Former military president Ibrahim Babangida disclosed that his longtime friend and colleague, Sani Abacha, had planned a violent coup against him.
Babangida shared this revelation in his book, *”A Journey in Service”*, which was launched at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja on Thursday.
The event saw the presence of former presidents, military leaders, statesmen, business magnates, and diplomats from Nigeria and abroad.
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Babangida attributed the opposition to the transfer of power to a civilian government to Abacha, who later overthrew the transitional government led by Ernest Shonekan.
“In this regard, other fundamental questions have arisen in my handling of General Abacha and the June 12 elections. If, as I said earlier, Abacha was a clog in the wheel of the transition to civil rule process and had plotted to remove me as President 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? Why didn’t we ‘neutralise’ the other known opposition forces to the transition process? Why didn’t we take prompt action against the ABN for interfering with the Transition process, in violation of Decree 19, which made it a criminal offence to hinder the transition?
“The answers to some of these questions are implicit in earlier sections of this chapter. No, there was no pact between Abacha and me. Yes, there were moments when my safety and the safety of all those dear to me were of concern. But the situation was so unstable
that any wrong move on my part could have resulted in bloodletting.
“As I stated above, the military was so factionalised 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, in retrospect) that Abacha would fall in line and back the transition process. As humans, we have instincts. But we also have the innate ability to override them. In my judgement of Abacha, I allowed my instincts, and painfully so, to take a backseat,” Mr Babangida wrote in the book.
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