How Buhari Saved Obasanjo’s In-law From Being Assassinated by Abacha’s Govt
How Buhari Saved Obasanjo’s In-law From Being Assassinated by Abacha’s Govt
Kenny Martins, an in-law to ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, in an interview with Vanguard narrates how president-elect Gen. Muhammadu Buhari saved him from being assassinated during Gen. Sani Abacha's regime in the 90s.
"Obasanjo had just been arrested and I was around him. Some friends approached me and revealed that I was to be assassinated. And I have this attitude about death because I’d had two close shaves with death and so I believe when my time is up my time is up. But they were forceful and they said what if the bullet doesn’t hit you and it hits us.
"So, I went straight to Justice Maman Nasir in Malumfaci, just after Kano. I told him I’d heard that the government was after me. The justice said I should be at peace but that I should drive straight to Daura and meet with General Buhari and talk to him.
"I told General Buhari that I was being targeted and he asked why. I told him they said I was an Obasanjo man, ‘the man has been arrested and I don’t know why they are after me’.
"He said he would ‘try and see the head of state this weekend and by Sunday I would call you’. We had land lines that time. At about 1am, Saturday through Sunday, General Buhari called me from the Villa and said ‘I’ve seen the head of state and he has instructed the NSA, Alhaji Ismaila Gwarzo, to call you and he would be in Lagos on Monday. I have given him your number and nothing would happen to you’.
"On Monday morning, Alhaji Gwarzo called me and I’d not met him before. He introduced himself and told me not to worry and that he would be in Lagos on Friday but I insisted on my paying him a visit, but he insisted that if I wanted to come, I should let the former head of state know that I chose to come to Abuja because he was instructed to come and see me.
"So on Wednesday I was in the Villa, I went to Gwarzo’s office and introduced myself a Obasanjo’s in-law and that I heard they wanted to kill me.
"He said ‘but our government is not a killer’. There and then he called the head of the SSS then, explaining to him my allegation and that one said he knew me. Gwrazo assured me that I should go and that nothing would happen to me and nothing happened to me.
"But just two weeks later, my closest political associate, Alhaja Suliat Adedeji, was killed by government goons.
"If I had known her name was also on their list, I would have mentioned her; that day still remains the saddest day of my life when I realized that I missed an opportunity to save her.
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