How do I start, telling you about my rare encounter with the former first lady of Federal Republic of Nigeria, Hajia (Dr.) Maryam Abacha last week Friday, 13th of September, 2019 in Abuja, the Federal Capital City of Nigeria?.
It is an interesting story, which will thrill you to the last stretch.
It was the most unprepared and unplanned trip I ever embarked upon as the notice was quite short.
The reason is not far-fetched; Mrs. Abacha is rare personality specie for interviews. She rarely grants one. Even the biggest of the big actors of our celebrity journalism industry who tried in the past can hardly lay hands on getting her talking. It is the most difficult task for a journalist to do, especially a Nigerian journalist!
To get this Kanuri born beauty to grant an interview is like trying to get cold water off a red-hot desert. Mrs. Abacha, after the death of her powerful husband, General Sani Mohammed Abacha on Monday June 8, 1998 has lived an almost ascetic lifestyle with the entire media family in Nigeria, especially the south west media. How do you expect a woman whose husband is daily demonized by the local media to be affable with same entity?
In the history of Nigeria, her own family is the most harassed in recent times.
Of course, the standoff decision to be detached from the local media has not overturn her personality as an unassuming woman living a humble communal lifestyle with people, especially the ordinary folks. There is no time one visits either her Gidado, Nasarawa GRA home, Kano, or Nelson Mandela Street, Asokoro, Abuja home that you won’t find a mix of the affluent and the very poor present.
The former, to pay homage to ‘Ina’ as she is fondly called; while the later is part of citizen index who rely on Mrs. Abacha for one favor or the other. The poor and vulnerable are always found in the abode of Mrs. Abacha, and she never shuns them off.
Beyond her benevolence to the poor, and beyond the ‘fear’ attached to ‘The Abacha Family’, the matriarch of the family is a statement of elegance, grace and charm!
The last 21 years without her husband must have been a peat bog of faith and fear. They represent to her both her highest and lowest points in life. Looking into her face closely, you clearly see the shock and pain that she beams at the world. But despite all the odds life threw at her like a broken egg shell, Mrs. Abacha is brave. Her carriage remains stately and elegant!
I must confess to the rare grace of God, that I have been able to interview Mrs. Abacha three times in my over 20 year’s career. But those three times never came cheap, as it was strictly by the divine grace of God.
My first encounter with her was in Kano city in the year of our Lord, 2007.
Let me tell you the full story; I was the Society Correspondent for National Mirror Newspaper at the time (before the lousy Jimoh Ibrahim bought the newspaper from my former employer). My Publisher at the time, Prince Emeka Obasi called for an editorial meeting where he informed us that Mrs. Abacha was going to be 60 on March 10, 2007.
Everyone agreed that our newly employed woman editor, one Mrs. Victoria Okere should go to Kano and cover the event. But my publisher over-ruled the decision; he ordered by saying “Asabe will go” (referring to me) “Asabe has a way of getting people to talk”.
Two years earlier, precisely on Monday, January 3, 2005, I had single handedly traveled down to Abuja to interview the then serving Federal Capital territory minister, Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai inside his Life Camp, Ministers’ Quarters, Abuja home over dinner.
So, I was not surprised that my publisher reposed such confidence in me. But Mrs. Abacha is not a small fry. However, I was determined to get her, no matter how bad the weather is.
Getting to Kano, I noticed the woman had invited only two media houses, Ovation International Magazine and Bisi Olatilo Show (BOS), two prominent Nigerian media establishments. But I told myself, ‘you must get the interview’. I had flown into Kano in a Bellview Air Boeing 727 and checked into a 3-star hotel before moving down to Gidado Road.
On getting there, I noticed cold attitude from a colleague working with the magazine. But I decided to shun that and forced myself on them. Once the scion of the family, Mohammed Abacha arrived, I tried greeting him and his Body Guards pushed me off, but I wasn’t deterred.
That day was full of drama but the divine hand of God intervened. I will not like to reveal some of the little occurrences God used to place me at a strategic position during the struggle to interview Mrs. Abacha.
The event held in the later part of the evening with the presence of former Ghanaian First Lady, Nana Konadu Rawlings, former Nigeria’s minister for women affairs, Mrs. Hajo Sani and Mrs. Jamila Abubakar, one of the wives of the then Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
It was that same weekend that Atiku Abubakar broke his toe during a private gym exercise inside his Abuja home, the news met us all in Kano.
The event was chaired by former Federal Capital Territory minister and her late husband’s ally, Gen. Jeremiah Useni (J-Boy). For Gen. Useni, it was like two cutting four, he was a widower who just lost his wife at the time, to a terrible plane crash (a wife and a son) while Mrs. Abacha too had lost a husband and a son at a distant interval.
