Nigeria’s ex-Permanent
Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Matthew Mbu, has stated that
he was aware of the plan by the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha to
remove Nigeria’s Interim leader, Chief Ernest Shonekan, from office within three
months.
Mbu also wrote how Babaginda
spared Abacha because he (Abacha) saved him from two coups.
He revealed how he warned Ibrahim
Babaginda against handing over to Shonekan because Abacha was going to take
over.
This was made public through an
autobiography he left behind to be published by his family
The autobiography entitled,
“Dignity in Service,” is due for public presentation on Tuesday next week at
the Yar’Adua International Conference Centre, Abuja.
In the book, the late diplomat,
who was the Foreign Affairs Minister in the government, said he had hint of the
coup against Shonekan from the UN but did not specify who the actual person
was.
He wrote, “Thereafter, they gave
me hints that we would not last more than two to three months in office and
that they were going to sack us. I had hints about the eventual takeover by
General Abacha from the UN.
“When I came back, I packed all
my things as usual but I could neither get Shonekan to understand me, nor even
his boss, IBB.
“I said, ‘Don’t make the mistake
of handing over to Shonekan; if you do that, in three months, Abacha will take
over and Shonekan will be jettisoned from his seat.
“Exactly three months later, it
happened. IBB phoned me and said, ‘You said it!’ and I replied, ‘What did I
tell you?
“There was an intimate
relationship that existed between IBB and Abacha. IBB told me that Abacha had
done him favours in the past. He had saved him from two coups.
“Probably that explains why they
were so intimate because he was the only one who could come and interrupt him
at anytime and stay with him for hours.
“As the foreign affairs minister,
I had a lot to do and I could not wait until when IBB was through with Abacha,
other ministers could not do it but I could go there at anytime and I would
always ask IBB, ‘What is it between you and this man, haven’t you done enough
for him?’
“He would reply ‘He did so much
for me.'”
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