Sani Abacha

Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian army officer who ruled as military head of state from 1993 until his death (Wikipedia). Born and raised in Kano to a Kanuri family from present-day Borno State, he played a prominent part in the coup of 1983 that brought Muhammadu Buhari to power and in the coup of 1985 that replaced Buhari with Ibrahim Babangida, under whom he became Chief of Army Staff. In 1993 he seized power from the interim government of Ernest Shonekan; Wikipedia records this as the last successful coup in Nigeria.

He trained at the Nigerian Military Training College in Kaduna in 1962 and at Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot, England, and was commissioned in 1963. Wikipedia records that he was involved in Nigeria's military coups from July 1966, when, as a second lieutenant in Kaduna, he took part in the counter-coup. He served as a platoon and battalion commander in the civil war, commanded the 2nd Infantry Division from 1975, and in 1983 was general officer commanding the 2nd Mechanised Division and a member of the Supreme Military Council (Wikipedia).

His rule was marked by repression. Wikipedia records political killings and executions of opponents, including the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni leaders in 1995, which made Nigeria an international pariah, and the imprisonment of M. K. O. Abiola. He is alleged to have embezzled between US$2 billion and US$5 billion, much of it hidden abroad; some of these funds have since been seized and returned to Nigeria (Wikipedia).

In October 1995, amid growing international isolation and domestic criticism of his government's human-rights record, Abacha established the National Human Rights Commission by decree, at the same time as he announced a new programme of transition to civilian rule (Wikipedia).

His death on 8 June 1998 opened the way to the transition led by General Abdulsalami Abubakar and the Fourth Republic in 1999 (Wikipedia).