“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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