The event was grand, it ended at 2 am, and my magazine colleague advised that we should all return to our respective hotels, that he had gotten words from the celebrant’s handlers that Mrs. Abacha will open up to us early morning, Sunday, March 11. I was glad; at least, I will get ‘the interview’.
But I was quite wrong, by 8 am, I got a phone call from this same guy, I taught he wanted to inform me that the interview has been fixed and when or where. But he asked “Gbenga, ibo l’owa?” (Gbenga, where are you?). I answered that I was still on bed. He charged at me, “Why are you not here at the airport”. I was shocked.
Firstly, he was not the one who brought me to Kano. Secondly, he was not to be responsible for my flight ticket back to Lagos. Why the query?
He went ahead to tell me how he tried calling me around 3 am, that the interview later took place and that since my phone didn’t go, I must have missed out. But beyond that, he kept charging me to hurry up and dash to the airport as the aircraft to Lagos was about leaving and I must make it to Lagos. He called me four times consistently.
With that, I sensed intrigue and what I termed low level diplomatic witchcraft. This native Yoruba guy wanted me out of Kano at all cost, and he alone understood the game he was playing. But unknown to him, my gut feeling was stand-by.
I got up my bed, looked into the wall placed mirror in my hotel room and told my face “YOU MUST GET THE INTERVIEW”.
Another lady I learnt was Kano correspondent for the magazine equally called, trying to persuade me to leave my hotel room to join them at the airport but I told all of them to wait for me.
It was there and then, I began to work my phone. Unknown to them, during one of their skirmishes, a day earlier, I had miraculously gotten the phone contact of one of Her Excellency’s aides, and a very influential one for that matter.
I put a call to Mr. Ossai, a very brilliant and innovative security business expert; I told him how I got a lasting order from my boss in Lagos not to just cover the event but to equally get an exclusive interview with the celebrant. Initially, he felt reluctant; he must have wondered how I got his phone number.
I said “Sir, it is either I get this interview or I get sacked”. He initially proved stubborn, as he kept asking me to call back in 20 minutes.
I was running out of time, and my check out time was nearby, and my budget was equally bad. I put another call to him but this time, he seemed uncomfortable. “Gbenga, stop calling me, let me do the calling; I will call you if Her Excellency’s schedule permits”.
I knew it was impossible for him to do so. So, I kept on calling him on both his MTN and V-Mobile lines. How I got them, he wouldn’t know till date.
At a time, he became fatigued; “Young man, where are you?”, I told him I was in my hotel room. He asked that I come down to Gidado Road. And the race began. I was there in a jiffy. On getting there, I was told Mr. Ossai just left. No one had an idea where he went. His phone rang endlessly and no pick!
With my travelling bag, I sat at the security post, sitting and watching the team of military security personnel welcoming and biding guests off the house. I was there for more than an hour, in fact the lady who works with the magazine later came around (after escorting her colleagues off to Lagos), she met me sitting and asked why I didn’t make it down to the airport, and why sitting at the gate?
I simply told her not to worry, that I was ok, and was only there to meet a friend. She walked away leaving me to my fate.
Minutes later, Mr. Ossai’s phone went through and he asked for my location? I told him “At the gate”. He ordered that I take a cab and come down to Mogajin Rumfa Road, Mohammed Abacha’s residence in Kano. I did.
On getting there, he appeared to me at the gate, and gave me a directive to Neima Suites, an upscale Guest House in Nasarawa GRA to meet one Mr. Ebere Young, a former NTA executive who compered the event the previous night. He said he was going to inform Mr. Young of my presence, as some foreign journalists from South Africa were billed to interview Her Excellency by 5 pm same day. He figured that I could join the team.
I razed down to the Guest house and once the receptionist made a call to Mr. Young’s room, he held the receiver and faced me; “Are you the driver from Mrs. Abacha’s residence?” I quickly said “Yes, I am the driver”. With that, he gave me clearance to Mr. Ebere Young’s room.
On knocking the door, he opened but was baffled to see a young man with a boyish face “But you said you are the driver….”. I quickly stopped him with my response. I told him I am from Mr. Ossai and only sold the ‘driver’ narrative to get to him first as I figured Mr. Ossai might forget to inform him of my arrival.
Truth was that Mr. Ossai either forgot to tell him about my coming or was expecting me to get there, see him first and make him clarify. I think it was a complex and spider-web dilemma the two gentle men found themselves in.
