Connect with us

News

Late Ibrahim Coomassie Informed Me About Abacha’s Death- General Abdulsalami Abubakar

Published

4 years ago

on

 

Former military head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), has narrated how he was kept waiting for several minutes following the death of ex-Nigerian military leader, General Sani Abacha.

Abdulsalami said he was kept in the dark that the military ruler had passed until he was informed by Ibrahim Coomassie.

Speaking in an interview with Trust TV, the Niger State-born Abdulsalami also debunked reports in some quarters that the winner of the 1993 presidential election, MKO Abiola, was killed by agents of his government.

Asked on what really transpired on the day Abacha’s died, he said, “A lot happened the day General Abacha passed away. He died I think the day he was to travel to Togo for, I think, the ECOWAs or AU summit.

“Now I got a call from the Villa that General Abacha wanted to see me. So, immediately what came to my mind, I said; I hope he had not changed his mind about going to this Togo and was going to send me because at that time when he passed away, already I was the de facto number two man because at that time General Diya and others were having problem on this alleged coup.

So I suspected that the General had changed his mind and he was going to send me because in a lot of times, I am called upon to go and represent the head of state.

“So I took my time, when I went to the bathroom and I told my wife, “look I think I might be going to this AU Summit, so help me prepare my bag” but before I finished then there was another call.

“Then there was another call; “look the president is waiting for you,” I said “okay I am coming”.

Youth Are The Greatest Assets Of Nigeria
So I casually put on my tracksuit since there was no time to dress in uniform and so on, since there was agitation that I was wanted immediately.

“So I came with my tracksuit, I think I was even wearing slippers. When I entered they said, “General is in the office”; so naturally when I come to the office, no matter who was with General Abacha I normally just go in and meet him and maybe he would say “Okay, wait, let me finish with this gentleman or he will ask the fellow to give us chance”.

“To my surprise when I came, as I was climbing the steps, somebody said “No, he said you have to wait in the waiting room”.

To my surprise, I was in the waiting room for over 30, 40 minutes, then I kept wondering what was happening. Any time I wanted to go up, they said no, the General said I should wait.

So after about 40 minutes waiting, then Late Coomassie, (Ibrahim Coomassie), who was the inspector general of police came to where I was sitting and he said “Please come”. Instead of going up to the office, we followed out, he said “No, we are going to the house”.

“It was in that process he told me, “Look, unfortunately General Abacha has passed on in the night”. So that was how we went to the villa where General Abacha was living and as we entered, they showed me on the right where his corpse was, so I entered and prayed for his soul and so on.

“Then we entered the parlour where I found some gentlemen including I think…Coomassie of course was there then the chief justice of the federation, I think Ambassador Babagana Kingibe and one or two security operatives, I can’t remember everybody.

Was it clear this was just natural death because as you know there was a lot of speculation.

“Well at that time I was told he passed away and so on and at that time all these speculations did not arise until later on. All we were concerned was that okay, that the head of state has passed on, how do we now break the news to the country and so on and so forth.

“We were guided by the then chief justice of the federation saying that “Look, so much as there is the need to inform Nigerians about the passing away of the head of state, you cannot leave a vacuum, there must be a substantive head of state before you can go ahead with other things”. So I think that set up the chain of events.

“So immediately, as the chief of defence staff then, I quickly summoned for the council of state meeting.

“I was still in my tracksuit because there was no time, because it was really a shocking and devastating period we found ourselves. So it was later when we set up the meeting, that I had to go home and really get properly dressed.

Advert

“So now when I came back well dressed, by that time members of the military ruling council had started arriving, when we all assembled then we went to the meeting. Of all course we had to break the news although it had become a common knowledge between the members that his Excellency General Abacha had passed on.

“We had to tell the council of his demise and the advice given by the chief justice of the federation, that before we did anything there must be somebody to take over, so that he is in charge.

“It took time before the members of the council of state arrived. Of course in the chamber, there was a lot of interactions. Finally it was decided that okay we had General Useini who was then the most senior officer, so to speak, but he was in the administration, he was then minister of FCT and I was the chief of defence staff, so the issue was one of us should emerge as the head of state.

“There was a stalemate in the discussion, somebody raised an issue, “Look, we should tell the world General Abacha has passed on, before it was too late, let’s please go and bury the gentleman before we come back and sort out ourselves”.

“Meanwhile as all this was going on, it was decided by the family he was going to be buried in Kano and while we were still talking, arrangements were being made for his burial in Kano. So I think this took us to night time, when we all then decided, okay, let’s leave this and then go and bury him and come back and this was what happened.

“So we went to Kano and buried him and came back and resumed the issue of who will take over. Of course as the chief of defence staff, I was presiding on the meeting; so finally after votes and so on, the council members decided that I take over as the head of state.”

