General Babangida and General Abacha: A 'Friendship' that Ruined Nigeria 2.

So Babangida started plotting against Buhari quite actively the very day the latter became head of state. And his projections about the new administration came to trenchant actualities. As he expected, Buhari left the affairs of state largely in the hands of Major General Tunde Idiagbon, Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, effectively his deputy. Idiagbon was another stern, disciplined army officer who arrogantly believed Nigerians could be whipped in line in a day. But the civilian forces he was contending against were too numerous, too riotous, too stubborn and when the resistance became too intractable, it became necessary to resort to high-handed tactics. Newspapers were proscribed, journalists were jailed, unions banned and human rights abuses spiraled away. Nigerians welcomed Buhari with open arms but it didn't take long for the relationship to turn sour. In a disorganized country of 80m people with little or no civic orientation, few, very few, were ready to embrace regulated discipline. The domestic intelligence agency in those days was the National Security Organization(NSO) and overnight, its  director, Ambassador Rafindadi became a poster boy for repression and people started playing on General Idiagbon's name with that of Idi Amin Dada, Uganda's erstwhile murderous dictator. Buhari's subordinates could do all they liked knowing they would receive little or no censure from their master. It was often said Idiagbon was more powerful than the head of state himself.
All of which played into Babangida's hands. However, in order to supplant Buhari, he would have to rely on Abacha again. Abacha and Babangida were no friends. No two men could ever be so dissimilar. Babangida liked to pride himself as urbane, clever, learned and sophisticated while he regarded Abacha as dull, crude and too fond of women and drinks. On the other hand, Abacha took Babangida for a coward, a decadent sophist and a boastful buffoon. He knew Babangida's fabled intelligence to be of the dark type, one which he would use to plunge his country into political and economic disaster. Abacha relied on his sense and intuition, knowing he had more of this in his little finger than Babangida had in the whole of his brain. But if Babangida was to realize his burning ambition, become head of state, Abacha would be a necessary evil. Abacha, because of his ill-discipline and carousing lifestyle, had a huge following among officers in an army that was growing increasingly idle. He had prevailed on Babangida, who was chief of army staff, to install one of his sworn buddies, Brigadier Dongoyaro, as General Officer Commanding 2nd Mechanized Division, Ibadan, that army formation vital to the success of any coup plotter. Dongoyaro was to announce the demise of Buhari's administration on August 27,  1985. Then, in military and political calculations, the much-touted homogeneous north is in fact roughly split along Fulani and Hausa fault lines. The Buharis and the Yar'aduas belong to the Fulani group while Abacha then had the ears of the Hausa or Kano group. He was Kanuri, in far away Borno, but lived and grew up in Kano. Babangida was really an outsider, having come from Bida in far away southern margins of the north. Few Fulani officers would move against one of their own and it was imperative to garner support of the Hausa group, through General Sanni Abacha. Abacha was quite receptive to the removal of General Buhari  but he wasn't going to risk his life the second time for nothing. He too was interested in becoming head of state. He regarded himself as the Khallifa, or Successor. Kano was his adopted city, where the assassinated head of state, General Murtala Mohammed, also hailed from and there was the widespread feeling among civilian and military establishment in city that they had been shortchanged in the scheme of affairs and that they had been poorly compensated for the ill-fated regime of General Mohammed that was cut brutally short. In short, if he was going to spearhead another coup, he needed assurances he was going to get his just rewards.
Babangida said "No problem."
Abacha said he needed an assurance that looked more concrete that a verbal agreement.
Babangida then brought out a Koran and swore to the effect that whenever he was leaving power, Abacha would succeed him. That seemed to satisfy Abacha but he was no fool. He knew Babangida liked swearing falsely. Two events were to later bear him out. As the plot against him thickened, Buhari got wind of it and invited Babangida. "Ibro, I heard that you are plotting a coup against me." Babangida looked at him straight in the eye and flatly denied it and to reassure Buhari, had a Koran provided. On which he swore so volubly. The second was during the later stages of his incredibly tortuous political transition process. He had banned unbanned and banned again so many politicians that few, very few, believed the whole process had any credibility left. So when Chief M.K.O. Abiola was being persuaded to contest for president, he was naturally skeptical. So he went to Babangida who was supposed to be a great friend of his and asked if presidential vacancy truly existed in the whole political process that was looking worse than a charade every passing day. Babangida said yes and then brought out a Koran to cement the assurance.
So Abacha knew Babangida considered it fun taking the name of Allah in vain but he never betrayed a single emotion. He knew what he was going to do. He nodded and there and then, the fate of Nigeria was sealed. A horrific destination from which it was unable to free itself.
 

