Sani Abacha General Sani Abacha ( 20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998 ) was a Nigerian military dictator and politician . He was the " de facto " President of Nigeria from 1993 to 1998 . His regime was tied to human rights violations and allegations of corruption . Early life and education . A Kanuri from Borno by tribe , Abacha was born and brought up in Kano , Nigeria . He attended the Nigerian Military Training College and Mons Officer Cadet School before being commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in 1963 . Military career . Abacha was commissioned in 1963 , after he had attended the Mons Defence Officers cadet Training College in Aldershot , England . Before then , he had attended the Nigerian Military Training College in Kaduna . He took part in the countercoup of July 1966 , from the conceptual stage , and may have been a participant in the Lagos or Abeokuta phases of the January 1966 coup . He was also a prominent figure in three " coup d ' etats " of later decades , the first two of which brought and removed General Muhammadu Buhari from power in 1983 . When General Ibrahim Babangida was named President and Commander - in - Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1985 , Abacha was named Chief of Army Staff . He was later appointed Minister of Defence in 1990 . Abacha took over power from the interim government of Chief Ernest Shonekan on November 17 , 1993 . Shonekan was installed as head of the Interim National Government by General Ibrahim Babangida after his annulment of the 12 June 1993 elections ( won by Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola ) . The annulment caused a massive popular uproar , which in turn caused untold hardship for a lot of Nigerians . Human rights abuses . On 6 September 1994 , Abacha declared that his regime had absolute power , placing his government above the jurisdiction of the courts . He did , however , promise to hand the government over to civilians in 1998 . Abacha ' s government was accused of human rights abuses , especially after the hanging of Ogoni activist Ken Saro - Wiwa by the Oputa Commission ( only one of several executions of Ogoni activists opposed to the exploitation of Nigerian resources by the multinational petroleum company , Royal Dutch Shell Group ) ; Abiola and Olusegun Obasanjo were jailed for treason , and Wole Soyinka charged in absentia with treason . His regime suffered stiff opposition internally and externally by pro - democracy activists who made the regime unpopular , and responded by banning political activity in general and by controlling the press in particular ; a significant fraction of the military was purged . Abacha surrounded himself with approximately 3 , 000 armed men loyal to him . His government compared to other Nigerian governments was characterised by an inconsistent foreign policy : He supported the Economic Community of West African States and sent Nigerian troops to Liberia and Sierra Leone to restore democracy to those countries while denying it at home . Abacha scoffed at the threat of economic sanctions on account of the world ' s dependence on petroleum , of which Nigeria is a major producer . Despite being repeatedly condemned by the US State Department , Abacha did have a few ties to American politics . In 1997 , Senator James Inhofe ( R - Oklahoma ) travelled to Nigeria to meet with Abacha as a representative of " The Family " , a group of evangelical Christian politicians and civic leaders . Abacha and The Family had a business and political relationship from that point until his death . Abacha also developed ties with other American political figures such as Senator Carol Mosley Braun , Rev . Jessie Jackson and Minister Louis Farrakhan . Several African American political leaders visited Nigeria during his reign and Farrakhan supported the regime , while it was seen as an international pariah . Farrakhan also had a street in Nigeria named after him . The street name was changed back to its original name after Abacha ' s death . Corruption allegations . During Abacha ' s regime , a total of £ 5 billion was reported siphoned out of the country ' s coffers by the head of state and members of his family . At that time Abacha was listed as the world ' s fourth most corrupt leader in recent history . Abacha ' s national security adviser , Alhaji Ismaila Gwarzo , played a central role in the looting and transfer of money to overseas accounts . His son Mohammed Abacha was also involved . A preliminary report published by the Abdulsalam Abubakar transitional government in November 1998 described the process . Sani Abacha told 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 , 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 . Death . Early in 1998 , Abacha announced that elections would be held on 1 August . It soon became apparent , though , that Abacha had no intention of permitting an honest election ; during the spring he strong - armed the country ' s five parties into endorsing him as the sole presidential candidate . A few months before the election , and with much tension in the land , a pastor called a press conference in which he asked Nigerians not to demonstrate against the planned election . He said God had told him that Abacha would not succeed in becoming a civilian head of state , and that Abacha would step aside ' under mysterious circumstances ' , so that the ' Joseph ' from God would take over . This was published in the Punch newspapers . Abacha died in June 1998 while at the presidential villa in Abuja . He was buried on the same day , according to Muslim tradition , without an autopsy . This fueled speculation that foul play was involved and that he may have been poisoned by political rivals via prostitutes . On the contrary , the government cited his cause of death as a sudden heart attack . It is reported that he was in the company of two Indian prostitutes imported from Dubai . It is thought that these prostitutes laced his drink with a poisonous substance , making Abacha feel unwell around 4 : 30am . He retired to his bed and was dead by 6 : 15am . After his death , Maj . Gen . Abdulsalami Abubakar , Nigeria ' s defense chief of staff , was sworn in as the country ' s head of state . Abubakar had never before held public office and was quick to announce a transition to democracy , which led to the election of President Olusegun Obasanjo . Abacha was married to Maryam Abacha and had seven sons and three daughters . He has fifteen grandchildren — eight girls and seven boys . Recovery of stolen funds . After Sani Abacha ' s death , the Obasanjo government implicated Abacha and his family in a wholesale looting of Nigeria ' s coffers . According to post - Abacha governmental sources , some $ 3 or $ 4 billion USD in foreign assets have been traced to Abacha , his family and their representatives , $ 2 . 1 billion of which the Nigerian government tentatively came to an agreement with the Abacha family to return , with the " quid pro quo " being that the Abachas would be allowed to keep the rest of the money . Although this proposal caused a massive outcry at the time for seeming to reward the theft of public funds , it was subsequently rejected by the late dictator ' s son , Mohammed Abacha , who continues to maintain that all the assets in question were legitimately acquired . In 2002 , Abacha ' s family agreed to return $ 1 . 2 billion that was taken from the central bank . False representation of name . The names of Sani Abacha , his wife Maryam , and son Mohammed are often used in advance fee fraud ( 419 ) scams ; he is " identified " in scam letters as the source for " money " that does not exist . One website that is dedicated to exposing advance fee scammers and similar schemes , ebolamonkeyman . com , exposed one use of the Abacha family name — resulting in a wider exposure and awareness of these types of scams in general .