What he did not disclose was that the Guest House was a two-storey building. Apart from the two Indian ladies who were in the ground floor sitting room, Abacha’s Nigerian (Ibo) girlfriend was waiting upstairs.
Perhaps the most amazing scene in the film was how Al-Mustapha whose rank was only that of Major took complete control. Without letting the most senior military officers know that Abacha was dead, he invited them to a meeting at The Villa, ostensibly on the orders of Abacha.
Once they were all inside, all that Mustapha needed to do to become Abacha’s successor was to hold the already disarmed officers to ransom with guns pointing at their heads. Had he pulled the trigger, there would have been no resistance. He must be regretting that he took Brigadier-General Mohammed Buba Marwa into confidence. Apparently, it was Marwa who quickly contacted former President General Ibrahim Babangida (IBB). IBB lost no time in outmanoeuvring Major Mustapha. What followed was an apparent deadlock over who should succeed Abacha. The controversy was over seniority by military rank or position in the government hierarchy. So, it was a tussle between Lt. General Abdulsalami Abubakar who was the most senior military officer and Lt. Gen. Jerry Useni who was the “de facto” number two to Abacha although his official position was Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. Also, in contention was Major-General Ishaya Bamaiyi who was the Chief of Army Staff.
Matters were interrupted in order to allow for the burial of General Sani Abacha. It was not until the following day that Lt. General Abdulsalami Abubakar was announced as the new Head of State and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. Lt. General Jerry Useni’s candidacy was certainly not helped by the fury of Abacha’s widow, Hajia Maryam Abacha who was alleged to have concluded that Useni was somehow complicit in the dalliance with and entertainment of various ladies by her departed husband.
Regardless of his vigorous defence and protestation of innocence, Lt. General Jerry Useni lost out.
Several scenes of the film are truly awesome. In one episode, Ibrahim Abacha was portrayed as the de facto Chief of Staff of his father. He had access to all the appurtenances of office – aircraft, cars, etc. Ministers as well as top government officials were at his beck and call. Once the son gave approval, the deal was done. Ibrahim took care of business plus the money trail – especially the huge sums that ended up in Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Luxemburg, Jersey, Guernsey and other exotic destinations. Ironically, General Sani Abacha never set foot in Switzerland where a large chunk of the looted funds were kept. Looming large in the transactions was Alhaji Abubakar Bagudu who is now the Governor of Kebbi State.
Abacha’s loyal wife and widow declared that the funds were not stolen. They were only warehoused so that the American government would not be able to seize the money!
When Ibrahim died on 17th of January, 1996 along with his girlfriend Funmi, his friend Bello (a younger brother of Aliko Dangote), as well as fourteen other friends, and the crew in an air crash in Kano following a spur of the moment whim to head to the ancient city for the best “Suya” meat, his father and mother were devastated and utterly shattered. Thereafter, General Sani Abacha took to wearing goggles both day and night.
Another gripping scene was when the trio of playwrights/authors Professor Wole Soyinka; Professor Chinua Achebe and Professor J.P. Clark visited General Ibrahim Babangida at Dodan Barracks to plead for amnesty for Major-General Mamman Jiya Vatsa who was a poet and former classmate of Babangida (IBB), they were warmly received by Babangida who reminded them that Vatsa was the Best Man at his wedding to Mariam. They left at about 4pm and gave a press conference which reassured those who had been anxiously awaiting the outcome of their intervention.
Low and behold, on the National Television Authority (NTA) news at 7pm on5th March 1986, it was announced that Major-General Vatsa had been executed along with other coup plotters.
One of the fascinating episodes in the film was how Major-General Olusegun Obasanjo who was the Chief of General Staff Supreme Headquarters (the number two in the military hierarchy) dodged assassination on Friday 13th February 1976. He owes his narrow escape to divine intervention through an unexpected visit from Colonel Olu Bajowa who turned up at Obasanjo’s Ikoyi residence to announce the safe delivery of his son Yomi and that the naming ceremony would be held that morning. He requested for permission to be late in getting to Dodan Barracks where he worked directly under Obasanjo. While this was going on, another officer, Colonel Reis Dumuje arrived and he waited patiently for Obasanjo to finish his discussions with Bajowa. In the meantime, Bajowa’s driver had left on an errand.
When Bajowa was about to leave and his driver had still not returned, he pleaded with Dumuje to ask his driver to drop him at his home which was only a short distance away. Anyway, when Obasanjo finished his meeting with Dumuje, he was surprised to find that his visitor’s driver was nowhere to be found. Obasanjo offered Dumuje his official car to drop him and return to the house.
Within a matter of minutes, the driver was ambushed in South-West Ikoyi. The assassins thought it was Obasanjo who was in the car and they opened fire. Dumuje was hit and badly wounded. Somehow the driver was able to dodge the bullets. He drove to the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital, Idi Araba where the Provost, Professor Ade Elebute quickly arranged for him to be wheeled into the emergency section of the hospital followed by surgery. For several weeks, the patient’s identity was a tightly guarded secret. Fortunately, Dumuje recovered and Obasanjo is still alive.
As for Major Clement Dabang, after participating in the coup d’état he booked himself into the same hospital and claimed that he had been under surgery while the coup was going on. General Danjuma dismissed his story as cock and bull and he instructed that Dabang should face the Military Tribunal. He was subsequently executed by firing squad along with the other coup plotters on 11th March 1976.
Bashorun J.K. Randle
