On the morning of June 8, 1998, Nigeria stood at the edge of uncertainty. General Sani Abacha, the iron-fisted military ruler who had held the nation in a vice grip for five years, was dead. But for one man — General Abdulsalami Abubakar — the real drama was only just beginning.
In his explosive new autobiography, Call of Duty, released to mark his 84th birthday, the former Head of State has pulled back the curtain on one of the most tense and mysterious hours in Nigeria’s recent history. What he revealed is a story straight out of a political thriller.
That fateful morning, Abdulsalami received an urgent early call: Abacha wanted to see him immediately at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. Without hesitation, he made his way there, expecting a routine high-level meeting with the Head of State.
But upon arrival, something felt off.
Instead of being ushered into Abacha’s presence, Abdulsalami was led into a room and left there. Minutes turned into an hour. The door, he soon discovered, had been locked from the outside. No explanation. No one to talk to. Just silence and growing tension.
He was not alone. Another senior officer was also confined with him. For over an hour, the two men remained in the locked room, completely in the dark about what was happening just metres away.
Then came the shocking revelation.
When the door finally opened, Abdulsalami was informed that General Sani Abacha was dead.
In the autobiography, he recounts the moment with raw honesty: “I was shocked.” He immediately requested to see Abacha’s body and later offered prayers for the late leader.
What followed was a swift and carefully managed transition. Within 24 hours, General Abdulsalami Abubakar was named Nigeria’s new Head of State. His brief 11-month reign would later be remembered for restoring some stability, releasing political prisoners, and successfully handing over power to a civilian government led by Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 — paving the way for the Fourth Republic.
The locked-room episode has raised fresh questions about the power play, suspicion, and high-stakes manoeuvring that took place in the immediate hours after Abacha’s death. Who gave the order to lock him in? Was it a precautionary measure amid fears of a counter-coup? Or part of a larger succession strategy?
Abdulsalami’s revelation adds another layer to the enduring mystery surrounding Abacha’s sudden death and the tense transition that followed. Decades later, the story continues to fascinate Nigerians, reminding us how fragile power can be — and how quickly the wheels of history can turn behind closed (and locked) doors.
Source: General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s autobiography *Call of Duty* (as reported by TheCable and other major outlets).
What do you think about this revelation? Was the locked room a security measure or something more calculated? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
