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Sani Abacha
Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who ruled as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last successful coup d'etat in the military history of Nigeria. He was the Chief of Army Staff between 1985 to 1990; Chief of Defence Staff between 1990 to 1993; and Minister of Defence. Abacha became the first Nigerian Army officer to attain the rank of a full military general without skipping a single rank. His rule saw the achievement of several economic feats and also recorded human rights abuses and several political assassinations. He has been dubbed a kleptocrat and a dictator by several modern commentators. Early life Abacha was born and brought up in Kano. 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. Military career Abach ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General (Nigeria)
General (or full general to distinguish it from the lower general officer ranks) is the highest rank achievable by serving officers of the Nigerian Army. It ranks above Lieutenant-general (Nigeria), lieutenant-general and is subordinate to the rank of Field marshal (Nigeria), field marshal, which is only awarded as an honorary rank to the incumbent president of Nigeria in his capacity as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. The rank of general has a NATO-code of OF-9, and is a four-star rank. It is equivalent to a Admiral (Nigerian Navy), full admiral in the Nigerian Navy or an air chief marshal in the Nigerian Air Force. The rank of full general is not always given; this rank is usually held by the Chief of the Defence Staff (Nigeria), Chief of the Defence Staff (if the chief is appointed from the army and not from the navy or the air force). Officers holding the ranks of lieutenant-general, Major-general (Nigeria), major-general and brigadier-general may ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Nigeria
Colonial Nigeria was ruled by the British Empire from the mid-nineteenth century until 1960 when Nigeria achieved independence. British influence in the region began with the prohibition of slave trade to British subjects in 1807. Britain annexed Lagos in 1861 and established the Oil River Protectorate in 1884. British influence in the Niger area increased gradually over the 19th century, but Britain did not effectively occupy the area until 1885. Other European powers acknowledged Britain's dominance over the area in the 1885 Berlin Conference. From 1886 to 1899, much of the country was ruled by the Royal Niger Company, authorised by charter, and governed by George Taubman Goldie. In 1900, the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and Northern Nigeria Protectorate passed from company hands to the Crown. At the urging of Governor Frederick Lugard, the two territories were amalgamated as the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, while maintaining considerable regional autonomy among ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Coups In Nigeria
Since Nigerian independence in 1960, there have been five military coup d'états in Nigeria. Between 1966 and 1999, Nigeria was ruled by a military government without interruption, apart from a short-lived return to democracy under the Second Nigerian Republic of 1979 to 1983. However, the most recent coup occurred in 1993, and there have been no significant further attempts under the Fourth Nigerian Republic, which restored multi-party democracy in 1999. List of coups and coup attempts January 1966 coup On 15 January 1966, a group of young military officers overthrew Nigeria's government, ending the short-lived First Nigerian Republic. The officers who staged the coup were mostly Igbo Christian southerners, led by Kaduna Nzeogwu, and they assassinated several northerners, including Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa, Northern Region Premier Ahmadu Bello, Western Region Premier Ladoke Akintola, finance minister Festus Okotie-Eboh, and the four highest-ranking northern militar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1993 Nigerian Coup D'état
The 1993 Nigerian coup d'état was a bloodless military coup which took place in Nigeria on 17 November 1993 when the Armed Forces, headed by Defence Minister General Sani Abacha, forced Interim President Chief Ernest Shonekan to resign. Shonekan assumed the interim presidency on 26 August 1993, succeeding General Ibrahim Babangida as head of state, in the aftermath of Babangida's annulment of the 12 June 1993 presidential election. In a nationwide broadcast following the coup, Abacha cited the stagnant nature of Shonekan's government, and his inability to manage the democratic process in the country as a cause of his resignation. In September 1994, Abacha 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. Abacha stayed in power until his death on 8 June 1998 at the presidential complex (Aso Villa) in Abuja. He was succeeded by the Chief ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea to the south in the Atlantic Ocean. It covers an area of , and with a population of over 225 million, it is the most populous country in Africa, and the world's sixth-most populous country. Nigeria borders Niger in the north, Chad in the northeast, Cameroon in the east, and Benin in the west. Nigeria is a federal republic comprising of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where the capital, Abuja, is located. The largest city in Nigeria is Lagos, one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world and the second-largest in Africa. Nigeria has been home to several indigenous pre-colonial states and kingdoms since the second millennium BC, with the Nok civilization in the 15th century BC, marking the first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mohammed Abacha
Mohammed Abacha is the eldest surviving son of Nigeria's former ''military ruler'', the late general Sani Abacha, and his wife Maryam Abacha. Money laundering During his father's military rule, Mohammed Abacha was involved in looting the government. A preliminary report published by the Abdulsalam Abubakar transitional government in November 1998 described the process. Sani Abacha told his National Security Adviser Ismaila Gwarzo to provide fake funding requests, which Abacha approved. The funds were usually sent in cash or travellers' cheques by the Central Bank of Nigeria to Gwarzo Kuncnoni, who took them to Abacha's house. Mohammed Abacha then arranged to launder the money to offshore accounts. An estimated $1.4 billion in cash was delivered in this way. Legacy Like his father and mother, Mohammed Abacha has been referenced in 419 scams. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Liberian Civil War
The First Liberian Civil War lasted from 1989 to 1997. President Samuel Doe had established a regime in 1980 but totalitarianism and corruption led to unpopularity and the withdrawal of support from the United States by the late 1980s. The National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) led by Charles Taylor invaded Liberia from the Ivory Coast to overthrow Doe in December 1989 and gained control over most of the country within a year. Doe was captured and executed by the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), a splinter faction of the NPFL led by Prince Johnson, in September 1990. The NPFL and INPFL fought each other for control of the capital Monrovia and against the Armed Forces of Liberia and pro-Doe United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy. Peace negotiations and foreign involvement led to a ceasefire in 1995 but fighting continued until a peace agreement between the main factions in August 1996. Taylor was elected President of Liberia following the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nigerian Civil War
The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence from Nigeria in 1967. Nigeria was led by General Yakubu Gowon, while Biafra was led by Lieutenant Colonel C. Odumegwu Ojukwu, Chukwuemeka "Emeka" Odumegwu Ojukwu. Biafra represented the nationalist aspirations of the Igbo people, Igbo ethnic group, whose leadership felt they could no longer coexist with the Federal government of Nigeria, federal government dominated by the interests of the Muslim Hausa-Fulanis of Northern Nigeria. The conflict resulted from political, economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions which preceded the United Kingdom's formal decolonization of Nigeria from 1960 to 1963. Immediate causes of the war in 1966 included 1966 Nigerian coup d'état, a military coup, 1966 Nigerian counter-coup, a counter-coup, and 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
