9 Most Dangerous Nigerians (Dead or Alive)

I was browsing through the internet some time ago and I saw this great article on list verse ‘Top 10 Most Evil Men’. And so I thought to myself, why not do a Nigerian version. Only call them dangerous and not evil.

So here it is; a list of some of the most dangerous Nigerian men. 

Dangerous because their actions either changed the state of the nation to a large extent,

Or their actions led to a multiplier effect; that is, set the pace for other actions to take place,

Or they were not what a large percentage of the population thought them to be. After all they say a deceitful man is equally a dangerous man

Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh

Festus Okotie-Eboh (1919-1966) was a prominent and flamboyant Nigerian politician and former minister for finance during the administration of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. Born to Urhobo parents from Uwherun, he adopted the Itsekiri as his tribe after marriage into a prominent Itsekiri family. Before his change of ethnicity he was Known as Chief Festus Samuel Edah.

He was the pre-independence minister of labor, post independence finance minister and he established the central bank and the Nigerian stock exchange.  He was responsible for bringing Julius Berger to Nigeria and also responsible for the construction of the Eko Bridge.

He is assumed to be the father of corruption in Nigeria as his dealings were among the first known cases of corruption.

He is said to have forced Nnamdi Azikiwe into a coalition with the then Govt of Nigeria led by Tafawa Balewa as he was the financier of the NCNC party which Zik belonged to. The money he used to finance the party was rumoured to have been money he lobbied as Finance Minister.  Also, he once increased the duty on importing shoes to protect his own shoe factory.

Okotie-Eboh was assassinated along with Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa in the January 15, 1966 military coup which terminated the Nigerian First Republic, and thus civilian rule.

Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu

Patrick Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, (1937–1967) was born in the Northern Region’s capital of Kaduna to Igbo immigrant parents from the Mid-Western Region-Okpanam Town, near Asaba in the present day Delta State.

Major Nzeogwu was an infantry and intelligence officer of the Nigerian Army. Such was his family’s affinity to the city of Nzeogwu’s birth that they and his military colleagues called him “Kaduna”. Nzeogwu was a devout Roman Catholic and a teetotaler. He attended the military academy at Sandhurst in England, and was a promising, charismatic and rebellious military officer who eventually became the Chief Instructor at the Nigerian Military Training College in Kaduna.

He led the first ever military coup along side Major Ifeajuna, Major Anuforo, Major Ademoyega Adewale and Major Okafor. The Prime Minister (Tafawa Balewa), Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, two regional premiers, and top Army officers from the Northern and Western regions of the nation were brutally murdered during the coup. The coup failed, and he was later arrested in Lagos on January 18, 1966. He was in the company of Lt. Col. Conrad Nwawo.

The coup plotters murdered the pregnant wife of Brigadier Ademulegun, a Western Nigerian officer, in cold blood. This action led to the suspicion among Yoruba in the West and Hausa in the North that these officers were common criminals rather than Nationalistic patriots. Further fuelling suspicion was the fact that the premiers of the Northern and Western regions were killed, but the premier of the Eastern region (where most of the plotters came from) was overlooked. On the Federal level the (Northern) Prime Minister and the Finance Minister (effectively the number 3 man in government) were killed, but the number 2 man in government (who "coincidentally" happened to be from the same region as the plotters) escaped the killing.

Nzeogwu - who had been promoted to the rank of Biafran Lt. Colonel after being released - was trapped in an ambush near Nsukka while conducting a night reconnaissance operation against federal troops of the 21st battalion under Captain Mohammed Inua Wushishi.

He was killed in action and his corpse was subsequently identified.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo

Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo (March 6, 1909 – May 9, 1987), commonly known as Awo and often referred to as the sage, was one of Nigeria's founding fathers. A Yoruba and native of Ikenne in Ogun State of Nigeria, he started his career as a nationalist in the Nigerian Youth Movement like some of his pre-independence contemporaries and was responsible for many of the progressive social legislations that have made Nigeria a modern nation.

He was the first Premier of the then Western Region under Nigeria's parliamentary system, from 1952 to 1959, and was the official Leader of the Opposition in the federal parliament to the Balewa government from 1959 to 1963. In addition to all these, Awolowo was the first individual in the modern era to be referred to as Leader of the Yorubas (Yoruba: Asiwaju Omo Oodua), a title which has come over time to be conventionally ascribed to his direct successors as the recognised political leader of the elders and young members of the Yoruba clans of Nigeria.

