<h4>How I Met My Husband</h4>
<h4></h4>
<p><strong><a href="https://openlife.ng/">OpenLife Nigeria</a> </strong>reports that behind every great leader is a story untold. On this day, 20th September 1943, in the ancient city of Kano, — General Sani Abacha was born.</p>
<p>He later rose from the dust of the North to sit at the helm of Nigeria’s affairs as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.</p>
<p>Had he lived, Abacha would have been 82 years old today, September 20, 2025.</p>
<p>In this rare and heartfelt narration, the wife of General Sani Abacha, Mrs Maryam Abacha, shares the beginning of their journey — how they first met, and how destiny intertwined their paths.</p>
<p><em><strong>“It was a long time ago. We were all in school and that was as far back as 1959. I was in primary school and he was in secondary school.</strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>&#8220;I went to Kaduna for some entertainment during the self government. That was where we met. Fortunately, my family knew his family . But we did know each other until we met in Kaduna,”</strong> </em>Mrs Abacha disclosed.</p>
<figure id="attachment_30392" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30392" style="width: 294px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="size-medium wp-image-30392" src="https://openlife.ng/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Abacha-294x300.jpg" alt="How I Met My Husband, General Sani Abacha In 1959---Maryam" width="294" height="300" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30392" class="wp-caption-text"><em><strong>General and Maryam Sani Abacha as young couple</strong></em></figcaption></figure>
<p>However, from the crowded classrooms of his youth, to the military barracks where discipline became his second skin, Abacha’s journey was not an ordinary one. His life reflected the spirit of a nation struggling for stability, identity, and progress.</p>
<p><strong>The Making of a Soldier</strong></p>
<p>By 1963, he had joined the Nigerian Army, beginning a career that would span over three decades. From the Nigerian civil war to every major coup in Nigeria’s turbulent history, Abacha was there — not always loved, but never ignored. His nickname, “the people&#8217;s general,” spoke of his place in history.</p>
<p><strong>Head of State, 1993–1998</strong></p>
<p>When he became Nigeria’s Head of State in 1993, he inherited a country on the edge of collapse. Though his years in power remain faced many challenges, one cannot deny the impact of his policies: stabilizing the naira, taming inflation, improving foreign reserves, and launching bold infrastructure projects that touched the lives of ordinary Nigerians.</p>
<p><strong>The Human Side</strong></p>
<p>Behind the uniform was also a family man — a husband and father. His wife, Maryam Abacha, stood by him and left her own mark on history through the Family Support Programme, which brought relief to women and children across Nigeria.</p>
<p><strong>Legacy Beyond Debate</strong></p>
<p>27 years after his passing, Sani Abacha remains one of the most discussed leaders in Nigeria’s history. To some, he was a strongman who ruled with iron discipline. To others, he was a builder whose achievements are still visible today. But to history, he is a figure who cannot be erased — a man who shaped the nation in ways that still echo.</p>
<p>Abacha&#8217;s seizure of power was the last successful coup d&#8217;état in Nigerian military history.</p>
<p><strong>Early life</strong></p>
<p>Abacha was born and brought up in Kano to a Kanuri family originally from present-day Borno State.</p>
<figure id="attachment_30394" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30394" style="width: 281px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="size-medium wp-image-30394" src="https://openlife.ng/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Abacha-2-e1758390018754-281x300.jpg" alt="How I Met My Husband, General Sani Abacha In 1959---Maryam" width="281" height="300" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30394" class="wp-caption-text"><em><strong>General Abacha and wife as young couple</strong></em></figcaption></figure>
<p>He attended the Nigerian Military Training College in Kaduna, and was commissioned in 1963 after he had attended the Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot, England.</p>
<p><strong>Military Career</strong></p>
<p>Abacha was definitely involved in all the military coups in Nigeria since July 1966 during his military career. In 1966, when he was still a Second Lieutenant with the 3rd Battalion in Kaduna, he took part in the July 1966 Nigerian counter-coup from the conceptual stage.</p>
<p>He could well have been a participant in the Lagos or Abeokuta phases of the coup the previous January as well. In 1969, he fought during the Nigerian Civil War as a platoon and battalion commander. He later became commander of the 2nd Infantry Division in 1975.</p>
<p>In 1983, Abacha was general officer commanding of the 2nd Mechanised Division, and was appointed a member of the Supreme Military Council.</p>