How Obasanjo Killed the Yar'duas 1

The Yar'dua brothers have been dead for some time now but few ever realized the role Olusegun Obasanjo, ex head of state, played in their demise. These two powerful Nigerians were closely associated with him in their lifetime but even though he later fell apart with them, it would be a bit ridiculous to suggest he would even wish death on them but two grave errors of judgement on his part would eventually send the two to the great beyond. The elder Yar'adua was the Chief-of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, Obasanjo's deputy when he was military head of state. Yar'adua was barely a colonel when the then head of state, General Ramat Murtala Mohammed, was assassinated in an abortive coup detat in Feb 13, 1976. Obasanjo who was his deputy was promoted head of state by the selfless insistence of General Danjuma, Chief of Army Staff. and in order to assuage the wounded feelings of northern elements in the polity, Colonel Yar'dua was promoted to brigadier and soon major general in order to qualify him for the position of Chief- of-Staff, Supreme Headquarters, in effect vice-president. Colonel Muhammadu Buhari, presently president, was also considered for the post but deemed too incorrigible and inflexible for the highly political post of vice head of state.
Many an officer would be naturally miffed by this exceptional promotion. One of them was Colonel Sani Abacha, a Kanuri man from Borno but brought up in Kano who grumbled, albeit very silently, that he should have been at least considered for this special favor, having come from the same Kano as General Murtala.  But he understood too well the unusual circumstances that prodded his resentment and didn't make much fuss of it. Besides Abacha was very fond of women and beer and as long as the two flowed freely, the world wasn't such an unfair place even though while Yar'dua retired as major-general in 1979, Abacha, who was his mate, only got promoted to brigadier in 1980. Nobody knew what precisely caused the rift between Abacha and Yar'adua while they were in the army. Perhaps Abacha didn't grumble too silently and a whisperer could have been up to a mischief. Yar'adua was from a well-heeled family, his father having been minister in the First Republic and could be a bit condescending to others. His new, sudden position too was making him feel a bit heady and he and the stubborn Abacha were not likely to be great friends. By 1978, he had included the name of Abacha as one of the officers to be retired from the army. Abacha hit the roof. Here was a guy who was his mate in the army, who got unfairly promoted over him...who now had the nerve to root for his retirement. Yar'adua's attempted  betrayal really cut him to the quick. He loved the army, it was the only life he had known and had done nothing to warrant a premature retirement. To worsen matters, Yar'adua arranged for Abacha to be failed in one of army assessment examinations. Yar'adua however got a shock when the list was presented to Obasanjo. His hands as head of state was very weak, he got there fortuitously and those who installed him must be stronger than him, but on this matter, he stood his ground. He loved Murtala who was not only his boss, but was also helping Obasanjo maintain peace in his own family and would not want to visit premature retirement on any officer from Kano. He firmly had Abacha's name erased from the retirement list and that was how Abacha survived Yar'adua's purge. He would later become Nigeria's strongman in 1993 and Yar'adua would die in his prison later. Abacha never forgave Yar'adua for that retirement move. When Obasanjo and Yar'adua were being tried by Abacha  for a coup in 1995, Yar'adua told Obasajo 'Boss, did I not warn you of this man?'