Awo could be said to be a betrayer of the Ibos as his actions contributed to the failure of the Biafran Movement. How so you might want to ask? While Awo was in Jail and Nigeria was at the brink of civil war, Ojukwu planned that if he could canvass for the release of Awo and encouraged him to lead his western region out of Nigeria considering how he was ill treated and the domination of the north over Nigeria; he (Ojukwu) could also lead the east out of Nigeria much more easily. But that was not to happen as oil was at that time already contributing a huge amount to the Nigerian Treasury. Also, Awo was made the highest ranking civilian in Gowon’s administration. Gowon probably did this to make Awo loyal to him.

Another thing Awo did to merit being on our list was that after the civil war, Gowon told him to return all the wealth to the Ibos that had been seized during the war.  He gave them 20 pounds irrespective of how much they previously had and said the full money would be returned pending investigation. Well that was the last that was heard of the matter. As a result, many of the Ibos who had been very rich before the war had to start from scratch. This act also made the Ibo not partake in the indeginization of foreign companies that was taking place after the war. Leaving the west and the north to enrich their self the more.

General C. Odumegwu Ojukwu 

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (4 November 1933 – 26 November 2011) was a Nigerian military officer and politician. Ojukwu served as the military governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria in 1966, the leader of the breakaway Republic of Biafra from 1967 to 1970 and a Nigerian politician from 1983 to 2011, when he died, aged 78.

Ojukwu’s Father was then the richest man in Nigeria, I guess that is why he was so arrogant.  

His grudges and reason for going to war were:

·         Gowon was not the next in line to be head of state after the murder of General Aguiyi Ironsi.

·         In the counter coup of 29 July 1966, the Ibos were mercilessly killed and Ojukwu saw as genocide. 

So he declared Biafra: And the forces against him were more than the forces for him. He had lesser man power, lesser ammunitions, low or no supply of food, things were really bad. The Ibos were being killed. Women and children suffered more and Ojukwu still persisted. Children were dying and those that survived were made orphans. Instead of ending the war, he stayed put and sent soldiers to war. Even the mercenaries he hired could not savage the situation

The war only came to an end when Ojukwu realised that his life was in danger and he fleed the country. And the result? Millions of lives lost and much more millions of people left in starvation. Now the thing is – going to war made the Ibos loose much more people than were mercilessly killed by the north during the counter coup. So was it worth it? Cause the war cost them a lot. I will give you an instance.

Now the richest man in Nigeria today would probably have been an Ibo man if not for the war and the greediness of Awolowo.

Ibos would have been occupying key positions in the society today and in the military if not for the war. You might want to argue that they are occupying key positions; But wait, compare now to the first republic and then you would realize what am talking about.

General Ibrahim Babangida

Ibrahim ‘Maradona’ Babangida was born in 1941 in Minna, Niger State; he hails from the Gwari ethnic group. Babangida studied at the India Military School in 1964, the Royal Armoured Centre from January 1966 until April 1966, at the Advanced Armoured Officers' course at Armored school from August 1972 to June 1973, at the Senior officers' course, Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji from January 1977 until July 1977, and the Senior International Defence Management Course, Naval Postgraduate school, U.S in 1980.

During his reign Nigeria had new lows. Foreign debt increased to 33 billion dollars, the exchange rate declined from almost 1:1 to N57 to a dollar and corruption became a synonym for Nigeria. He was the one who brought up Abacha. That is when he took over power from Buhari he facilated the entry into power a new crop of officers and some of them were Augustus Aikhomu, Domkat Bali, Ibrahim Alfa and Sani Abacha.

It would be safe to call IBB the father of Scams, Cons and Rip offs because it was during his time in office that walls of the foundation of advance free fraud were built. That’s not to say there were no scammers before his time but it multiplied a thousand fold during his time that Nigerians started to give law enforcement agencies abroad a continous headache. And all this happened because of the high rate of corruption at that time and the bad state of the country.

Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola

Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (August 24, 1937 – July 7, 1998), often referred to as M. K. O. Abiola, was a popular Nigerian Yoruba businessman, publisher, politician and aristocrat of the Egba clan. He ran for the presidency in 1993, and is widely regarded as the presumed winner of the inconclusive election since no official final results were announced.

MKO is regarded as a great philatrompist, a generous man and hero that IBB deprived Nigeria of. Some of the reasons he was greatly liked was because he was already rich and people thought he was less likely to steal like previous leaders had done and he was greatly generous.

But how really did MKO make his money? 

His wealth was a direct result of his close ties with the very corrupt Shagari govt. and the military administration after that. In addition, if you have never listened to Fela’s songs or you just danced to it without listening to the lyrics, try to listen to it keenly again, expecially the song ‘International Thief Thief’, ITT for short. In the song you hear Fela calling Obasanjo and Abiola thieves. In an interview Fela called him an Evil man because of how he reaped Nigerians of their wealth. So if he got his wealth by stealing from people, do you think he would have made Nigeria a better nation or like he did before loot more funds? I’d leave that for you to answer.

