa Panel, if caution was not applied, I would have gunned him down.
“The revolution the boys were yearning for would have started right there. The assumption that we could not have succeeded in the revolution was a blatant lie. We were in full control of the State House and the Brigade of Guards. We had loyal troops in Keffi and in some other areas surrounding the seat of government – Abuja. But I allowed peace to reign because we believed it would create further crises in the country.
“We followed the advice of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and the wise counsel of some loyal senior officers and jointly agreed that General Abdulsalami Abubakar be installed Head of State, Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces immediately after the burial of General Sani Abacha in Kano. It is an irony of history that the same Service Chief who wanted to be Head of State through bloodshed, later instigated the new members of the Provisional Ruling Council against us and branded us killers, termites and all sorts of hopeless names. They planned, arranged our arrest, intimidation and subsequent jungle trial in 1998 and 1999.
“These, of course, led to our terrible condition in several prisons and places of confinement.”
kenneth harrow
kind of writing.
kenneth w. harrow
faculty excellence advocate
professor of english
michigan state university
department of english
619 red cedar road
room C-614 wells hall
east lansing, mi 48824
ph. 517 803 8839
har...@msu.edu
Folu Ogundimu
FO
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kenneth harrow
third rate thriller author, almost a breathless tone, like someone
reaching for a place to convince us, and stylistically strikes me as
phoney as 419 writers whom we might try to imagine behind the shield of
the 22 year old lustful women they pretend to be
it would be odd if it were completely genuine so ungenuine does the
writing appear to be. but maybe his models were equally posed in some
magazines he fed on. i am talking about his style. it is 419 style.
maybe an A first level 419
k
Eddy Omolehinwa
>> Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
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kenneth w. harrow
faculty excellence advocate
professor of english
michigan state university
department of english
619 red cedar road
room C-614 wells hall
east lansing, mi 48824
ph. 517 803 8839
har...@msu.edu
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
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Ikhide
You can sabi waste your time sha! Abeg madam dey call you, time to go take out the trash!
Much of what passes for Nigerian journalism today is crap, trash actually, and what you highlighted is one. No sugarcoating it. And you know what? The poor sod's lecturers are probably seated on this pantheon, reading you and hating on you. Na today? As my mother would say, Nigeria is "done for!"
- Ikhide
Folu Ogundimu
Yes, the standard of journalism in Nigeria has deteriorated remarkably. But that is not the issue here. I teach journalism in an American university and we see American students with native language abilities with no other language to call theirs who write far worse than what was proffered.
So, I am offended by the condescending tone of Ken's stylistic argument. And he doesn't need enablers on this listserv to sing the dirge of Nigeria's collapse.
F.
Sent from my iPhone
kenneth harrow
sorry if my stylistic evaluation gave offense. this was not the
journalist writing but the major, al mustapha.
it is not a knock on journalism, not an evaluation of the truthfulness,
but rather a comment on the style, which reads as though copied from a
cheap thriller. i don't really see why that would be judging to be
condescending: it is a literary response, and to be sure, when that
style is used, it poses questions about verisimilitude.
"
“Again, I must reiterate that the issue of my Boss dying on top of women was a great lie just as the insinuation that General Sani Abacha ate and died of poisoned apples was equally a wicked lie. My question is: did Chief M.K.O Abiola die of poisoned apples or did he die on top of women? As I had stated at the Oputa Panel, their deaths were organized. Pure and simple!"
it is a pop style, and reads like something coming from market literature. maybe he had been exposed to this kind of writing and expected to write in this style, but it hardly reads like a factual account written by a military man. i could parse the whole piece to demonstrate how this style carries through. i don't see why that is condescending either?
ken
Cornelius Hamelberg
You may be a little too hasty and too brusque in your judgment.
