1-On the 8th of December, 2011, five armed robbers
stormed her residence in Nasarawa Quarters, Kano State. While in
action, policemen swooped on them, arrested one but four escaped with
the former First Lady's jewelry. After a year of search, the Nigerian
Police was able to apprehend the other four robbers and they recovered
her jewelry worth N30 million. The jewels included 42 pieces of gold
earrings, five pieces of gold rings, five pieces of gold pendants, five
sets of gold jewelry and 26 pieces of gold chains (See picture for some
of the recovered jewelry). Some of the robbers were shot dead in the
process.
2-Following the United Nations declaration of
1994 as the International Year of the Family, she launched her private
initiative in September 1994, it was called the Family Support
Programme (FSP) and it was to replace the Better Life for Rural Women
established by the late First Lady, Maryam Babangida. From that time,
each state was also to have a Commissioner for Women Affairs. Whatever
happened to FSP today, Iyaniwura does not know. It is baffling that
Nigerian First Ladies keep establishing all kinds of programmes that
they will not sustain outside office. According the the Tell Magazine
of 3rd August, 1998, FSP gulped more than N10 billion of taxpayers'
money, the same time during which her husband was retrenching civil
servants.
3-Believed by many to be the most beautiful First
Lady Nigeria has ever had, she has one of the most impressive
collections of diamonds, gold, platinum and pearls.
4-Her mum,
Nana Jiddah is Kanuri born of a Borno princess with German roots. She
is also a direct descendant of Sheikh Ibrahim Waidama, an Arab who
settled in Kanem-Borno in the 16th and 17th centuries. So, you get the
blood thoroughly mixed. And that's where the beauty comes from, I guess.
5-While
talking of her late husband, she said he was not authoritarian in the
house and was a loving father, that they all slept in the same room
with the kids, even when they were grown-ups. She said he would cook
while she did the dishes. How romantic! Abi? When the babies were
crying, he would bring out his bosom or his own ear for the kids to
suck until they slept off. Amazing!
6. They had really simple
and romantic petnames. She called him 'S' while he called her 'M'.
Those were there nicknames back in the days.
7-She raised the
idea of the National Hospital for Women and Children (NHWC) and later
saw to its establishment. The institution is now known as National
Hospital, Abuja. As First Lady, she raised money and built the hospital
within 10 months, which was later commissioned by General Abdulsalami
Abubakar on May 21, 1999, a week to handover.
8-Following the
death of her husband in 1998, Newswatch report showed that she accused
Lt. Gen. Jeremiah Timbut Useni of being responsible, an allegation that
he flatly and vehemently denied. She had based this on the fact that
the Lt. Gen. Useni and the Chief Security Officer, CSO, Major Hamza
al-Mustapha were the last to see the late head of state.
9-In
November 2012, at the book launch of her former military press
secretary, Colonel John Adache (rtd), she donated a sum of N5 million
naira upon which she was loudly applauded. She was the Mother of the
Day at the event and the Chief Launcher had donated a sum of N 2
million naira. She stole the show and the whole hall erupted in a loud
ovation. #Smh.
10-She has nine children, six sons, three
daughters. They include Ibrahim (now late), Mohammmed, Abba, Sodiq,
Abdullahi, Gumsu (Fatima Bayero Fadil) and Zaynab. She actually gave
birth to her last born while her husband was the head of state. I can
remember the newspapers carrying it, quite exciting news then for the
First Lady to become a mother again.
11-While the First Lady, she popularized the use of 'Aso Oke'.
12-Shortly
after the death of her husband, the Khalifa, she was stopped at the
Aminu Kano International Airport with 38 suitcases filled with foreign
currencies. She was on her way out of the country but denied it as a
'fabrication'.
13-As at 2000 alone, her family had hired over
12 lawyers to defend them and one of those lawyers was the American
lawyer, Johnny Cochran, the defense attorney for O. J. Simpson.
