Photograph of General Colin Powell awarding General Sani Abacha the Legion of Honor

General Sani Abacha (right), the Nigerian chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, receiving the Legion of Honor medal from General Colin Powell, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the Pentagon on Wednesday, May 15th, 1991.

"(General Sani Abacha) has the worst CIA bio I've ever read, and I've read lots of them."
- U.S. General Colin Powell (rtd) speaking in 1995.

This photograph will come as a surprise and even a shock to the many who are familiar with the quote made in 1995 by U.S. Army General Colin Powell.

Why would the United States government bestow a prestigious medal to a foreign dignitary only for one of its top officials to make such a disparaging comment?

There are several reasons for this, but it is first important to note that Powell would have become familiar with the contents of Abacha’s CIA profile when he served as the 15^th U.S. National Security Advisor (NSA) from 1987 to 1989. The period includes that of 1987 when he was the deputy NSA during the Reagan presidency. He may also have had access to Abacha’s file on a need-to-know basis during his spell as the 12^th chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993, during which time he awarded Abacha the medal.

A foreign military officer must perform exceptionally meritorious services in support of the United States to be awarded the U.S. Legion of Merit. Abacha may have presided over increased cooperation between the militaries of the United States and Nigeria, although the volume of trade was not exceptional at the time. The United States made up only a minor fraction of heavy weapons deliveries to Nigeria.

It is important to note that while Powell’s comment on Abacha was an expression of frustration about the intelligence services of the United States having little useful or psychological insight into Abacha, it was of sufficient ambiguity to be construed as a disparaging evaluation of a man who was becoming a figure of hate in Western media circles.

In 1995 Powell was no longer in government and was promoting his autobiography. His comment was made in the same interview in which he described Nigeria as a "nation of scammers".

His words succeeded in uniting all Nigerians in condemning Powell himself. As a Nigerian pointed out, how would Powell have liked it if -as biological racists assert- that high levels of violent crime among Black Americans in annual FBI figures make all Black Americans criminals?

Others who tracked Powell’s career may not have been impressed by his moralising tone. They allege that he distinguished himself as a "company man" and servant of the American empire through his part in covering up the Mai Lai Massacre in Vietnam while a mid-ranking officer.

Powell also allowed himself to be used by ruthless neoconservatives to spout lies about Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. His factually compromised statement to the United Nations was a key step in the build up to the illegal invasion of Iraq, and his legacy became irretrievably tarnished by this.

As for Sani Abacha, Powell’s comments were made in the context of his controversial tenure as the military head of state of Nigeria, a period which saw widespread repression including Abacha’s formation of a unit which assassinated political dissenters. He was also extremely corrupt, managing to embezzle between U.S. $2-5 billion which was secreted to a multitude of destinations including Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the United Kingdom and the United States.

He was also working towards transforming himself from a military dictator to a civilian one.

But Abacha’s flaws do not explain the disparity between the United States decision to on the one hand honour Abacha with a prestigious medal and on the other to demonise him. A clue lies in a tried and tested formula that has been part of U.S. foreign policy for decades. Those foreign leaders who are not subservient to American whims are often given such treatment. It is no secret that American policymakers were wary about Nigerian successes in striving to bring peace first to Liberia and then to Sierra Leone through ECOMOG, the West African military force which was composed of mainly Nigerian troops. The Abacha regime oversaw these deployments. The Abuja Peace Agreement signed by warring factions in the Liberian war was also done under Abacha’s watch.

If Abacha in 1991 was -to borrow the phrase coined by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt- a proverbial “son-of-a-bitch” serving U.S. interests in 1991, it is clear that by 1995 that this was no longer the case.

© Adeyinka Makinde (2026).

Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England.

About Paul Muni

Actor Paul Muni on the set of the movie Scarface with Jocko the Monkey.

I don't think I've watched more than two movies in which he starred, namely I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang and Scarface but have always been aware that he was a highly regarded actor.

I once read of Marlon Brando stating that Muni was his greatest influence as an actor or words to that effect.

I think he had the vibe of being a "method actor" before the term was invented. But his roots were in Yiddish Theatre, starting as a child actor, and not in the Stanislavski system which hugely influenced "The Method".

Regardless, I believe that an evolutionary line can be drawn from Muni to both Brando and Montgomery Clift, with John Garfield fitting somewhere in-between. They all incrementally developed the side of acting concerned with psychological realism.

