Lawan Gwadabe

Gwadabe was appointed Commander of the National Guards.^[7] On 17 November 1993, escorted by a detachment of the National Guards under Colonel Gwadabe, three senior army officers arrested Ernest Shonekan, the interim civilian president of Nigeria who had been appointed by General Ibrahim Babangida. The coup led to the assumption of power by General Sani Abacha.^[11] Gwadabe served as Chief of Staff of the Gambian Army, succeeding Brigadier Abubakar Dada. On his return to Nigeria after the July 1994 Yahya Jammeh coup in Gambia, he was briefly Principal Staff Officer to General Sani Abacha before being appointed Commander of 23 Armored Brigade in Yola. On 1 March 1995, he was arrested on a charge of plotting a coup against the Abacha government, and was jailed, tortured and later convicted of treason along with others. He was on death row when Abacha died unexpectedly in June 1998.^[7] Years later, Abacha's chief of staff Lt-Gen. Oladipo Diya said that he considered that the claimed coup plot was non-existent.^[12]

In March 1999, the transitional military government of General Abdulsalami Abubakar granted a state pardon to Gwadabe and others accused of plotting coups against General Sani Abacha.^[4] In June 2009, President Umaru Yar'Adua granted Gwadabe and others a full pardon.^[13] In 2004, he was a leading member of the Kaduna Discussion Group, aligned with former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida.^[14]

As a board member of MTS First Wireless, in January 2005, Gwadabe alleged that the chairman had been involved in fraudulent allocation of shares and misdeeds in importation of telecommunications equipment.^[15] Gwadabe was among leaders who, in 2005, were encouraging General Ibrahim Babangida to contest the 2007 presidential election.^[16] He became a member of the board of several companies, including U2 Communications Africa and North Eastern Capital. He became CEO of Seeds Project Company and Chairman of North Eastern Integrated Oil services Ltd. His business interests include Oil and Gas, Leisure and Hospitality services.^[8] In February 2009, Gwabade was appointed chairman of the board of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).^[17] In August 2009, he announced that 22 ambulances were being deployed in the Federal Capital Territory to assist accident victims.^[18]