General Sani Abacha

General Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military dictator and politician. He was the de facto President of Nigeria from 1993 to 1998.

A Kanuri from Borno by tribe, Abacha was born and brought up in Kano, Nigeria. He attended the Nigerian Military Training College and Mons Officer Cadet School before being commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in 1963.

In order to stay in power he detained anyone he sensed would oppose him including the likes of Abiola (who had been going around parading himself as the president), Obasanjo and Yaradua (both of whom had taken part in several coups in the past). He detained and killed anyone who criticised his govt. During his regime to say the country was living in fear was an understatement.

Abacha's government was accused of human rights abuses, especially after the hanging of Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa by the Oputa Commission (only one of several executions of Ogoni activists opposed to the exploitation of Nigerian resources by the multinational petroleum company, Royal Dutch Shell Group); Abiola and Olusegun Obasanjo were jailed for treason, and Wole Soyinka charged in absentia with treason. His regime suffered stiff opposition internally and externally by pro-democracy activists who made the regime unpopular, and responded by banning political activity in general and by controlling the press in particular; a significant fraction of the military was purged. Abacha surrounded himself with approximately 3,000 armed men loyal to him. His government compared to other Nigerian governments was characterised by an inconsistent foreign policy: He supported the Economic Community of West African States and sent Nigerian troops to Liberia and Sierra Leone to restore democracy to those countries while denying it at home. Abacha scoffed at the threat of economic sanctions on account of the world's dependence on petroleum, of which Nigeria is a major producer.

Despite being repeatedly condemned by the US State Department, Abacha did have a few ties to American politics. In 1997, Senator James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) travelled to Nigeria to meet with Abacha as a representative of "The Family", a group of evangelical Christian politicians and civic leaders. Abacha and The Family had a business and political relationship from that point until his death. Abacha also developed ties with other American political figures such as Senator Carol Mosley Braun, Rev. Jessie Jackson and Minister Louis Farrakhan. Several African American political leaders visited Nigeria during his reign and Farrakhan supported the regime, while it was seen as an international pariah. Farrakhan also had a street in Nigeria named after him. The street name was changed back to its original name after Abacha's death.

A total of £5 billion was reported siphoned out of the country's coffers by the head of state and members of his family. At that time Abacha was listed as the world's fourth most corrupt leader in recent history. Abacha's national security adviser, Alhaji Ismaila Gwarzo, played a central role in the looting and transfer of money to overseas accounts. His son Mohammed Abacha was also involved. A preliminary report published by the Abdulsalam Abubakar transitional government in November 1998 described the process. Sani Abacha told Ismaila Gwarzo to provide fake funding requests, which Abacha approved. The funds were usually sent in cash or travellers' cheques by the Central Bank of Nigeria to Gwarzo, who took them to Abacha's house. Mohammed Abacha then arranged to launder the money to offshore accounts. An estimated $1.4 billion in cash was delivered in this way.

Olusegun Obasanjo

Oluṣẹgun Mathew Okikiọla Arẹmu Ọbasanjọ, (born 5 March 1937) is a former Nigerian Army general and former President of Nigeria. A Nigerian of Yoruba descent, Obasanjo was a career soldier before serving twice as his nation's head of state, as a military ruler between 13 February 1976 to 1 October 1979; and as elected President from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007.

Obasanjo was accused of being responsible for political repression. In one particular instance, the compound of Nigerian musician and political activist Fela Kuti was raided and burned to the ground after a member of his commune was involved in an altercation with military personnel. Fela and his family were beaten and raped and his mother, political activist Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, was killed by being thrown from a window. Her coffin was carried to Obasanjo's barracks as a protest against political repression.

Obasanjo's first term was marked by widespread criticism over the Nigerian government's response to violent crises in the North—Kaduna and Kano chief among them—as well as in the central-eastern state of Benue and the southern oil-rich Niger Delta. International media reports cited figures of more than 10,000 people killed in violent outbursts during Obasanjo's first term. Nigeria's military was criticized for using tactics of mass suppression—notably burning down towns such as Zaki-Biam in Benue and Odi in the Niger Delta state of Bayelsa—which Obasanjo initially defended, before later expressing regret for the lives lost. This was the reason Timaya sang the song ‘Dem mama’.

