Photograph of General Colin Powell awarding General Sani Abacha with 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 weapons 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. The 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 one the one hand honouring Abacha with a prestigious medal and then demonising 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 signed 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.