Imagine: If Pidgin or Broken English was the official language of Nigeria, then Say Tokyo Kid’s spoken Broken would be on par with that of the distinguished professors of Broken English. I gained some experience of this as a language analyst. What you are now judging is how far the major appears to you to be falling short of the Queen’s or standard American English in conveying what you believe to be an official report by an educated major in the Nigerian Army. Look at the context and source of the statement, said to be his prison diary...
You say that his veracity is not your major concern. As to verisimilitude and style, it’s possible that the major has come under the heavy influence of Cyprian Ekwensi, and why not – he wants to tell his story for effect – and to be believed, to tell his story as effectively as possible – not necessarily to convince you but to convince´ the disbelievers who come from the same language pool...
Professor Harrow, if you’re not careful you’ll soon be accusing people’s representatives, legislators in the Senate and House of representatives, Military and police personnel of being good-for-nothing 419ers purely on the basis of their oral or written English which could be a blend of Amos Tutuola or under the spell of Chinua Achebe with some big grammar spicing from Wole Soyinka who has had a pervasive influence on Nigerian men (and women) of letters especially in the genre of discourse and argumentation...
If it’s the truthfulness of what he says that’s important, then of course here too the language police are very important. In my view politicians and that includes presidents should take an obligatory lie detector test in matters related to national economy...
I’ve been listening to some Nigerian voices here.
Somehow , right now I hear this prayer echoing in my ear “pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death” ( Somebody please say “ Amen”
Yours sincerely,
Cornelius
kenneth harrow
i also love pidgin, but it wasn't written in pidgin.
the real feel and style is like popular literature, which i stated. in fact, thriller lit.
i don't mind if people want to disagree with my reading of the style; but it would be wrong to impute motives in my evaluation as if it were a negative judgment because of the style.
one thing i am a quasi-expert on is 419 style, because we all get many of those emails every day. i signaled a word or two whose usage evoked that style. you can read the style differently, but yo might want to show me where you see the difference.
ken
Cornelius Hamelberg
You mean that ”thriller lit” and the document that you are referring to have some stylistic features in common?
Well, here is the man himself talking unbroken English Do you observe any 419 features in what he says?
...
Ikhide
- Ikhide
Bode
kenneth harrow
please don't imagine i am describing it, or 419, as "broken english." i didn't use that term or imagine it. thrillers are not written in broken english, but heighten the rhetoric with rhetorical flourishes, with "purple" or highly emotional or evocative terms, adjectives that mark the nouns with greater stress, adverbs that make the action feel more pronounced.
anyway, you can read it and tell me if you find it is not somewhat in that vein
ken
kenneth harrow
but can we shift the conversation, even a drop? abacha has been presented to the world--over and over, in everything that i come across--as the most brutal of leaders nigeria has had. brutal, but a lot of other horrible adjectives are often added. this account, by his adjunct, paints a radically different portrait. does that not bother anyone?
ken
kenneth harrow
magically i wound up on iroko tv, and guess what? the occult transformed it into this: click if you dare
ken
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCT-pEbCtug
Cornelius Hamelberg
Ken,
That was
funny. (“And anyone can fill his life up
With things he can see but he just cannot touch”.)
For me the tension between
“and not remain stuck in old habits. maybe seeing everyone else enjoying it, you might imagine learning to do the same.”
and “not what we profess but what we practice that give us integrity”
is constant...
...
Cornelius Hamelberg
On Monday, 26 January 2015 00:23:19 UTC+1, Kenneth Harrow wrote:
...
Ugo Nwokeji
ken
University of California, Berkeley
686 Barrows Hall #2572
Berkeley, CA 94720
Tel. (510) 542-8140
Fax (510) 642-0318
Cornelius Hamelberg
On Sunday, 25 January 2015 23:28:03 UTC+1, Kenneth Harrow wrote:
...
kenneth harrow
kenneth harrow
it was a great shock, then, when the sentence was passed, when so many of us protested, and to no avail.
i read horrible things about abacha in accounts of nigeria at that time.
so al-mustapha's pitiful account of his passing, or shall i say, sympathetic portrait of his boss, ran counter to what i had expected most nigerians to express about it.
