By Toyin Akingbade
“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.
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