Profile of General Sani Abacha .

Born on September 20, 1943, in Kano, Kano State, Nigeria; died on June 8, 1998, in Abuja, Nigeria; married Maryam Jidah, 1965; children: six sons, three daughters. Religion: Muslim. Education:Provincial Secondary School (now Government College), Kano, Nigeria, 1957-62; Nigerian Military Training College, Kaduna, 1962-63, 1964; MONS Defense Officers' Cadet Training College, Aldershot, United Kingdom, 1963; School of Infantry, Warminster, United Kingdom, 1966, 1971; Command and Staff College, Jaji, Nigeria, 1976; National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos, Nigeria, 1981; Senior International Defense Course, Monterey, CA, United States, 1982.

Career: Nigerian Army, commissioned second lieutenant, 1963, lieutenant, 1966, captain, 1967, platoon and battalion commander, training department commander, 2nd Infantry Division, major, 1969, lieutenant-colonel, 1972, commanding officer, 2nd Infantry Brigade, colonel, 1975, brigadier, 1980, announced coup, December 31, 1983, appointed general officer commanding, 2nd Mechanized Division, 1984-85, major-general, 1984, announced coup, August 27, 1985; appointed army chief of staff and member, Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC), 1985, lieutenant-general, 1987, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1989, ministry of defense, 1990, secretary of defense, August 26, 1993; seized head of state in coup, November 17, 1993, and ruled Nigeria, until 1998.

In 1993 Abacha survived even the exit of Babangida himself. When Babangida handed over the reins of government on August 26, 1993, to Ernest Shonekan, a civilian appointee, Abacha assumed the lead of the military as defense secretary. Babangida resigned amid a series of strikes and protests sparked by his annulment of the results of the presidential election held June 12, which most likely was won by businessman Moshood Abiola, according to the New York Times. Babangida reportedly voided the elections for fear that Abiola, a wealthy Yoruba-speaker from the Southwest who ran on the Social Democrat ticket, would upset the hold on power formerly wielded by military generals from the North. When he declared himself president anyway, Abiola was accused of treason and put in prison, where he died in 1998, one day after Abacha's death.

Below is the picture of Abacha and His Daughter .