‘Abacha was a student of school of assasins’- The NATION, Lagos
Written by Adewale Adeoye
Saturday, 06 June 2009 22:24
Prof. Taiyewo Ogunade, a musicologist at the City University, New York was a close friend of
Late Abacha, he spoke of his experiences to Wle Adeoye of the Nation newspapers in Lagos
 
  General Sanni Abacha died exactly a decade ago, what does that mean to you?
     
 
 
To me, I feel I lost a friend, but then, as a democrat, I don’t lose too much because I believe in
democracy and then Abacha didn’t believe in that. That is the dividing point between the two of
us. I met him immediately Babangida took over in 1985. And they invited all of us to Kuru, near
Jos, most of us intellectuals, for a debate on Nigeria’s foreign policy. And we were put in a
famous hotel called Hotel Thirty. While the conference was on, the Department of Political
Science of the Ahmadu Bello University, led by Professor Bala Usman came with a document in
which they catalogued all the rich Nigerians. They called it from Balewa to Babangida and they
were distributing it to selected people.
 
  But, the security got angry and wanted to recover it while we were in the conference hall. That
was how I met Abacha. They were trying to struggle and take it from me and Abacha said,
‘leave him alone’. I never met him (Abacha) before, I didn’t know who he was. So, he gave me
protection and by the time I got it, he said well, are you going to drive with me to town? I never
even asked who he was. It was when we got to his car that I saw it was a military car.
Babangida was there and we were talking about Nigerian political affairs. So, he took me to
town. That was how I was able to escape with my two copies without them being confiscated
like others. And from then, we became friendly.
 
  I use to go to his office when I had the time and from there to his guest house. By the time we
would get to the gate of his guest house on Raymond Njoku, girls would be at the gate, as many
as twenty of them. When they see his car, all of them would stand up. As he is driving in, he
would bring down his glasses, point to about six or eight of them for security to allow them come
into the house. He is a person who likes women all the time. It was a daily routine that he does.
And so, when I wrote a musical on Cyprian Ekwensi’s ‘Passport of Mallam Ilia’ which I turned
into an opera, I needed a band to perform it. Abacha was able to give me a note to the army
band. So, I went to the army band and then, I started rehearsing with the Nigerian Army band
that played the music for me. But, then, Tunde Akogun was giving us so much trouble. He didn’t
want us to rehearse at the National Theatre. Each time we wanted to have rehearsal there, he
would turn us down. He was driving away my artistes. So, I went to Sani Abacha again that
Akogun keeps disturbing us. Abacha would say, ‘don’t worry, I would talk to them which he
would do’. When Fela Anikulapo Kuti finally came out of prison, I was doing the Fela musicals
and he heard that Fela was coming once in a while when we were rehearsing. So, he came to
meet Fela and they had a very wonderful rapport. For about two or three days, he was coming

‘Abacha was a student of school of assasins’- The NATION, Lagos
Written by Adewale Adeoye
Saturday, 06 June 2009 22:24
because Fela was coming there to rehearse. And finally, he gave me money to pay for the
theatre and do the musical. That was the last thing I did before I left Nigeria.
 
Can you give psychoanalysis of Abacha?
 
  You see, Abacha has a very reserved mentality. Abacha would listen to you; he would make
very little comments or none. But, therein, he has known what he wants to do. But, he is a very
jovial person who plays around with teasing you and doing everything. But, he is not an
outspoken person. Abacha never discussed Nigeria with anybody as far as I know. He never
discussed Nigerian politics, but he likes to discuss entertainment, films and what not. I’m
amazed that he ended up acquiring that kind of money that he did. But, I know from my own
judgment that being product of the ’College of Assassin’, that is what they are trained to do.
 
What is the history of that college?
 
  The college was established in the 1940s in Fort Benning, Georgia. It’s a big college. I think it’s
about 22 miles radius. And they have all kinds of things there. All the Latin American dictators
went through there. Like Argentina’s Pinochet, Panamas’ Noriega, most Vietnamese military
leaders went there, Kagame of Rwanda went there. I was there when Kagame graduated and
we became good friends. And the young Kabila went there. But he didn’t finish. I think he was a
year there before Collin Powell took him out and made him head of state in the Republic of
Congo. But Abacha went there.
 