With a mix of confusion and half belief written on his face, the lanky and handsome ex-NTA, ex-DBN buff allowed me take a seat in his room. I told him my predicament, and why I needed the interview. He tried to understand my plight but you could see confusion and distress written all over him.
The South African journalists later joined us (two guys); an hour later the driver, an elderly Hausa man joined and we all boarded a white bus to Gidado Road, the residence of the Abachas.
On getting down inside 8, Gidado Road, the scion of the family, Mohammed Abacha was first to welcome us. He shook everyone’s hand but on getting to me, he shook and asked for my name. I told him, and there and then another series of drama began.
He was particularly shocked with my name. When I told him my dad hails from Kogi, he said “Your name is alien to Kogi”. I gave more information about myself but it appeared I was not in the picture, and the family needed to grill the hell out of ‘this mystery journalist from Lagos’
We were later joined by Abba Abacha, second son and Zainab Dalhatu (Now Hajia Zainab Lado) first daughter of the family. Everyone asked all sorts of questions and I kept the pace as I answered. Yeah, we were fully in the house and I was faced with my desired reality but the task of assimilation was tough.
I was totally quizzed as I struggled to make history, interviewing Mrs. Abacha for the first time. Let me save you other dramas that took place before the miracle happened.
By 7pm, after the Maghrib (sunset) prayer, Dr. Mrs. Maryam Abacha was seated before me, with the two South African journalists and history was made.
The Interview was published in our March 17, 2007 edition of Saturday Mirror. I will keep other details of that rare trip, coupled with the benevolent role Mr. Ebere Young played in my safe return to Lagos on Monday, March 12, 2007 till another day.
The following year, 2008, I was fully on ground in Kano to cover the 10th year anniversary of General Sani Abacha coupled with a football match in his honor amidst other activities. The event was attended by three former heads of state, General Ibrahim Babangida, General Abdulsalami Abubabakar & General Muhammadu Buhari.
I later met this great woman in Abuja the following month of July 2008 as a former colleague working with Ben TV, London, made request to interview her based on her husband’s 10th Year anniversary.
We arrived her Abuja home that fateful friday afternoon, and behold, she went into the kitchen and humbly made lunch for us. That is the other side of the woman many will never know. She is very hospitable and believe this, jovial to a fault.
But I will never know if Ben TV used the interview or not (It was exclusive though) as my friend complained bitterly about gratification etc. A story for another day!
There are many sides to Mrs. Abacha that many Nigerians won’t understand in hundred years to come. Besides her elegant carriage, she is very influential and trust me she is politically influential.
Joke with her political astuteness at your own peril.
I remember after we finished interviewing her with my Ben TV friend in July 2008, I casually asked that we were looking for an opportunity to interview the then candidate of CPC, General Muhammadu Buhari; and instantly before our very eyes, she put a call to the General who was in Kaduna at the time. The next day, we headed to Kaduna and by the third day, we interviewed General Buhari at his GRA, Kaduna office.
Just by a phone call, Mrs. Abacha made us meet and interview General Buhari at a very short notice.
Today, same General Muhammadu Buhari is Head of State and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
So, last year, 2018, I figured that the Abachas will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their father. We made calls and proposal to the family, but we weren’t so lucky. We made several calls and up to a year, we didn’t stop our intention to basically visit the family and ask how has it been 20 years without their patriarch, and secondly, how have they been handling event around the name of the late General?
Of course, lots of waters have gone down the drain, but this intriguing clan—The Abacha Family had a different philosophy. The 20th anniversary was a low key event.
Until last week, when a Nigerian based NGO gave a posthumous award to the late General and his wife, did we get the rare chance to meet Hajiya (Dr.) Maryam Abacha once again, in her splendid regalia!
In my next post titled “ENCOUNTER WITH THE ABACHA FAMILY” I will give more details on how we won the encounter.
I gave Dr. Maryam Abacha copies of the book “Pulling Nigeria off the Brinks (The Rescue Imperatives)” and “Restructuring to Save Nigeria from Post-Oil Disintegration” by former minister of Science and Technology, Major General Sam Ifeanyichukwu Momah (CFR).
Funny enough, Major General (Dr.) Sam Momah (Ph-D) a pioneer commandant of the National War College, Abuja, served under General Sani Abacha as Minister of Science & Technology, and was retained by his successor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar who gave him the revered Commander of the Federal Republic (MFR) national honor.
Subscribe to Asabe Afrika TV (Our YouTube channel) to watch the full interview of Hajiya (Dr.) Maryam Abacha after this time out.
Stay tuned!