He was well known for supporting and facilitating many illegal executive actions and ignoring judgements against himself and his government including judgements delivered by the Supreme Court. Examples included the illegal withholding of funds due to Lagos State Local Governments for more than 2 years after the Supreme Court ordered its immediate release. He also supported the illegal impeachment of several corrupted state governors which the Supreme Court also reversed. The National Judicial Council demonstrated its independence by dismissing several judges who connived with the executive to undermine the constitution during his reign.

A lot has been said against Obasanjo's civilian regimes failures but not much emphasis on the state of things before he took over. In fact, many institutes and structures were left decade or abandoned. Things like power and national airways were starved of investment for twenty years. His government saw re-investment in many institutions and structures but these were not easily visible by the populace, hence, the cry of failure or accusation of corruption. It must be said; the last two presidents after him suffered the same faith.

Before Obasanjo's administration Nigeria's GDP growth had been painfully slow since 1987, and only managed 3% between 1999/2000. However, under Obasanjo the growth rate doubled to 6% until he left office, helped in part by higher oil prices. Nigeria's foreign reserves rose from $2 billion in 1999 to $43 billion on leaving office in 2007. He was able to secure debt pardons from the Paris and London club amounting to some $18 billion and paid another $18 Billion to be debt free. Most of these loans were secured and spent by past corrupt officials. Also the Nigerian stock exchange went up by 900% and GDP growth was at an average of 7% per annum with a significant amount of that coming from non-oil sector.

In 2005 the international community gave Nigeria's government its first pass mark for its anti-corruption efforts. However, a growing number of critics within Nigeria have accused Obasanjo's government of selectively targeting his anti-corruption drive against political opponents and ethnic militants, ignoring growing concerns about wide-scale corruption within his own inner political circle.

Also one thing to be noted is that if Obasanjo was currently in power, the issue of Boko Haram would have been a thing of the past. His way of doing it would left a lot of innocent people dead leading to the release of another ‘Dem mama’ song but it would have been effective.  Can you blame him though, considering he was a military man.

Dr. Goodluck Jonathan

Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan, (born 20 November 1957) is the 14th Head of State and current President of Nigeria. Prior to his role as President, he served as Governor of Bayelsa State and Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Jonathan is seen as lacking the charisma of many previous Nigerian leaders, having been described as having an "underwhelming personality. GEJ, as he is called by some is someone I would say has lived up to his name. He entered politics as a deputy governor and when the governor was impeached after being charged with money laundering, he became the governor. 

In 2007 Jonathan was selected to run as a vice-presidential candidate alongside Umaru Yar'Adua. It was suggested that his selection fell into place "after other more influential politicians from the region (like Ibori) were tainted by an anti-corruption investigation." It was important that Jonathan, a Christian from the south, be coupled with Yar'Adua, a Muslim from the north, to avoid conflict.

With his background and how he came to become acting president, Nigerians thought him to be the modern day Abiola and the long awaited saviour. But wait… Was/Is he really the saviour? You decide-

·         The foreign debt that OBJ (Obasanjo) had managed to reduce is now at an all time high

·         Nigeria’s foreign reserve has been largely if not totally depleted not out of spending on infrastructural development but out of personal spending. For example you see stuffs in the national budget that says the president’s newspaper/boxers allowance cost millions if not billions of naira

·         Inflation and unemployment rate has increased

·         Insecurity is at an all time high

·         Corruption, well that’s a no go area. We are at an era where people steal billions of public funds and they are told to pay a couple hundred thousand and after which they are set free.

·         Power is worse

·         His administration focuses not on things that would better the life of Nigerians but things that would make us bitter all the more. E.g. the fuel subsidy saga, UNILAG->MAULAG, N5000 note introduction to mention a few. 

And the list goes on and on. If you ask me I would say GEJ has deceived Nigerians (me inclusive) considering the fact that we all voted for him. I even canvassed for votes for him. I have only two regrets in life and one of them was voting for GEJ.  If permitted, I would liken the GEJ administration to that of Abacha.  Both administrations had the following:

·         High level of insecurity

·         Concentrated on policies that didn’t benefit Nigerians but their pockets

·         High level of corruption

·         Insensitivity to the plight of the people

·         Fear on the part of the masses; if you doubt me ask the present Christians in the north.

·         Mass killings; even though that unlike Abacha, GEJ might not be directly responsible for such killings

·         Intoxication with power; consider a situation where GEJ after just been elected into power was looking for a 5 year tenure. 

The difference is that one was a military era while the other was claimed (or claims) to be a democratic era. Also one (Abacha) is a much harder and fearless man than the other who people generally call ‘soft’.

Well folks that’s it. If there’s anyone you think we might have missed, feel free to contact us or put it in the comment section.