Abbas Yushau Yusuf
On November 17 1993, The former Head Of State Late General Sani Abacha stormed the Presidential Villa in Abuja in company of well Armed Soldiers ,The silent General was not alone but with Armoured Tanks in case of Any Eventuality.
General Sani Abacha who was then Secretary Of Defence of the Interim National Government led by Chief Ernest Shonekan at the precincts of the Presidential Villa briefed the Head of the ING about the ongoing turmoil across the country with regards to the annulment of June 12 1993 elections won by Chief MKO Abiola,Abacha’s friend and General Babangida.
The annulment of June 12 1993 forced IBB to resign and set up an Interim National Government led by Chief Ernest Shonekan.
General Babangida retired with all the top Military officers with the exception of General Sani Abacha,by the time June 12 agitators tried to make the country ungovernable for Chief Ernest Shonekan, and with a court declaration that the ING he led was illegal ,the military led by Abacha asked Chief Ernest Shonekan to resign.
Chief Shonekan willingly resigned as Head of Interim National Government and hand over to General Sani Abacha.
In his maiden broadcast General Sani Abacha recap to the nation the situation at hand and the need for his intervention as Head of State to save the nation from disintegration.
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He described his Government as a child of necessity with strong determination to restore peace and stability in Nigeria.
He dissolved all the elected Nigerian Governors under the National Republican Convention and the Social Democratic Party who are thirty in number and set the pace for the take up of his administration.
Initially General Sani Abacha intended to appoint civilian administrators to man the thirty states ,but he later shelved the idea considering the implication, and apppointed his first set of military administrators for the states.
According to Historians and experts said General Sani Abacha was a Nigerian leader who shared characteristics with famous world leaders due to his silent character.
The leaders that was said to have shared silent characteristics with General Sani Abacha are Presidents Calvin Coolidge of the United States of America who was said to be very silent and never talks, there was also another US President who was also said to be very silent like Abacha,that was President Harry Truman,again another Nigerian leader that shared Characteristics with Late General Sani Abacha was Late President Umaru Musa Yaradua who also died in Office like Late General Sani Abacha.
Abacha was once eulogised by his predecessor General Ibrahim Babangida about his effort to keep Nigeria one when it was on the verge of disintegration.
General Sani Abacha died on Monday the 8 th of June 1998 and was succeeded by General Abdulsalam Abubakar ,the then Chief of Defence Staff who set Nigeria on the path of Democracy on May 29 1999.
