After he assumed power as a military Head of State when Chief Ernest Shonekan "resigned" as the Head of the Interim National Government, Gen. Sani Abacha was a character that amazed as he dazed his subjects.

Oftentimes, he was under-estimated. And it took time for Nigerians to appreciate that behind those dark glasses was a man of steel who would not blink to get his act done.

In his own words, he came in as a "child of circumstance" but the pro-democracy groups mounted pressures on the Kano general to revalidate the mandate of Chief Abiola. At a time, MKO was to announce himself "President" and that was when the citizens came face-to-face with the reality that their ruler was one tough being. Abiola was arrested and later incarcerated and never returned until he died in prison.

Like it happened under Babangida, there were two alleged plots to remove Abacha from power. But the characters behind the two stories made one more awesome. Aside Major-Gen. Vatsa, there was no other military man of note in the two coups of 1986 and 1990 that confronted IBB’s administration.

In the case of Abacha, it involved the heavyweights. In the alleged plot of March 1995, a former Head of State, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo and his second-in-command, Major-Gen. Yar’Adua were hounded into prisons in what they all termed to be a "phantom coup." Then, there was Col. Lawan Gwadabe, a former Niger State governor and Principal Staff Officer to Abacha himself.

In December 1997, Nigerians woke up to another bafflement when Lt. Gen. Oladipo Diya, the Chief of General Staff; Major-Gen. Abdulkareem Adisa, former Works Minister and Major-Gen. Tajudeen Olanrewaju, ex-Communications Minister were all handcuffed and brought before the Special Military Tribunal for plotting to overthrow their boss, Abacha. Col. Yakubu Bako, a former military admninistrator was among those who were to be jailed for their alleged complicity in the putsch.

On May 29, 1999, military president Abdulsalam Abubakar, right, in green, handed the flag and constitution of Nigeria to democratically elected president Olusegun Obasanjo, left, symbolically relinquishing the Nigerian military’s control over the government.

Obasanjo was sworn in as president minutes later. It was a jubilant and historic moment for Nigeria, which had suffered under autocratic military regimes for 29 out of the previous 33 years