Asked on his alleged involvement in the death of Abiola, the retired General dismissed such reports as untrue.

His words: “There were lots of allegations here and there that we killed Abiola. As always when I am talking about late Abiola, I still thank God for directing me on things to do when he gave me the leadership of this country.

“On the day Moshood (Abiola) passed away, may he rest in peace, two to three things make me always say I thank my God for the guidance He gave me. One was I received a delegation from America headed by Pickering (Ambassador Tom Pickering) who was then, I think, the secretary of state or so. In his team I remember very well, was Susan Rice. I remember her very well because of the role she played later.

“So after the normal courtesy and discussion we had, when they were leaving my office, Pickering said “Your Excellency we made a request to see Moshood Abiola but we were denied”, so I said “Why were you denied? who denied you?” There and then I made a decision, I said “Look, you will see Moshood definitely, I overruled whoever said you cannot see him”. So I now called my chief security officer, I said “Please make arrangement for this team to see Abiola,” that is one point.

“Now during the incarceration of Moshood Abiola, except his personal doctor, to my knowledge, no member of his family saw him. So when I became head of state, based on consultation and interaction together with Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, I gave the family a date that they could come and see him.

“So a day before he died, his family came to Abuja to see him. For one reason or the other, the whole family could not see him at the same time, so it was agreed that when this group of his family will see him today, tomorrow the next team will see him. So they saw him like yesterday, now this team from US came to see me and I said they could see him. Normally it was in the evenings the family go and see him. So because I had authorized the American team to see him, so the other part of the family were waiting to see him.

“So, it was at this meeting when the American team was meeting Abiola he fell sick and suddenly the security officers called the medical team to come and attend to him, and when they saw the situation they said it was severe and they needed to take him to the medical centre. So it was the medical team plus the American team that took him to the medical centre, unfortunately at the medical centre he gave up.

“Then my security chief called and said “I have bad news for you”, I asked what it was, he said “Abiola is dead”. I was shocked. He told me he was there with the American team, at that time I was staying in the barracks, I had not moved to the villa, so I said okay, let him take the American team to my house, I will meet them at the house; so I closed from the office, and went there.

“The issue now was how do I break the news to Abiola’s family and how do we tell the world Abiola had passed on. I must be thankful to God and again to Ambassador Kingibe because we called on him and asked him to bring the family of Abiola. So when they came I broke the news, that unfortunately this is what has happened.

“As you would expect, the family broke down and they started crying, I can’t remember which of the ladies, I held her, she was crying, sobbing, it was then Susan Rice, that is why I always remember her, said “Mr President that is not your job, let me do it”, so she now held this lady until she settled down and she calmed down a little bit. Then we had to summon my second in command and other people and then strategized on how to break the news.

“That is why I always say I thank my God for guiding me, if I hadn’t said the American team should go and meet Abiola certainly I don’t know how I would explain to the world that Abiola had died, and the American team will they believe me that we had not killed Abiola at that time when they were requesting to see him?”

 

 

Related Topics:

News

Alleged N2b Fraud:How Sirika Used Ethiopian Airlines as Fake Nigeria Air-Witness Tells Court

Published

10 hours ago

on

June 11, 2026

By

 

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The 12th Prosecution Witness, PW12, Christopher Odofin, in the trial of the former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Abubakar Sirika, on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, told Justice S.C. Oriji of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court Abuja, how Sirika allegedly passed off an aircraft belonging to Ethiopian Airline as that of the promised Nigeria Air by the government of the late President Muhammadu Buhari.

The decoy aircraft, adorned with the livery of the promised Nigeria Air, found its way on the tarmac of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on May 27, 2023, being three days to the expiration of the tenure of the Buhari government and was flown back to Addis Ababa in the morning of May 29, 2023, being the handover date to the successor government.

Hadi Sirika is facing prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on amended six-count, bordering on alleged abuse of office and misappropriation of public funds to the tune of over N2 billion, alongside his daughter, Fatima Hadi Sirika, son-in-law, Hamma Jalal Sule, and Al Buraq Global Investment Limited.

The contract for the setting up of Nigeria Air was awarded to Tianaero Nigeria Limited, belonging to Gabriel Tilmann, a close associate and friend of the former minister.

Reading from a portion of contract agreement with Ethiopian Airline, the witness, an investigator with Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC said “The aircraft will depart from Addis Ababa (ADD) late evening of May 26, 2023 for it to be positioned early morning of May 27, 2023 at the Abuja (ABV) airport. The aircraft will stay in ABV airport for static display of Nigeria Air livery until May 28, 2023. The aircraft will leave ABV airport early morning on May, 29, 2023. The chartered flight will be operated by the Ethiopian Airline crew in Ethiopian Airline uniform. The Federal Government of Nigeria and Nigeria Air may put together local models who will be in Nigeria Air uniforms to pose for ceremonial pictures. The models may come to Addis Ababa so they may fly with the chartered flight to ABV.”

