ABUJA — Former Nigerian military president Ibrahim Babangida has disclosed that his longtime ally, Gen. Sani Abacha, planned a violent coup to remove him from power.
Mr. Babangida made the revelation in his newly launched book, A Journey in Service, unveiled at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja on Thursday. The event drew former presidents, military leaders, diplomats, and captains of industry from Nigeria and beyond.
“In this regard, other fundamental questions have arisen in my handling of General Abacha and the June 12 elections,” Babangida wrote. “If Abacha was a clog in the wheel of the transition to civil rule process and had plotted to remove me violently, why didn’t we retire him to forestall the problems that later emerged? Was there a pact between Abacha and me that he would succeed me? Was I afraid of him, fearful for my life?”
Mr. Babangida, who annulled the June 12, 1993, presidential election, widely believed to have been won by Moshood Abiola, blamed Abacha for opposing the transition to civilian rule. Abacha later overthrew the interim government of Ernest Shonekan in 1993.
“The military was so factionalized that any move against General Abacha at that time would have, to put it mildly, been problematic. So, I kept hoping—again, naively, it seems now—that Abacha would fall in line and back the transition process,” he admitted.
Babangida’s memoir offers a rare glimpse into the inner workings of Nigeria’s military leadership during a tumultuous political era.
