My New Black Magazine - NYU Black Renaissance Noire BRN-FALL-206 ISSUE RELEASE | Page 194

I then proceeded to deal with
the questions of who were these
“they” and for what reasons would
they want to kill the President
and the President-Elect if the
June 12 election were allowed to
go forward. He named them in
military and in ethnic categories:
Sani (meaning General Sani
Abacha)9 is opposed to a
return to civilian rule. Sani
cannot stand the idea of Chief
Abiola, a Yoruba, becoming
his Commander-in-Chief at
all; Sani seems to have the
ears of the Northern leaders
that no Southerner especially
from the Southwest should
become the President of this
country. Sani seems to
rally the Northern Elders to
confront me on the matter.
He is winning; the Sultan and
the Northern leaders are of
this frame of mind. Where do
I go from here? They do not
trust me. Without Sani, I will
not be alive today; without
the North, I would not have
become an officer in the
Nigerian Army and now the
President of Nigeria.

I don’t want to appear
ungrateful to Sani; he may
not be bright upstairs but
he knows how to overthrow
governments and overpower
coup plotters. He saw to my
coming to office in 1985 and
to my protection in the many
coups I faced in the past,
especially the Orkar coup
of 1990 where he saved me
and my family including my
infant daughter.”
He went on,
Sani, you know, risked his life
to get me into office in 1983
and 1985; if he says that he
does not want Chief Abiola,
I will not force Chief Abiola
on him. I just have to end the
whole matter and go back to
the place of my birth. That is
the way I feel now.
He also named Lt. General
Dogonyaro10 and Brigadier
General David Mark 11 who were
too close to him and who would
want the issue resolved within the
shortest possible time. In fact, he
quoted David Mark as saying:
I’d shoot Chief Abiola the
day nec pronounces him the
elected President.

I wish I can just call the “boys”
and hand over to David Mark
and pack my luggage and go
to Minna.
I thought this was strange; but
that was how his mind was
working as of that date and time
(1:00 pm on June 21, 1993).
...
I decided to probe further. I asked:
“Is this all the ‘they?’ Are there still
more?” To which he said, “Yes.”
GEO-ETHNIC FACTOR
The next set of people unhappy
about June 12 was represented by
the then Sultan of Sokoto who
warned him not to undo the many
years of Sardauna’s achievement
for the North. The Sultan told
him that the election of Chief
MKO Abiola, whom he liked as
a person and as a fellow Muslim,
would enable the Yoruba to reverse
the gains v