Raees Abacha drops bombshell: ‘Babangida is a coward my Grandfather saved’

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

Raees Abacha, grandson of the late Nigerian military ruler, General Sani Abacha, has launched a scathing attack on former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (Rtd), branding him a coward who owed his survival to his grandfather.

In series of posts on X titled “My Grandfather Saved the Life of a Coward,” Raees dismissed Babangida’s claims in his recently released book, ‘Journey In Service’ (2025), where he attributed the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election to forces led by General Abacha.

Babangida had described Abacha as his “biggest headache,” yet, according to Raees, still retained him as the chief enforcer in Chief Ernest Shonekan’s transitional government.

Raees argued that if their lifespans had been reversed, Abacha would never have exhibited the “treachery” Babangida allegedly displayed.

He also pointed out contradictions in Babangida’s narrative, questioning how the former leader could claim to have been unaware of the annulment while simultaneously taking responsibility for it.

The grandson of the late dictator further ridiculed Babangida’s reluctance to assign blame in his memoir, warning that anyone who takes the book as the ultimate truth is “following its author toward damnation.”

Concluding his fiery remarks, Raees asserted that Babangida’s greatest enemy was neither Abacha nor external forces, but his own mind—a mind that earned him the infamous nickname “Evil Genius.”