The Abacha Matriarch @ 73

By Augustine Adah

With a reclusive husband as the country’s maximum ruler, Mrs. Maryam Abacha, did not mind casting herself into the limelight to direct policy and programmes in Nigeria between 1993 and 1998.

Mrs. Maryam Abacha’s time at the spotlight after her husband seized power in November 1993 was remarkably eventful. Many of the legacies she left behind as the First Lady dot the polity with the National Hospital Abuja about the most memorable.

She also pioneered the establishment of African First Ladies Peace Mission, the Poverty Alleviation Programme, Family Support Programme (FSP) and vigorously supported the National programme on Immunization among others. 

The FSP over time blossomed to the extent of becoming almost a parallel government in the country.

Before her husband’s sneaky grab for maximum power, Maryam had laid in the shadows of the otherwise more glamorous albeit younger predecessor, Mrs. Maryam Babangida.

She was the President, Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association between 1985- 1990 when her husband was chief of army staff.

During her tenure, the association initiated several educational and economic programmes to better the living condition of military officers’ wives.

The association also organized seminars for wives of military officers towards sharpening the orientation and knowledge towards contributing to the development of the family and country at large. 

In  addition, NAOWA under the leadership of Mrs. Abacha operated farms and established small scale businesses for women across the country.

Repeated news items of the recovery of Abacha loot must be repeated grief to this quiet woman who desired to be remembered among African First Ladies as a woman on a peace mission!

It was alleged that many people who found it difficult to get Abacha’s nod on some issues had to go through the wife.

Her life at the top was, however, not without grief. She lost an adult son in the person of Ibrahim Abacha while First Lady and also lost her husband in June 1998.

Since that loss, she has maintained a dignified silence in the face of repeated accusations of having married arguably the most rapacious and repressive leader in Nigerian history.

She has stoically maintained the legacy of her husband through channels opened to her remembering his anniversaries and beseeching Islamic leaders to pray for the repose of his soul.

Born on March 4, 1947, Mrs. Abacha attended Tudun Wada Primary School, Sabongari, Zaria, Kaduna State and Dala Girls Secondary School Kano for her secondary education.

While she continues to live a quiet life and put the grief of her widowhood behind her, it undoubtedly be provoking grief that her husband’s name is repeatedly co-joined to pilfering.

Repeated news items of the recovery of Abacha loot must be repeated grief to this quiet woman who desired to be remembered among African First Ladies as a woman on a peace mission!

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