THROWBACKTHISDAY; General Sani Abacha ousts the government of Ernest Shonekan in a military coup.

                              

On thisday November 17 1993, Abacha overthrew the short-lived transitional government of Chief Ernest Shonekan.

In September 1994, he issued a decree that placed his government above the jurisdiction of the courts, effectively giving him absolute power. Another decree gave him the right to detain anyone for up to three months without trial. Abacha's military career is distinguished by a string of successful coups. He is by some records the most successful coup plotter in the history of Nigeria's military. Abacha, then a 2nd Lieutenant with the 3rd Battalion in Kaduna, took part in the July 1966 Nigerian counter-coup from the conceptual stage.[3] He may have been a participant in the Lagos or Abeokuta phases of the coup the previous January as well.[citation needed]He was also a prominent figure in the 1983 Nigerian coup d'état which brought General Muhammadu Buhari to power in 1983, and the August 1985 coup which removed Buhari from power.[citation needed] When General Ibrahim Babangida was named President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1985, Abacha was named Chief of Army Staff. He was appointed Minister of Defence in 1990.[4][5]In 1990, Abacha became the first Nigerian soldier to attain the rank of a full General without skipping a single rank.

THROWBACKTHISDAY; makes it  22 years and TBT Blog remembers.