Is he the only person that went there from Nigeria?
 
  I believe he is the only one. Bolaji Johnson went to the Rangers College in Indiana. He was
the first military person to go to America for military training. Abacha is the only one that went to
the Fort Benning School that I know.
 
What is the kind of training?
 
  They train them how to disorganise a whole country and become dictators. They train them
how to kill people. There was a series of twelve tapes made by Edward Kennedy that showed
what type of activities went on there. He was the one that got the American Congress to call it
the ‘College of Assassin.’ They teach you to fight lions barehanded, to fight crocodiles, so, you
become quite fearless. They show you lots of blood activities, so that shedding people’s blood
don’t move your emotions anymore.

‘Abacha was a student of school of assasins’- The NATION, Lagos
Written by Adewale Adeoye
Saturday, 06 June 2009 22:24
 
At what period in time did he attend the school?
 
  It must have been the early eighties because he was given the Grand Order of that school by
Collin Powell in 1986. They gave him a best student award. And we tackled Collin Powell
because he was a product of my school at the City University. And he said that he was a good
student. And I am amazed today I am reading in the papers that he said he warned him about
what he was doing. So, they were very good buddies. They related well.You and Abacha were
very friendly, when did it all turn around?
 
  I was out of the country when he became head of state. When Ken Saro-Wiwa was killed, I
lost confidence in him. He killed Ken Saro-Wiwa. For that, I don’t think I wanted to relate with
him. I knew Ken as a good friend and I didn’t feel comfortable that he should have been killed.
Abacha knew Ken well too. They were very good friends. So, it is not that he doesn’t know who
Ken Saro-Wiwa was. But, if it happened to Ken, it could happen to me.
 
Did you get close to any of his children, or family?
 
  No. Like I said, he has a routine when he leaves the military headquarters at 1:00pm. It is
either you see him at the office or at the guest house. By 11:00pm, he goes home to sleep. So,
his family is never in the guest house. They don’t come there at all. Himself, Jerry Useni,
Gwadabe and some other people are the ones always there.So, you were not surprised about
the story that he was killed by women.
 
  No. Even at my playhouse, we used to joke about it because when he comes for rehearsal, he
would be asking me, which of these girls I should take away. I would say, sir, these girls are
artistes. I cannot order anyone of them to go with you. One of my girls slapped him one day and
I was shocked. I don’t know what he did to the girl, but the girl smacked him. He must have
done something stupid to the girl.You said that Abacha and Babangida were all together….
 
  Yes, actually I knew two people before I knew Abacha. I knew Mamman Vasta and Babangida.
I knew them during the war. They were both colonels and I knew their wives. They were three
girls - Ada who became Ada Vasta, Maryam who became Maryam Babangida, and another girl
we knew as Chinyere. She became the famous Gloria Okon. She was married to Jeff Chadler a
Tiv who was a Lieutenant Colonel of Tiv extraction. He was the one who killed Nzeogwu when
Nzeogwu was captured at the Nsukka sector. They were bringing him to Kaduna but when he
heard, he went on the road and killed him. And he too was killed that night that he killed
Nzeogwu. Now, the wife, I knew her as Chinyere. The three of them (Babangida’s wife, Vasta’s
wife, and Chinyere) were staying at No. 27 Adeniji street in Surulere. So, when her husband
was killed, she started trading and going to London. Something happened and she was arrested
by the Customs for trying to take money out of the country. Mrs. Babangida had to intervene
and got Vasta to go there and deceive journalists that she died. And they took them to the Kano
mortuary and showed them the body of a dead woman.

‘Abacha was a student of school of assasins’- The NATION, Lagos
Written by Adewale Adeoye
Saturday, 06 June 2009 22:24
 
  How do I know this?
 
When Vasta was arrested for coup, Vasta refused to talk to interrogators because he was a
Major General. But, he said he would give his testimony at the trial. So, at his trial, he gave a
four hour testimony and made sure that the tape of that testimony was sent to me to take to his
wife. From that tape, we were able to get information that Gloria Okon did not die and that
Gloria Okon had just had a baby with somebody in England.
 