I must make an effort to watch more of his movies.

© Adeyinka Makinde (2026).

Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England.

Wey, Mountbatten and a glimpse at my past

Commodore J.E.A. Wey, the Chief of Naval Staff, Nigerian Navy, and Lord Mountbatten, an Admiral of the Fleet of the Royal Navy and the Chief of Defence Staff of the British Armed Forces, during the latter's visit to the Naval Base in Apapa, Lagos on October 14^th, 1964.

This frame from a Reuters newsreel covering the visit of Lord Mountbatten to the naval base in Lagos caught my eye.

The white painted building in the background used to serve as apartments for naval officers. We lived there for a short period after returning from England where my father's diplomatic posting as the Deputy Defence Advisor at the Nigerian High Commission came to an end in April 1973.

The building, which overlooked Lagos Lagoon, was located further up from the jetty from which Mountbatten alighted. Beyond it was a cove.

Our stay at the base was a little longer than that at the Excelsior Hotel where we had stayed for a week or two upon our return. We had arrived after Easter, and the school terms had already begun. My father had originally intended to enrol me at Command Children’s School, Ann Barracks, Yaba which my three older siblings had attended prior to our departure to England. It had been previously named Army Children’s School. However, since the quota of pupils for my age grade was filled, I was enrolled at its sister school at the cantonment in Ikeja.  

The Navy School Buses which took the children of naval personnel to both schools in Ikeja and Yaba started at the base. It meant that we had to wake up earlier than most other children. Our father who had worked at the base during the 1960s -first as the Flag Lieutenant and the Flag Secretary to Wey- was deployed to the Ministry of Defence which was situated across the Lagoon on Lagos Island, and we arrived home early enough to see him return via a naval launch and alight from it at the aforementioned jetty.

Unsurprisingly, there wasn’t much playing space in a military establishment although we could roam a little on weekends. The base offered a range of delights such as viewing the lagoon at sunset and absorbing the cool breeze that often wafted our way. I also enjoyed looking at the various naval vessels berthed in their designated spaces. They included NNS Nigeria, a frigate which was the navy’s flag ship, and the twin corvettes NNS Otobo and NNS Dorina. Another enjoyable aspect of living at the base was of our father regularly ordering seasoned goat meat from the new officer’s mess which was built on sticks some metres away from the jetty.

It was an altogether enjoyable experience living at the base but it was something of a relief to finally get housed in a large two-storey home which had a very large balcony.

As for the block of flats, I recall that they were turned into administrative offices by the late 1970s, although I was recently informed that it has been converted to living quarters for junior officers.

© Adeyinka Makinde (2026).

Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England.

Malcolm, Elijah and Louis

Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad and Louis X. Image I restored using AI software from a frame ‘snatched’ from the Lance Shabazz Show on YouTube.

A photograph of three key figures in the history of the Nation of Islam.

From left to right:

. Malcolm X (later El-Haj Malik Shabazz) who became the National Spokesman for Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam.

. Elijah Muhammad the Georgia-born leader of the Nation of Islam until his death in 1975.

. Louis X (later Louis Farrakhan) who succeeded Malcolm as the National Spokesman for Elijah. Farrakhan revived the NOI in the late 1970s after initially accepting Wallace Muhammad's decision to convert the NOI into an Orthodox Sunni Islam organisation.

The photograph was taken in Harlem in 1963 before Malcolm’s suspension later that year for remarks made about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He went on to form the Organisation of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) in 1964. The OAAU was a secular Black Nationalist organisation. Malcolm’s suspension was made “indefinite” the following year and in February 1965 he was assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem.

© Adeyinka Makinde (2026).

Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England.

A two-part World War 2 Biopic on Charles de Gaulle has been released

Général de brigade Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French Forces, photographed in London, 1942.

This looks interesting.

It is about Charles de Gaulle's life between 1940 and 1944.

You could make 3 or 4 separate feature length films on his life such as by focusing on the events of 1968 or the period between his "comeback" in 1958 to his granting of independence to Algeria.

I would expect this movie to include depictions of his achievements as a military officer.

De Gaulle was among those who helped develop the theories associated with tank warfare, a topic which is often dominated by the work of the German Heinz Guderian. He was also the only French general to have mounted a successful counterattack against invading German forces during "Fall Gelb".

Also, this film will no doubt explore his close but complex relationship with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He fled to England with only a few supporters and then a death sentence awaiting him in Vichy.