k
kenneth harrow
Segun Ogungbemi
Segun Ogungbemi Ph.D
"​
well, i guess i've weighed in enough that i wasn't criticizing the author for his style.
but can we shift the conversation, even a drop? abacha has been presented to the world--over and over, in everything that i come across--as the most brutal of leaders nigeria has had. brutal, but a lot of other horrible adjectives are often added. this account, by his adjunct, paints a radically different portrait. does that not bother anyone?"
ken
​​
Unless I am missing something, the part I read does not dwell on Abacha; it focuses on how Abacha died and what happened thereafter. The latter -- the subject of the piece -- is obviously of interest.Ugo
G. Ugo NwokejiDirector, Center for African Studies
Associate Professor of African American Studies
University of California, Berkeley
686 Barrows Hall #2572
Berkeley, CA 94720
Tel. (510) 542-8140
Fax (510) 642-0318
Twitter: @UgoNwokejiFacebook:Â facebook.com/ugo.nwokeji
On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 2:59 PM, kenneth harrow <har...@msu.edu> wrote:
well, i guess i've weighed in enough that i wasn't criticizing the author for his style.
but can we shift the conversation, even a drop? abacha has been presented to the world--over and over, in everything that i come across--as the most brutal of leaders nigeria has had. brutal, but a lot of other horrible adjectives are often added. this account, by his adjunct, paints a radically different portrait. does that not bother anyone?
ken
On 1/25/15 5:31 PM, 'Ikhide' via USA Africa Dialogue Series wrote:
They are going to hang up on Kenn but they are going to wink at ASUU that body of intellectuals that churns out pretend-graduates for a modest fee. We are in denial; we have failed our children. Kenn is not our problem, we are the problem.
- Ikhide
i never said it was a question of broken english or improper or anything of the sort. i was commenting on the style.
i also love pidgin, but it wasn't written in pidgin.
the real feel and style is like popular literature, which i stated. in fact, thriller lit.
i don't mind if people want to disagree with my reading of the style; but it would be wrong to impute motives in my evaluation as if it were a negative judgment because of the style.
one thing i am a quasi-expert on is 419 style, because we all get many of those emails every day. i signaled a word or two whose usage evoked that style. you can read the style differently, but yo might want to show me where you see the difference.
ken
On 1/25/15 1:10 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg wrote:
You may be a little too hasty and too brusque in your judgment.
Imagine: If Pidgin or Broken English was the official language of Nigeria, then Say Tokyo Kid’s spoken Broken would be on par with that of the distinguished professors of Broken English. I gained some experience of this as a language analyst. What you are now judging is how far the major appears to you to be falling short of the Queen’s or standard American English in conveying what you believe to be an official report by an educated major in the Nigerian Army. Look at the context and source of the statement, said to be his prison diary... Â
 You say that his veracity is not your major concern. As to verisimilitude and style, it’s possible that the major has come under the heavy influence of Cyprian Ekwensi, and why not – he wants to tell his story  for effect – and to be believed, to tell his story as effectively as possible – not necessarily to convince you but to convince´ the disbelievers who come from the same language pool...
 Professor Harrow, if you’re not careful you’ll soon be accusing people’s representatives, legislators in the Senate and House of representatives, Military and police personnel of being good-for-nothing 419ers purely on the basis of their oral or written English which could be a blend of Amos Tutuola or under the spell of Chinua Achebe with some big grammar spicing from Wole Soyinka who has had a pervasive influence on Nigerian men (and women) of letters especially in the genre of discourse and argumentation...
If it’s the truthfulness of what he says that’s important, then of course here too the language police are very important. In my view politicians and that includes presidents should take an obligatory lie detector test in matters related to national economy...
I’ve been listening to some Nigerian voices here.
