Sani Abacha - Death

Death

Early in 1998, Abacha announced that elections would be held on 1 August. It soon became apparent, though, that Abacha had no intention of permitting an honest vote; during the spring he strong-armed the country's five parties into endorsing him as the sole presidential candidate.

Abacha died in June 1998 while at the presidential villa in Abuja. He was buried on the same day, according to Muslim tradition, without an autopsy. This fueled speculation that foul-play was involved and that he may have been poisoned by political rivals via prostitutes. On the contrary, Nigerian military rulers cited his cause of death as a sudden heart attack. It is known that he was in the company of six teenage Indian prostitutes imported from Dubai. It is thought that these prostitutes laced his drink with a poisonous substance, making Abacha feel unwell around 4:30am. He retired to his bed and was dead by 6:15am.

After his death, Maj. Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, Nigeria's defense chief of staff, was sworn in as the country's head of state. Abdussalam Abubakar had never before held public office and was quick to announce a transition to democracy, which led to the election of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Abacha was married to Maryam Abacha and had seven sons and three daughters.