14-Her
eldest son, Ibrahim, died when a Falcon jet of the Nigerian Air Force
Presidential Fleet ferrying him and his friends from Lagos to Kano
crashed on the 17th of January, 1996 just minutes to landing at the
Aminu Kano International Airport. He was with Funmi, his Yoruba
girlfriend and a younger brother of Aliko Dangote. All 14 people aboard
died. A lawyer and businessman, Ibrahim Abacha was described as very
nice, extremely humble, easygoing and gentle, he was 28. Upon his
tragic death, Maryam Abacha was shattered and had to leave for Saudi
Arabia where she stayed temporarily, prayed, meditated and sought for
consolation in her faith and God.
15-She said she used to send book gifts to the former US First Lady, Hillary Clinton but the gifts were never acknowledged.
16-Shortly
after the sudden death of her husband, General Sani Abacha in June
1998, the government of General Abdulsalami Abubakar placed her, her
oldest surviving son, Mohammed, Ismaila Gwarzo who was the former
National Security Adviser and others under house arrest. Stranded and
furious, she had angrily denied knowing about any foreign accounts but
the story later changed.
17-In one of the deals under the
Obasanjo government to recover looted funds (about $1.4 billion) frozen
in Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, the Abacha family was to
keep a sum of $100 million. President Obasanjo would later say that
that was one of the hardest decisions of his presidency but he later
justified it saying that it was the fastest means for the country to
recover looted funds. Well, I really didn’t want to dwell much on the
looted funds. Why? The ones that they have recovered, where are they?
As the Yorubas would say, ole gbe, ole gba.
18-Anyway, while she
was being questioned about the money stashed in foreign accounts by her
husband, she said the money was not stolen or looted but that her
husband was simply saving the money for Nigeria in some foreign
accounts. Brilliant.
19-The Maryam Abacha Women & Children
Hospital in Sokoto State is named after her. The institution contains a
center for treating vesico-womanly fistula (VVF) patients.
20.
When she was asked about the political ambition of her son, Mohammed,
who wanted to become the governor of Kano State, she stated that as
Muslims, they believe in fate and destiny and were not afraid of any
outcome.
21-During the negotiations to recover the looted funds,
she declared that she would not surrender to government intimidation
and after three months of negotiations, she offered between 5-10% of
her family fortune, in addition to the $800 million that has been
seized. Substantial sums were also stashed in the family’s private
bedrooms or in local banks.
22-In December 2001, she pleaded
with the government to release her son, Mohammed. On visiting him at
the National Hospital, Abuja, she said in an emotional voice: “As you
can see, you know the agony of a mother: helpless, lonely and still
would not be allowed to provide adequate attention to a child she loves
so much.”
23-On her orders, some ladies suspected to be
girlfriends of the late dictator were detained and tortured by Abacha’s
Chief Security Officer (CSO), Major Hamza Al-Mustapha who has been
sentenced to death after a lengthy trial.
24-Back then in 2000,
she asked bitterly one day in her sitting room in her palatial
residence in Kano watching CNN: “Is this humane? Is it fair for a
government to fight one family over a few pennies? Obasanjo was a
military man. He should have some sympathy.”
25-She also says of
her late husband: “It should not be surprising that my husband was
found to have a lot of money. He held a lot of government posts. If a
person is industrious, and there is some luck, that money will grow.”
26-Once
known as Miss Maryam Jiddah, she married General Abacha in 1965/ Her
nickname while in office was ‘The Crusading First Lady’ for her role in
the first summit of Africa’s First Ladies in 1997.
27-And yeah,
there is this popular saying that even if they collected all the money
from her, she can never be as poor as Dangote. I never saw a single
strand of evidence to support that. You’ve got one?
28-As at
April 1998, a group called MAP (Maryam Abacha for President) was set to
emerge to support her for presidency in case her husband did not go on
with his succession plans.
She is an in-law to Mohamadou Bayero
Fadil, a highly influential politician and one of the richest men in
Cameroon. Bayero Fadil is married to her charming daughter, Gumsu. If
he becomes the President one day, that means Gumsu Sani Abacha will
become the First Lady of Cameroon. Simple.
For more, please like Iyaniwura on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/iyaniwurablogPlease for those who asked: the pictures below show Goomsu, her daughter and Ibrahim, her first child.
boss refused to clarify whether or not he would be at Real next season
but confirmed his desire to be back in the Premier League.
vs
