Major Hamza Al Mustapha was the Chief
Security Officer of Gen. Sani Abacha, former
Nigeria military head of state from November
1993 to his death in June 1998.
"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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