Nigerian Leaders since Independence: General Sani Abacha (1993-1998)

General Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was military ruler and politician. He ruled Nigeria from 1993 to 1998. A Kanuri from Borno by tribe, Abacha was born and brought up in Kano State. He attended the Nigerian Military School, Kaduna and Mons Officer Cadet School, Aldershot, England before being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1963.

Political involvements
General Abacha took part in the countercoup of July 1967, from the conceptual stage, and might have been a participant in the Lagos or Abeokuta phases of the January 1966 coup. He was also a prominent figure in three coup d’etats of later decades, the first two of which brought and removed General General Muhammadu Buhari from power in 1983. When General Ibrahim Babangida was named President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1985, Abacha was named Chief of Army Staff. He was later appointed Minister of Defence in 1990.
Abacha took over power from the interim government of Chief Ernest Shonekan, who was put into place by General Ibrahim Babangida after his annulment of the 12 June 1993.
Alleged human rights abuses.



On 6 September 1994, Abacha declared that his regime had absolute power, placing his government above the jurisdiction of the courts. He did, however, promise to hand the government over to civilians in 1998. Despite his stated commitment to returning the country to democracy, Abacha's government was accused of human rights abuses, including the hanging of Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. MKO Abiola and Olusegun Obasanjo were jailed for treason, and Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka charged in absentia with treason. His regime suffered stiff opposition internally and externally by pro-democracy activists who made the regime unpopular. Abacha responded by banning political activity in general and by controlling the press in particular; a significant fraction of the military was purged. Abacha surrounded himself with approximately 3,000 armed men loyal to him.

Corruption
During Abacha's regime, a total of £5 billion was reportedly siphoned out of the country's coffers by the head of state and members of his family. At that time Abacha was listed as the world's fourth most corrupt leader in recent history. Abacha's National Security Adviser, Alhaji Ismaila Gwarzo, played a central role in the looting and transfer of money to overseas accounts. His son Mohammed Abacha was also involved. A preliminary report published by the Abdulsalami Abubakar transitional government in November 1998 described the process. Sani Abacha told Ismaila Gwarzo to provide fake funding requests, which Abacha approved. The funds were usually sent in cash or travellers' cheques by the Central Bank of Nigeria to Gwarzo, who took them to Abacha's house.. Mohammed Abacha then arranged to launder the money to offshore accounts. An estimated $1.4 billion in cash was delivered in this way.

Abacha’s death
Abacha died in June 1998 while at the presidential villa in Abuja. He was buried on the same day, according to Muslim tradition, without an autopsy. This fuelled speculation that foul play was involved and that he might have been poisoned by political rivals via prostitutes. On the contrary, Nigerian military rulers cited his cause of death as a sudden heart attack. It is claimed that he was in the company of six teenage Indian prostitutes imported from Dubai. The prostitutes are believed to have laced his drink with a poisonous substance, making Abacha feel unwell around 4:30am. He retired to his bed and was dead by 6:15am.

After his death, Maj. Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, Nigeria's Defence Chief of Staff, was sworn in as the country's Head of State. Abdusalami Abubakar had never before held public office and was quick to announce a transition to democracy, which led to the election of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Abacha was married to Maryam Abacha and had seven sons and three daughters.

Compiled with information from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sani_Abacha -