Advert

The witness told the court that the display of the aircraft in Abuja International Airport was deliberately planned to coincide with the end of the first defendant’s tenure as Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development on May 29, 2023 and to pass the aircraft off as the actualization of his promise of the return of Nigeria Air. After the less than 72 hours display of the aircraft, he stated that the Nigeria Air logo was removed from the aircraft and flown back to Ethiopian Airlines in Addis Ababa.

The witness further disclosed that the investigating team was also able to ascertain that Ethiopian Airlines entered into a charter arrangement for the static display of the Nigeria Air livery for a duration of just three days, beginning from May 27 to May 29, 2023 based on information and documents received from the airline following a letter from it, dated June 12, 2023, in response to the EFCC’s request for information regarding Nigeria Air. And that though the purpose of the contract was for the establishment of Nigeria Air, the charter agreement with Ethiopian Airlines was entered on May 24, 2023, five days to the expiration of the defendant’s tenure for just a static display of the Nigeria Air logo on an aircraft.

All the documents tendered in evidence by the prosecution were shown to have been duly signed, authorized, and accompanied by certificates of identification and were not objected to by any of the counsels to the four defendants.

Among the exhibits is a compact disk containing a voice note from the first defendant, Hadi Sirika, marked Exhibit 37, which the prosecution counsel applied to be played in the court at the next adjourned date.

Further in his testimony, the witness told the court told that though the contract for the start-up of Nigeria Air, which was awarded to Tianaero Nigeria Limited for over N299 million on April 4, 2022, saw a contract extension award to the company on October 17, 2022, to a sum, exceeding N599 million on the instructions and directives of the first defendant, based on his relationship with the company’s alter ego.

According to him “The investigating team arrived at this position when the phone of one Enitan Muyiwa Abel, who was a Permanent Secretary in the first defendant’s ministry was analysed, showing a voice note sent to the Permanent Secretary while the first defendant was in Spain instructing him to ensure that the contract was awarded to Tianaero Nigeria Limited.”

Justice Oriji adjourned the matter till June 17, 2026 for the continuation of the trial.

Continue Reading

News

Governor Abba Yusuf Assures Kano Pilgrims of Smooth Return as Airlift May Begin Before June 24

Published

12 hours ago

on

June 11, 2026

By

 

By Lamara Garba in Makkah

The Executive Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf, has assured pilgrims from the state currently performing Hajj in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that adequate arrangements are being made to ensure a smooth, safe and hitch-free return to Nigeria.

Governor Yusuf gave the assurance while addressing Kano pilgrims in Makkah, where he commended them for their patience, discipline and exemplary conduct throughout the pilgrimage period.

The governor also urged the pilgrims to continue offering prayers for lasting peace, unity, tranquility and prosperity in Kano State and Nigeria as a whole, stressing that the nation is in need of divine guidance and stability.

According to him, prayers remain one of the most powerful tools for overcoming the social, economic and security challenges confronting the country.

Advert

Speaking during the gathering, the Director General of the Kano State Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji Abubakar Ibrahim Matawalle, disclosed that the return airlift of Kano pilgrims is officially scheduled to commence on June 24.

However, he revealed that efforts are currently underway by the state government and relevant authorities to begin the evacuation exercise before the stipulated date if all logistical arrangements are concluded on time.

Matawalle explained that the board has finalized most of the necessary preparations to ensure an orderly and seamless return operation, noting that once the airlift begins, all Kano pilgrims are expected to be transported back to Nigeria within approximately three days.

He said flight schedules and operational plans have been carefully coordinated to avoid delays and ensure the comfort of pilgrims throughout the return journey from the Holy Land.

The Director General further commended officials, coordinators and welfare personnel deployed across the 44 local government areas of Kano State for their commitment and dedication, which he said contributed immensely to the successful conduct of this year’s Hajj exercise.

He also expressed appreciation to Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf for his continued support and concern for the welfare of Kano pilgrims from the beginning of the pilgrimage to its concluding stages.

Matawalle prayed to Almighty Allah to accept the acts of worship performed by the pilgrims, reward their sacrifices and grant them a safe return to their families and communities in good health and peace.

The planned commencement of the return airlift marks the final phase of the 2026 Hajj exercise for Kano pilgrims, bringing to a close weeks of spiritual devotion and religious activities in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.