Somehow , right now I hear this prayer echoing in my ear “pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death†( Somebody please say “ Amenâ€
Yours sincerely,
Cornelius
Â
On Sunday, 25 January 2015 16:34:48 UTC+1, Kenneth Harrow wrote:
hi folu
sorry if my stylistic evaluation gave offense. this was not the
journalist writing but the major, al mustapha.
it is not a knock on journalism, not an evaluation of the truthfulness,
but rather a comment on the style, which reads as though copied from a
cheap thriller. i don't really see why that would be judging to be
condescending: it is a literary response, and to be sure, when that
style is used, it poses questions about verisimilitude.
he wrote:
"
“Again, I must reiterate that the issue of my Boss dying on top of women was a great lie just as the insinuation that General Sani Abacha ate and died of poisoned apples was equally a wicked lie. My question is: did Chief M.K.O Abiola die of poisoned apples or did he die on top of women? As I had stated at the Oputa Panel, their deaths were organized. Pure and simple!"
the "wicked lie" might have been a lie, but "wicked" intensifies the lie in a dramatic fashion, with a hyper-tone, that is reinforced by the repetition of "poisoned apples," and the return to being on top of women.... the "pure and simple" reinforces it.
it is a pop style, and reads like something coming from market literature. maybe he had been exposed to this kind of writing and expected to write in this style, but it hardly reads like a factual account written by a military man. i could parse the whole piece to demonstrate how this style carries through. i don't see why that is condescending either?
ken
On 1/25/15 9:39 AM, Folu Ogundimu wrote:
> Ken's critique does not address the substance of the write up. And he misused and misappropriated what is meant by "419".
>
> Yes, the standard of journalism in Nigeria has deteriorated remarkably. But that is not the issue here. I teach journalism in an American university and we see American students with native language abilities with no other language to call theirs who write far worse than whamarkably. But that is not the issue here. I teach journalism in an American university and we see American students with native language abilities with no other language to call theirs who write far worse than what was proffered.
>
> So, I am offended by the condescending tone of Ken's stylistic argument. And he doesn't need enablers on this listserv to sing the dirge of Nigeria's collapse.
>
> F.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Jan 25, 2015, at 8:30 AM, 'Ikhide' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>>
>> Kenn,
>>
>> You can sabi waste your time sha! Abeg madam dey call you, time to go take out the trash!
>>
>> Much of what passes for Nigerian journalism today is crap, trash actually, and what you highlighted is one. No sugarcoating it. And you know what? The poor sod's lecturers are probably seated on this pantheon, Â reading you and hating on you. Na today? As my mother would say, Nigeria is "done for!"
>>
>> - Ikhide
>>
>>> On Jan 25, 2015, at 12:37 AM, kenneth harrow <har...@msu.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>> i gather who he is from the first sentence. it is written as if by a third rate thriller author, almost a breathless tone, like someone reaching for a place to convince us, and stylistically strikes me as phoney as 419 writers whom we might try to imagine behind the shield of the 22 year old lustful women they pretend to be
>>> it would be odd if it were completely genuine so ungenuine does the writing appear to be. but maybe his models were equally posed in some magazines he fed on. i am talking about his style. it is 419 style. maybe an A first level 419
>>> k
>>>
>>>> On 1/24/15 10:06 PM, Folu Ogundimu wrote:
>>>> What makes you think so, Ken? Sure you know what 419 is? Or who Al Mustapha is?
>>>>
>>>> FO
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>
>>>>> On Jan 24, 2015, at 4:41 PM, kenneth harrow <har...@msu.edu> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> funny how this reads like a 419. there must be a secret school for this kind of writing.
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 1/24/15 3:57 PM, Kola Fabiyi wrote:
>>>>>> How Sani Abacha REALLY Died – Al-Mustapha (READ)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> by Ephraim Adiele | Staff Writer
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 2015-01-24 21:36
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Major Hamza Al Mustapha, the Chief Security Officer to former Military Head of State, Sani Abacha from November to his death in June 1998 has come out to tel his version of the events that led to the death of the former dictator.
