Abacha, Sani (1943-1998)

Nigerian soldier, politician, and president (1993-98). In 1983 he took part in the coup that ended the Second Republic. In 1993 he seized power following presidential elections in which Chief Moshood Abiola appeared to be the winner. He arrested Abiola and suppressed a strike by oil workers. The Abacha regime received international condemnation for the hanging of the environmentalist and human-rights campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995.

Born in Kano state, Abacha belonged to the Kanuri ethnic group. He joined the army in 1962 and trained at the School of Infantry, in Warminster, England (1966-71). Fighting with federalist forces in the Biafran civil war (1967-69), he was commended for his bravery. Abacha was a leading activist in a series of coups from 1966 onwards. Rewarded for his support by the soldiers he helped to install, Abacha rose from the rank of lieutenant in 1966. In 1985 President Babangida appointed him chief of staff. He retained his position during the purges of army leadership in 1989. By 1992 he was a full general as well as defence minister and chair of the joint chiefs of staff. In October 1999, the son of Sani Abacha, Muhammad, was charged with the murder in 1996 of Kudirat Abiola, the wife of Moshood Abiola, the winner of the 1993 presidential elections, from whom Sani Abacha seized power.