Former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, rtd, has disclosed shocking revelations about how late General Sani Abacha dragged him into his (Abacha) coup in 1993.
Disclosing this in Chapter 17 of his 264-page, 27-chapter autobiography titled ‘Call of Duty’, Abdulsalami said he was posted to the National War College, as its Commandant when the political crisis around the annulment of the June 12, 1993, election deepened.
He disclosed that he twice rejected the appointment as Chief of Army Staff offered by Abacha following the coup that toppled the Interim National Government, insisting to Abacha that he did not want to be made a tool in the hands of civilians seeking to use the military.
According to him, Abacha, who was then Minister of Defence under the Interim National Government, had retained his position as the most senior military officer in active service and in government, having been left behind by the Babangida administration to stabilise the military.
The former Army General further revealed that his first hint of what was brewing came from Rear Admiral Suleiman Saidu, then Chief of Naval Staff, who visited him at home on a Monday evening in November 1993 with an urgent warning.
“He asked if I was aware that Abacha and Gusau had travelled to Abuja. I was surprised and asked why they should travel to Abuja, because Abacha himself asked me to see him the next day.
“He said, ‘These Army guys are thinking of a coup. Let me tell you that the Navy would not be a part of it.’ I immediately told him to count me out, as I was not in the know.
“I was surprised that Abacha knew he would be travelling to Abuja and still asked me to see him on Tuesday. If there was any rumour of a coup, this was the first time I heard it,” Abdulsalami wrote.
He added that on November 17, 1993, he was approached again, this time by the retired Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, who phoned and asked what was happening in Abuja.
“I replied, ‘Like what?’ He said, ‘You people are trying to remove Chief Ernest Shonekan.’ I said I had no idea, but that he should let me find out. That was the second time I was hearing the rumour,” Abdulsalami wrote.