>>>>>> Speaking to Africa Telegram, Al Mustapha, who spent a number of years in detention rebuffed many popular versions of Abacha’s death.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Read a full text of his statement:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “When I got to the bedside of the Head of State, he was already gasping. Ordinarily, I could not just touch him. It was not allowed in our job. But under the situation on ground, I knelt close to him and shouted, “General Sani Abacha, Sir, please grant me permission to touch and carry you.†Contrary to insinuations, speculations and sad rumours initiated by some sections of the society, I maintain that the sudden collapse of the health system of the late Head of State started previous day (Sunday, 7th June, 1998) right from the Abuja International Airport immediately after one of the white security operatives or personnel who accompanied President Yasser Arafat of Palestine shook hands with him (General Abacha) I had noticed the change in the countenance of the late Commander-in-Chief and informed the Aide-de-Camp, Lt. Col. Abdallah, accordingly. He, however, advised that we keep a close watch on the Head of State.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “Later in the evening of 8th June, 1998, around 6p.m; his doctor came around, administered an injection to stabilize him. He was advised to have a short rest. Happily, enough, by 9p.m; the Head of State was bouncing and receiving visitors until much later when General Jeremiah Timbut Useni, the then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, came calling. He was fond of the Head of State. They were very good friends.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “They stayed and chatted together till about 3.35a.m. A friend of the house was with me in my office and as he was bidding me farewell, he came back to inform me that the FCT Minister, General Useni was out of the Head of State’s Guest House within the Villa. I then decided to inform the ADC and other security boys that I would be on my way home to prepare for the early morning event at the International Conference Centre.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “At about 5a.m; the security guards ran to my quarters to inform me that the Head of State was very unstable. At first, I thought it was a coup attempt. Immediately, I prepared myself fully for any eventuality.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “As an intelligence officer and the Chief Security Officer to the Head of State for that matter, I devised a means of diverting the attention of the security boys from my escape route by asking my wife to continue chatting with them at the door – she was in the house while the boys were outside. From there, I got to the Guest House of the Head of State before them.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “When I got to the bedside of the Head of State, he was already gasping. Ordinarily, I could not just touch him. It was not allowed in our job. But under the situation on ground, I knelt close to him and shouted, “General Sani Abacha, Sir, please grant me permission to touch and carry you.†I again knocked at the stool beside the bed and shouted in the same manner, yet he did not respond. I then realized there was a serious danger. I immediately called the Head of State’s personal physician, Dr. Wali, who arrived the place under eight minutes from his house.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “He immediately gave Oga – General Abacha – two doses of injection, one at the heart and another close to his neck. This did not work apparently as the Head of State had turned very cold. He then told me that the Head of State was dead and nothing could be done after all.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “I there and then asked the personal physician to remain with the dead body while I dashed home to be fully prepared for the problems that might arise from the incident. As soon as I informed my wife, she collapsed and burst into tears. I secured my house and then ran back.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “At that point, the Aide-de-Camp had been contacted by me and we decided that great caution must be taken in handling the grave situation.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “Again, I must reiterate that the issue of my Boss dying on top of women was a great lie just as the insinuation that General Sani Abacha ate and died of poisoned apples was equally a wicked lie. My question is: did Chief M.K.O Abiola die of poisoned apples or did he die on top of women? As I had stated at the Oputa Panel, their deaths were organized. Pure and simple!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “It was at this point that I used our special communication gadgets to diplomatically invite the Service Chiefs, Military Governors and some few elements purportedly to a meeting with the Head of State by 9a.m. at the Council Chamber. That completed, I also decided to talk to some former leaders of the nation to inform them that General Sani Abacha would like to meet them by 9a.m.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “Situation became charged however, when one of the Service Chiefs, Lieutenant General Ishaya Rizi Bamaiyi, who pretended to be with us, suggested he be made the new Head of State after we had quietly informed him of the death of General Sani Abacha. He even suggested we should allow him access to Chief Abiola. We smelt a rat and other heads of security agencies, on hearing this, advised I move Chief Abiola to a safer destination. I managed to do this in spite of the fact that I had been terribly overwhelmed with the crisis at hand.