  Now, for you journalists, the aspect that will interest you is that Dele Giwa got to know that I
had the tape of Vasta’s testimony. So, he came to me and I loaned him the tape. He listened to
the tape and commissioned somebody in England to trace Gloria Okon. And fortunately for
them, Gloria Okon and Maryam Babangida were celebrating the child naming of Gloria Okon’s
baby. They got the pictures and Kayode Soyinka brought the pictures to Giwa in Lagos. Dele
Giwa then took the pictures and went to Babangida and said, ‘I want to be minister of
information or I will destroy you. These are pictures of your wife doing this with Gloria Okon.’
And so, they tricked him and got rid of him in 48 hours.
 
  Vasta testified for four hours and sent the tape to me. I was there the day he was killed. His
wife called me early in the morning and said they were going to move them and that I should go
to Kirikiri. Then, I was living in my house at Festac. And I took the waterside by the Vanguard
Newspapers. As I was arriving at Kirikiri, at about seven o’clock in the morning, I saw Black
Marias moving off. They told me, ‘that’s Vasta and his people. They just killed them.’ They shot
them at 6:00am. So, I followed the Black Marias in a taxi. By the time we got to Iyana Isolo, we
lost them. At that time, there was no okada. I knew they were going to Atan Cemetery. So,
when I got to Atan Cemetery, they had already buried them in a mass grave and threw acid on
them. Then, Tunji Abayomi, a Lieutenant Colonel who led the corpse there, drove back and
said, ‘where is Vasta’s watch?’. Vasta had given instructions that if they killed him, they should
send his watch to his wife so that his wife would know that he is dead. He had a Rolex watch.’
The attendants were relunctant to open up. So, he just said, line them up, and let me shoot all
of them. So, one of them threw the watch down. Then, another guy was trying to hide Martin
Luther’s chain, a gold chain that had the number of his bank account in a Swiss bank. So, he
threw the chain to my direction and I just put my foot on it and I was looking at them. So, the
guy took the watch and drove away and I took the chain. I went to Daily Times. Titus Soyombo
was the Evening Times editor. So, I told him that they have killed Vasta. He asked me, ‘are you
sure’? I said yes. He withdrew his paper and made the first headline, ‘Vasta would die today if
Babaginda does not intervene.’ Less than forty minutes after, the military came and started
ransacking the whole of The Times. So, we went opposite The Times where they sell food those
days and sat down there. That day, he sold about 400,000 copies of the paper because they
made five editions of the paper. So, when the government got to know that the newspaper was
in circulation, they sent Admiral Aikhomu to go on the air by 2:00pm to say that by 4:0pm today,
Vasta would be executed. Whereas, they had been executed in the morning.
 

‘Abacha was a student of school of assasins’- The NATION, Lagos
Written by Adewale Adeoye
Saturday, 06 June 2009 22:24
Is it true that he (Vasta) was IBB’s best friend when he (IBB) got married?
 
  Not only was he his best friend, IBB grew up in his father’s house. Now, he was the one who
christened one of IBB’s daughter. They are very, very close, because hardly would you see
Vasta without seeing Babangida. It is Abacha that I got close to later. But, with IBB and Vasta, I
knew them from the time Sir Harold Wilson (former British Prime Minister) came. The day
Adekunle killed the guy in the Delta, Isaac Boro. We went with the observer team to
Port-Harcourt. Isaac Boro was the leader of the group that liberated Port-Harcourt and then
declared Republic of the Niger Delta there. And then, Adekunle was taking. You know,
Adekunle was always stealing money then. He would come and blackmail Gowon. Gowon
would tell him to go to Central Bank and carry four or five lorries to Central Bank, load them with
money. Halfway, he would divert it back to Lagos, he would then take half to the front. So, the
British Prime Minister came on that day. We were on the observer team with Harold Wilson
when we got to Port-Harcourt. Boro did not allow the British team, so when Adekunle came, he
was so furious and then they fought for about thirty minutes before they captured him.

