“Amala” made me escape Abacha’s killers in Cotonou – Tinubu
President Tinubu narrated how he escaped Abacha’s killers about 30years ago.
That time, the late General Sani Abacha who usurped power after the annulment, went gaga! Abacha paraded many assassins sans borders! He sent his assassins after pro-democracy activists. Many lost their lives in the process. Abacha sent his killers to the Republic of Benin in one of those expeditions
In an interview President Tinubu narrated what happened: “I didn’t have a passport and couldn’t have been able to travel. At a stage, they discovered our routes, because they had spies all over, including Benin Republic. Twice I was caught and I fortuitously escaped. They traced me to one dingy hotel I was hiding.
The day they came for me at the hotel, I had gone out on an Okada to buy amala at a market, where Yorubas are dominant. I was also to meet Akinrinade and the rest of them. The spies went to the hotel and as I was approaching, I saw two people wearing tajia (skull caps) at the front desk, asking questions.
The man attending to them at the reception (I had been very nice to the receptionist) winked to me and I turned back. I contacted a friend in Benin Republic, who was an architect, and had very strong sympathy for us. Professor Wole Soyinka and Alani Akinrinade, who lodged in a better hotel, were fortunate to have escaped that night, too. The people on their trail pursued them to the hotel, but fortunately missed them.”
