Posted by By HENRY CHUKWURAH, Port Harcourt on
Wife of Nigeria's former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, Hajiya Maryam Abacha, for the first time in the last nine years, opened up on the alleged prosecution of her family members by the immediate past administration of the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, observing that while she is ready to forgive, it is not easy to forget the ills that were perpetrated against her family.
Wife of Nigeria's former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, Hajiya Maryam Abacha, for the first time in the last nine years, opened up on the alleged prosecution of her family members by the immediate past administration of the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, observing that while she is ready to forgive, it is not easy to forget the ills that were perpetrated against her family.
This is coming as the family puts final touches to the range of befitting programmes designed to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of their breadwinner in Kano.
The matriarch of the Abacha family, who spoke to selected reporters at the family home at Gidado road, Kano, said: 'If you want me to use this opportunity to say I forgive (the Obasanjo administration for persecuting my family), I will say so. It is not easy to forget (all that we went through in the hands of Obasanjo), but all the same, I have forgiven him.
'We should learn how to treat ourselves with some respect. May be Obasanjo was ignorant of what he was doing at the time he was doing it, I hope God will show him the proper light in his heart so that he can forgive himself and correct himself too."
Speaking on the current probe of some aspects of the Obasanjo administration, Hayiya Maryam noted that the difference between the probe instituted against her husband and that against the Obasanjo's government is that her husband was dead and had no chance to defend himself against the allegations leveled against him.
She maintained that if the government was sincere in establishing the facts of the issues at stake, rather than say, ‘madam did this, the children did that', all that it needed to do was to call all the ministers, who served under him (Abacha) and ask them questions on what transpired during the era.
She evaded questions requiring her to compare the Abacha's government and that of Obasanjo, saying that, 'in life, there are different seasons… As a human being, you have to go through all the seasons, so long as you are alive. Life comes the way it comes and we have to go through it and hope for the best."
Although she maintained that some of their family friends, while husband held sway in Aso Rock are still close to them, she also remarked that there are those who were close to the family due to the necessity of their offices, adding that now that the work is done and finished, they have gone their own way.
'Some of these people you are talking about, it was work that brought them close to the family. Now that they have nothing to do with me, you still want to see them around me? A minister goes to my husband for his ministerial job; now that you are here you don't expect that minister to visit me. While we were in the Villa, most of these people you are referring to actually visited my late husband because of their work schedule. So I don't begrudge anybody whether they come here or not, people are free to choose their friends. We still have friends and well wishers," she stated.
Hajiya Abacha also made case for justice in the continued detention of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, the chief security officer (CSO) to her late husband, who she alleged was being prosecuted by the federal government, on account of allegations arisen from his role in the regime.