Abubakar Hashim
Today, October 15, 2025, marks exactly 30 years since ECOMOG Force Commander, Major General Victor Malu, arrived in Abuja for a decisive mission: to secure fund approval from Sani Abacha to execute the war in Liberia.
Abacha was Head of State from November 17, 1993, to June 8, 1998, when he died under mysterious circumstances.
ECOMOG first arrived in Liberia in August 1990 with 3,000 soldiers. Later, in May 1997, it deployed to Sierra Leone following a coup.
Today, October 15, 2025, is significant for two strategic reasons:
- General Victor Malu succeeded in getting fund approval from Abacha at a time when financial control was heavily centralized. Malu spent considerable time scurrying through the terraces of Aso Rock.
- Thirty years on, today is symbolic as it exposed the then defective structure of managing the wars in both Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The management of both wars was amorphous, incoherent, and lacking in command integrity. Both wars were financed outside statutory budgetary allocations. No one, except Babangida and Abacha, was privy to the actual costs of the wars.
Successive Force Commanders after Victor Malu, such as Shelpidi and others, were excluded from the financial operations of the wars. Logistic supplies were epileptic. Command authority at the Defence Headquarters was impaired. Service chiefs were completely excluded from the details of procurement and supplies. Favoured civilian contractors had better knowledge of the presidency’s logistic schedules than the service logistic units.
Only public-spirited civilians like Chief Tony Chinyere provided free logistic services toward the execution of both wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
It was in this difficult atmosphere that General Malu succeeded in securing funds and logistic supplies 30 years ago today.
Abubakar Hashim is TheNEWS West Africa Bureau Chief
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