Why would he wanna blackmail a military head of state?

beystwin:

Your question also answers itself.

tunku:

America supporter all kinds of shit-heads when the Ussr was rolling high. I would say that this is fact.

They train them how to disorganise a whole country and become dictators. They train them
how to kill people. There was a series of twelve tapes made by Edward Kennedy that showed
what type of activities went on there. He was the one that got the American Congress to call it
the ‘College of Assassin.’ They teach you to fight lions barehanded, to fight crocodiles, so, you
become quite fearless. They show you lots of blood activities, so that shedding people’s blood
don’t move your emotions anymore.

beystwin:

Your question also answers itself.

nO IT does not. WHo in his right mind tries to blackmail a MILITARY leader who IMPOSED himself on the people??

beystwin:

My point exactly. I don't think Prof. Taiyewo Ogunade is telling the truth! I think he is trying to rewrite history. It's as if killing Dele Giwa is not enough. Now they want to tarnish his image beyond the grave. It's very sad.

moxamet:


What is the history of that college?

The college was established in the 1940s in Fort Benning, Georgia. It’s a big college. I think it’s
about 22 miles radius. And they have all kinds of things there. All the Latin American dictators
went through there. Like Argentina’s Pinochet, Panamas’ Noriega, most Vietnamese military
leaders went there, Kagame of Rwanda went there. I was there when Kagame graduated and
we became good friends. And the young Kabila went there. But he didn’t finish. I think he was a
year there before Collin Powell took him out and made him head of state in the Republic of
Congo. But Abacha went there.

Is he the only person that went there from Nigeria?

I believe he is the only one. Bolaji Johnson went to the Rangers College in Indiana. He was
the first military person to go to America for military training. Abacha is the only one that went to
the Fort Benning School that I know.

Afam:

Now, this is troubling. My late dad was sent to that school in 1978 as a Major in the Nigerian Army and this is the first time I am getting to read about what exactly they train them to do.

A lot of things are now making sense to me today.

I guess I will research more on this school if enough information is even available online and see if I can lay my hands on some documents I have come across in the past in his library.

Things are not usually what they seem and I am shocked at the description of that school.

gReenmAn:

I just googled "School Of Assassins" and came up with some astonishing results.

Number 1: The school actually exists!

Here's a cryptic analyses of the school and its alumni:

2. The School of the Americas (SOA) is a military training school for Latin American soldiers. SOA is an official program of the U.S. government, funded by the government and run by the U.S. Armed Forces since 1946. SOA graduates have long been implicated in terrorism, human rights violations, coercion, and atrocities committed against civilian populations across Latin America.

3. What do Col. Byron Lima Estrada of Guatemala, Lt. Josê Espinoza Guerra and General Juan Orlando Zepeda, both of El Salvador, and General Juan López Ortiz of Mexico have in common?

And what do Panama's Manuel Noriega, Argentina's Leopoldo Galtiere, Peru's Juan Velasco Alvarado, Ecuador's Guillermo Rodriguez, and Bolivia's Hugo Banzer have in common? They have all been dictators in their countries, and they were all trained at the School of the Americas. Because of them, and others, many people call the U.S. Army's School of the Americas the "School of Coups." They are all murderers. They were all trained at the School of the Americas. Because of them, and because of thousands of others like them, many people call U.S. Army's School of the Americas the "School of Assassins."

texazzpete:

Don't be naive. What are the odds that thousands of career army officers from South and Central American countries would be trained in a school and many of them would not turn out to be coup plotters/tyrants?

And NONE of them spend any time battling crocodiles or lions. Yet all these men retain their physique long into retirement. One look at the portly Abacha, and you get the feeling that this man is just pulling out this info from his ass.

beystwin:

Funny you should say that.
If you look at late Abacha's face closely you will not doubt anybody that claims that he had battled crocodiles and lions.  

The man telling the story seems to believe he is some immune being in all that. He so easily plays both sides and walks off with no scar

Don't be naive. What are the odds that thousands of career army officers from South and Central American countries would be trained in a school and many of them would not turn out to be coup plotters/tyrants?

emmydee:

this is very interesting o. i love this. the story is compact and am moved to accept it as true. Another milestone for sahara reporters.