But he persevered and he gave Churchill "hell". Churchill and other Brits were perplexed as to why de Gaulle should be so bold and "arrogant" in his dealings with his hosts while in exile, but he felt that the fact that he was in a weak position meant that he should be even bolder when defending France's interests and its honour while the shame of capitulation and collaboration surrounded French acquiescence to German occupation and the creation of Vichy.

I hope the director recreates an episode where John Colville, Churchill's private secretary, heard them shouting at each other at the top of their voices in a rather violent way. Then a sudden silence descended on the place.

He thought that they'd killed each other.

But when he entered Churchill's office both men were sitting down and smiling at each other, De Gaulle was smoking one of Churchill's cigars.

I would also expect the film to cover the assassination attempt on him in Notre Dame Cathedral.

The man led an eventful life while living in interesting times!

© Adeyinka Makinde (2026).

Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England.

Shostakovich’s Main Theme for The Gadfly (1955)

Poster for The Gadfly (1955).

Dmitri Shostakovich composed a good deal of music that is accessible to the discerning listener.

I love this overture to the Soviet film titled The Gadfly, an historical epic set against the backdrop of Italian freedom fighters battling to expel the Austrian invaders from their land.

I have the album as reconstructed by Mark Fitz-Gerald and played by the Deutsch Staatsphilharmonic Rheinland-Pfalz. The tempo of the overture and its reprise is faster than most of the versions I have encountered in YouTube.

The Gadfly soundtrack also has a sweet, delicate tune referred to as "Romance" which came to be well-known to many because it was used as the opening theme music to Reilly: Ace of Spies, the epic mini-series produced in the early 1980s on the life of the spy Sidney Reilly (nee Sigmund Rosenbloom).

© Adeyinka Makinde (2021).

Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England.

The Late Lindsey Graham: The subject of a litany of anti-eulogies

Lindsey Graham (1955-2026).

The journalist Piers Morgan sanctimoniously decries what he describes as the "despicably cruel, heartless and abusive way that many people in (the) UK and US have responded to the deaths of conservative politicians, Ann Widdecombe and Lindsey Graham". He also claims that the "least kind people on earth are ironically those on the #BeKind woke left". However, the truth is that such anti-eulogies are not confined to any segment of the ideological spectrum. And regarding Graham, the late U.S. Senator for South Carolina, the “abusive” comments voiced on social media after his demise were largely unrelated to conservative values, as they focused on his perpetual support for U.S. military intervention and his slavish devotion to Zionist interests.

Graham arguably typified the profile of the bought and paid off U.S. politician who is more apt at serving the interests of his donors than his constituents.  He called for the murder of foreign leaders and he also called for and condoned the mass murder of civilian populations, both highly ironic given his training as a lawyer who as an active duty U.S. Air Force officer and as a reservist advised pilots on the laws of war.

He was a man who slavishly promoted the United States war machinery which alongside his promotion of the imposition of sanctions has directly and indirectly resulted in the deaths of millions of innocent civilians.

Graham personally profited from his devotion to the U.S. military industry and the Zionist lobby, both causes which have ultimately led to the diminution of American moral standing among the global community of nations, as well as its unmanageable trillion dollar sovereign debt.

Graham effectively admitted that U.S. policy was geared towards using Ukraine as a proxy force for the purpose of "weakening" Russia. To him the aid given to Ukraine -a country which has suffered from the migration of a good deal of its population and the loss of what can be objectively estimated to be the physical destruction of well over a million men- was worth it because it led to the deaths of Russians. Few who heard it are unlikely to forget his precise remarks:

And the Russians are dying. The best money we’ve ever spent.

But Graham's support for proxies employed by the American empire to achieve certain geopolitical goals did not only include Ukraine. Along with John McCain, the late U.S. Senator with whom Graham worked together for many years in drumming up support for U.S. interventions, Graham approved of the use of Jihadist extremists in operations dedicated to the overthrow of the secular, anti-Zionist governments of Libya and Syria.

Indeed, Graham was pictured next to McCain as his colleague gave an award to Abdel Hakim Belhaj, the leader of the al-Qaeda-affiliated and now defunct Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), during a visit to Benghazi in late 2011 to celebrate the overthrow of the government of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

So while it is distasteful to use abusive language against the dead, it is important that Graham be acknowledged to be the perennial warmonger and corrupt politician that he was.

© Adeyinka Makinde (2026).

Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England.