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “But then, when some junior officers over-heard the suggestion of one of the Service Chiefs earlier mentioned, it was suggested to me that we should finish all the members of the Provisional Ruling Council and give the general public an excuse that there was a meeting of the PRC during which a shoot-out occurred between some members of the Provisional Ruling Council and the Body Guards to the Head of State When I sensed that we would be contending with far more delicate issues than the one on ground, I talked to Generals Buba Marwa and Ibrahim Sabo who both promptly advised us – the junior officers – against any bloodshed.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “They advised we contact General Ibrahim Babangida (former Military President) who equally advised against any bloodshed but that we should support the most senior officer in the Provisional Ruling Council (PRC) to be the new Head of State.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “Since the words of our elders are words of wisdom, we agreed to support General Jeremiah Useni. Along the line, General Bamaiyi lampooned me saying, “Can’t you put two and two together to be four? Has it not occurred to you that General Useni who was the last man with the Head of State might have poisoned him, knowing full well that he was the most senior officer in the PRC?â€
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “Naturally, I became furious with General Useni since General Abacha’s family had earlier on complained severally about the closeness of the two Generals; at that, a decision was taken to storm General Useni’s house with almost a battalion of soldiers to effect his arrest. Again, some heads of security units and agencies, including my wife, advised against the move.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “The next most senior person and officer in government was General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who was then the Chief of Defence Staff. We rejected the other Service Chief, who, we believed, was too ambitious and destructive. We settled for General Abubakar and about six of us called him inside a room in the Head of State’s residence to break the news of the death of General Abacha to him.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “As a General with vast experience, Abdulsalami Abubakar, humbly requested to see and pray for the soul of General Abacha which we allowed. Do we consider this a mistake? Because right there, he – Abubakar 2€œAs a General with vast experience, Abdulsalami Abubakar, humbly requested to see and pray for the soul of General Abacha which we allowed. Do we consider this a mistake? Because right there, he – Abubakar – went and sat on the seat of the late Head of State. Again, I was very furious. Like I said at the Oputa Panel, if caution was not applied, I would have gunned him down.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “The revolution the boys were yearning for would have started right there. The assumption that we could not have succeeded in the revolution was a blatant lie. We were in full control of the State House and the Brigade of Guards. We had loyal troops in Keffi and in some other areas surrounding the seat of government – Abuja. But I allowed peace to reign because we believed it would create further crises in the country.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “We followed the advice of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and the wise counsel of some loyal senior officers and jointly agreed that General Abdulsalami Abubakar be installed Head of State, Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces immediately after the burial of General Sani Abacha in Kano. It is an irony of history that the same Service Chief who wanted to be Head of State through bloodshed, later instigated the new members of the Provisional Ruling Council against us and branded us killers, termites and all sorts of hopeless names. They planned, arranged our arrest, intimidation and subsequent jungle trial in 1998 and 1999.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> “These, of course, led to our terrible condition in several prisons and places of confinement.â€
>>>>> --
>>>>> kenneth w. harrow
>>>>> faculty excellence advocate
>>>>> professor of english
>>>>> michigan state university
>>>>> department of english
>>>>> 619 red cedar road
>>>>> room C-614 wells hall
>>>>> east lansing, mi 48824
>>>>> ph. 517 803 8839
>>>>> har...@msu.edu
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
>>>>> To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
>>>>> To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com  Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
>>>>> Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
>>>>> --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
>>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
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>>> --
>>> kenneth w. harrow
>>> faculty excellence advocate
>>> professor of english
>>> michigan state university
>>> department of english
>>> 619 red cedar road
>>> room C-614 wells hall
>>> east lansing, mi 48824
>>> ph. 517 803 8839
>>> har...@msu.edu
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
>>> To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
>>> To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com  Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
--
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