Daughter of the late military dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha, Gumsu, says she is still mourning the death of her father, 15 years after his demise.
Gumsu, who may have cut short her sleep early Saturday morning, took to Twitter at 3:16 am to pay tribute to her father, saying, “I miss you so much.”
Abacha became the 10th military Head of State of Nigeria on November 17, 1993 but died in office on June 8, 1998.
“May Allah grant my father Aljanna Firdaus. I miss you so much. Fifteen years already. Allah ya jikan ka da rhama ‘Baba,’” she stated in a tweet.
A few hours Gumsu posted the tweet, former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, replied her, saying, “Ameen.” However, Fani-Kayode’s move to share in her grief on the 15th anniversary of the death of Abacha made a handful of his followers on Twitter to raise an eyebrow.
When Fani-Kayode’s gesture was noticed by Gumsu, she replied his tweet, saying, “Thank you,’’ while Fani-Kayode responded, “My pleasure, dear.’’
But Fani-Kayode’s followers on the social service wondered if he was one of the Nigerians who subtly benefited from the Abacha regime.
“Fani-Kayode, sir, were you pro-Abacha?” one of his followers, Dolapo Bello, queried in a tweet. But realising what damage that could do to his reputation online, Fani-Kayode responded swiftly by dissociating himself from the Abacha regime.
He stated, “Of course not. I was not pro-Abacha government. I was one of those who fought his government.”
But as the day broke on Saturday, the Nigerian Twitter space was soon turned into a podium for debate with some arguing that Abacha was a hero, while others vehemently disagreed on the social network.
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