<p>In the same year, Abacha played a prominent role in the 1983 Nigerian coup d&#8217;état which brought General Muhammadu Buhari to power; and the 1985 Nigerian coup d&#8217;état which removed Buhari and brought General Ibrahim Babangida to power.</p>
<p>When General Ibrahim Babangida was named President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1985, Abacha was named Chief of Army Staff. He was later appointed Minister of Defence in 1990.</p>
<figure id="attachment_30393" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30393" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="size-medium wp-image-30393" src="https://openlife.ng/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Abacha-1-e1758390121836-300x216.jpg" alt="How I Met My Husband, General Sani Abacha In 1959---Maryam" width="300" height="216" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30393" class="wp-caption-text"><em><strong>Young Maryam Abacha</strong></em></figcaption></figure>
<p>Abacha served as Chief of Army Staff from 1985 to 1990, as Chief of Defence Staff from 1990 to 1993, and as Minister of Defence. Abacha is noted for having been the first Nigerian Army officer to attain the rank of general without skipping a single rank.</p>
<p><strong>Seizure of Power</strong></p>
<p>Abacha was the defence minister and most senior official within the military hierarchy during the crisis of the Third Republic. He orchestrated the coup d&#8217;état of 1993 which overthrew the Interim National Government of Ernest Shonekan. In his nationwide broadcast, Abacha portrayed the overthrow as an act of stability brought about through the socio-political uncertainties caused by the 1993 presidential election.</p>
<p><strong>Head of State</strong></p>
<p>Abacha ruled as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from 1993 to 1998. In September 1994, he issued a decree that placed his government above the jurisdiction of the courts effectively giving him absolute power. Another decree gave him the right to detain anyone for up to three months without trial. He further abrogated Decree 691 of 1993.</p>
<p><strong>Regime Maintenance</strong></p>
<p>Abacha assembled a personal security force of 3,000 men trained in North Korea. Abacha&#8217;s chief security officer Hamza al-Mustapha had an iron grip on the apparatus of military security. The Nigeria Police Force underwent a large-scale retraining. The state cracked down ruthlessly on criminals and dissidents, the National Democratic Coalition was charged with responsibility for a number of bombings across the country, and several of its members were arrested.</p>
<p>When Moshood Abiola proclaimed himself president, he was jailed for treason and subsequently died in custody. Also, former military ruler Olusegun Obasanjo was jailed for treason and accused of plotting a coup together with General Oladipo Diya.</p>
<figure id="attachment_30395" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30395" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="size-medium wp-image-30395" src="https://openlife.ng/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Abacha-3-e1758390227469-300x210.jpg" alt="How I Met My Husband, General Sani Abacha In 1959---Maryam" width="300" height="210" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-30395" class="wp-caption-text"><em>Young Sani Abacha</em></figcaption></figure>
<p><strong>National Economy</strong></p>
<p>Abacha&#8217;s administration oversaw an increase in the country&#8217;s foreign exchange reserves from $494 million in 1993 to $9.6 billion by the middle of 1997, and reduced the external debt of Nigeria from $36 billion in 1993 to $27 billion by 1997. Abacha also constructed between 25 and 100 km of urban road in major cities such as Kano, Gusau, Benin, Funtua, Zaria, Enugu, Kaduna, Aba, Lagos, Lokoja and Port Harcourt.</p>
<p>Abacha brought the privatisation programs of the Ibrahim Babangida administration to a halt, reduced an inflation rate of 54% inherited from Ernest Shonekan to 8.5% between 1993 and 1998, all while the nation&#8217;s primary commodity, oil was at an average of $15 per barrel. <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/">GDP growth</a>, despite being estimated to be higher than the 2.2% growth in 1995, was largely limited to the petroleum sector.</p>
<p><strong>State Creation</strong></p>
<p>General Sani Abacha created six states in Nigeria on October 1, 1996, bringing the total to 36. The states created were Ebonyi (from Abia and Enugu), Bayelsa (from Rivers), Nasarawa (from Plateau), Zamfara (from Sokoto), Gombe (from Bauchi), and Ekiti (from Ondo).</p>
<p><strong>The six states created by Sani Abacha&#8217;s regime are:</strong></p>
<p>• Ebonyi State: Formed from parts of Abia and Enugu States.<br />
• Bayelsa State: Carved out of Rivers State.</p>
<p>• Nasarawa State: Created from Plateau State.<br />
• Zamfara State: Created from Sokoto State.<br />
• Gombe State: Created from Bauchi State.<br />
• Ekiti State: Carved out of Ondo State.</p>
<p> ;</p>

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