Continue Reading

News

Hasheem Abdallah Wins ASUP BUPOLY Chairmanship Election

Published

12 hours ago

on

June 11, 2026

By

 

 

 

Comrade Hasheem Abdallah has emerged as the newly elected Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Binyaminu Usman Polytechnic (BUPOLY), Hadejia Chapter, following a keenly contested election conducted on June 9, 2026.

 

The election, supervised by the ASUP Zone A Zonal Coordinator, Comrade Mohammed Mohammed, saw Comrade Hasheem Abdallah secure a decisive victory with 62 votes, defeating his opponent, Comrade Nafisa Nasir Ma’aruf, who polled 30 votes.

 

Speaking after the exercise, Comrade Mohammed Mohammed commended members of the chapter for their peaceful conduct and commitment to democratic principles. He described the election as one of the freest, fairest, and most peaceful electoral exercises he had witnessed throughout his years of participation in ASUP struggles and leadership activities.

 

He noted that the orderly conduct of the election reflected the maturity, unity, and democratic culture of the BUPOLY Chapter and expressed confidence in the ability of the newly elected executives to advance the objectives of the Union.

 

Following the announcement of the results, the Chapter Electoral Committee (ELCOM) immediately administered the oath of office to the newly elected executives.

 

This immediate transition of leadership aligns perfectly with Article 8.08 (The Chapter Executive Council) and the statutory operational guidelines of Articles 14.03 and 14.04 of the ASUP Constitution, which provide for the seamless assumption of office by duly elected officials, safeguard the stability of the Chapter, preserve executive continuity, and ensure the prompt execution of the mandate freely given by Congress.

 

In his acceptance speech, Comrade Hasheem Abdallah expressed profound gratitude to members of the Union for the confidence reposed in him and pledged to provide purposeful, transparent, and inclusive leadership.

 

He assured members that his administration would work closely with all stakeholders to promote staff welfare, strengthen unity within the chapter, protect the rights and interests of members, and contribute meaningfully to the growth and development of Binyaminu Usman Polytechnic.

Advert

 

The newly elected Chairman further extended a hand of fellowship to all members, including those who supported other candidates, emphasizing that the election had ended and that the collective interest of the Union must now take precedence over individual differences.

 

The election marks the beginning of a new leadership chapter for ASUP in Binyaminu Usman Polytechnic, as members look forward to renewed commitment toward academic excellence, staff welfare, institutional development, and the advancement of the Union’s ideals.

 

 

 

Comrade Hasheem Abdallah has emerged as the newly elected Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Binyaminu Usman Polytechnic (BUPOLY), Hadejia Chapter, following a keenly contested election conducted on June 9, 2026.

 

The election, supervised by the ASUP Zone A Zonal Coordinator, Comrade Mohammed Mohammed, saw Comrade Hasheem Abdallah secure a decisive victory with 62 votes, defeating his opponent, Comrade Nafisa Nasir Ma’aruf, who polled 30 votes.

 

Speaking after the exercise, Comrade Mohammed Mohammed commended members of the chapter for their peaceful conduct and commitment to democratic principles. He described the election as one of the freest, fairest, and most peaceful electoral exercises he had witnessed throughout his years of participation in ASUP struggles and leadership activities.

 

He noted that the orderly conduct of the election reflected the maturity, unity, and democratic culture of the BUPOLY Chapter and expressed confidence in the ability of the newly elected executives to advance the objectives of the Union.

 

Following the announcement of the results, the Chapter Electoral Committee (ELCOM) immediately administered the oath of office to the newly elected executives.

 

This immediate transition of leadership aligns perfectly with Article 8.08 (The Chapter Executive Council) and the statutory operational guidelines of Articles 14.03 and 14.04 of the ASUP Constitution, which provide for the seamless assumption of office by duly elected officials, safeguard the stability of the Chapter, preserve executive continuity, and ensure the prompt execution of the mandate freely given by Congress.

 

In his acceptance speech, Comrade Hasheem Abdallah expressed profound gratitude to members of the Union for the confidence reposed in him and pledged to provide purposeful, transparent, and inclusive leadership.

 

He assured members that his administration would work closely with all stakeholders to promote staff welfare, strengthen unity within the chapter, protect the rights and interests of members, and contribute meaningfully to the growth and development of Binyaminu Usman Polytechnic.

 

The newly elected Chairman further extended a hand of fellowship to all members, including those who supported other candidates, emphasizing that the election had ended and that the collective interest of the Union must now take precedence over individual differences.

 

The election marks the beginning of a new leadership chapter for ASUP in Binyaminu Usman Polytechnic, as members look forward to renewed commitment toward academic excellence, staff welfare, institutional development, and the advancement of the Union’s ideals.

Continue Reading

Trending