practically impossible for my successor M.T Mbu to be recognised by the German government who sent him back. They also taught that I was part of the NADECO members campaigning against Abacha government. Even though I was brought up in a political family, I have never loved politics in any way. My father and my brother’s house were burnt down during the Awolowo/Akintola crisis and my mother barely escaped being burnt. So I have never loved politics in any way.

My arrest came when I was returning home from a foreign trip. I was stopped at the Murtala Mohammed airport and was told to report the second day having taken my passport. I was foolish enough to have reported because I should have followed the Wole Soyinka route to Europe via Benin Republic. I never knew I was going to be detained.

Immediately I went for my passport the following day, I was detained and nobody new where I was until after 120 days when I was released. They did not allow my wife or any of my children or family to see me throughout the period. My detention was different from the Chief Olu Falae types who were kept in Alagbon and were allowed to be visited by their wives and family. Mine was total isolation. I had no money, no cloth throughout. If I washed the shirt overnight, I wore the trouser and when I washed the trouser overnight, I wore the shirt. They removed my belt, wristwatch and my underwear on the ruse that I could use it to hang myself. But as I said, without God, I don’t know what could have happened to me.

I was arrested and taken to military detention where I was chained in both the hands and legs. The pain was so severe that at a time, I began to wonder if I was part of a coup plot without me knowing or my name featured as a possible minister on their list. The treatment was terrible that I slept on the bare floor for 120 days. I was always carried to the Naval Hospital chained in the hands and legs. It was difficult but one thing happened.

Part of my detention period fell during the Lenten season. I have never fasted for the whole Lenten season before except during the last week which we call the Holy Week. But in detention, I had to fast for 40 days. This reduced me by half but made me spiritually stronger. Without the fasting, I would have died.

Naturally I was a kind of insomniac. I don’t sleep well even at home on my bed with the air-conditioning not talk of now that I sleep on the bare floor and being run over by fat rats at the Military Interrogation Centre in Apapa run by Col Frank Omenka. I wouldn’t know if the rats were bred deliberately. They were as big as cats and in that kind of situation, sleeping did not arise, may be I just dosed off and woke up again. Believe me, God strengthened me in my weakness during that fasting season. The only time I remembered collapsing was during one night and a young man, Capt Abaoba, now a major, somehow saw me drop down like a lead and he carried me out and revived me.

I also remember one dream I had. There I stood before a huge python about to kill me. Some how in the dream I got a revolver, and holding it with my two hands I fired it and the python came right down. When I woke up, the bare floor I was sleeping on was full of sweat and I knew that I have overcome the Abacha terror. Shortly after that, I was released and shortly after that Gen Sani Abacha died. I actually told people that Abacha would soon die because I saw that I had killed him in the dream.

You mean Frank Omenka?
The same Col. Frank Omenka. I suspect he became a demon later in life but when he saw me reading the bible, he must have been touched and felt he has to be careful about this man who always fast and read the Bible. I was never physically attacked by Omenka though, I saw so many people being chained, caned and shot in their legs.

In DMI?
In DMI, yes. I saw a boy from Ivory Coast, a diplomat captured from their embassy brought in chains. When he was protesting, Omenka blew off his leg. I think I was lucky because Omenka could have said I was trying to escape so he killed me because at a time General Bamayi visited me in detention and he was told that I was involved in the bomb throwing all over Lagos. I think it was a terrible experience and it probably helped me to become a better Christian.

When I came out, I became a deacon in the RCCG after going through the normal process. I would have wanted to become an Assistant Pastor. I have been proposed so many times but I was told that until I go to the Bible School, I can not be a pastor. Right now I have my hands full and I don’t like doing things haphazardly, so if God grant me life I would someday.

I earlier asked if, as a Christian, you have forgiven him ? I have forgiven him even through its not easy to forget. One thing I have to say about General Abacha, having known him reasonably well, is that a lot of crimes were committed in his name, which he probably did not know. A lot of money was stolen in his name by cabinet ministers; adviser’s etc. People were killed in his name that probably he did not know. I have forgiven him but I pray the Lord forgives him but I can not forget the sorrow he brought to me and my family.

Forgiven General Sani Abacha?
(Keeps quiet for a while) Hmm, well the man is dead now so whether I forgive him or not is immaterial. But I believe that whatever happens to man in life is for his own good. When I came out of detention, Pastor Adeboye told me that God wanted to use my detention as a way of drawing me near to Him and I believe that, one Muslim Major told me in detention that the nearest place to God is detention.

Col. Frank Omenka, who has been most maligned, I say this advisedly and most genuinely, each time he saw me in detention he would say “I don’t know why you are here o. They only told me to keep you”. There was a time he saw me reading the Bible and he said “Prof, what are you reading” and I said the Bible. Later he took the Bible from me because it’s a bible that has a lot of commentaries. Many people do not know that Frank Omenka was training to be a priest of the Catholic Church when he was in secondary school before he joined the army.

The release from prison.
My release came when I was wearing an under pant and a singlet which somebody gave me in the camp because I had already washed my trouser and shirt and they were still wet. I should also remember that after I have left, Col. Omenka called me back and said “professor, take this one thousand Naira to take taxi home” I took the money because I had nothing on me. When I got to Apapa, I took a taxi to Ketu where so many people were looking at me as a mad man. I boarded a kabukabu car (unregistered taxi cab) going to Ibadan, I had my wet cloths with me and on getting to Ibadan I came straight to my house which I met empty.

I was very upset because I didn’t’ meet anybody, apparently the entire house was deserted and my wife was in Lagos, so I went to my brothers house in Osuntokun Street in Bodija. As soon as my grand nice saw me, she busted out crying and screaming my name. Every body rushed out thinking may be she heard that I was dead. When they all saw me, they all began to cry, of course, I also cried too. They phoned my wife and other people abroad. All over the night I heard the phone rang. My sister In-law, a professor of medicine here in Ibadan even gave me some drugs to make me sleep but I couldn’t sleep through out that day.

Readers' comments are highly welcomed.