Nigeria - General Sani Abacha Speech Broadcast

(18 Aug 1994) Nigeria's military government ended speculation about whether it would drop treason charges against presidential claimant Moshood Abiola by saying it had no plans to intervene in his trial. Military ruler General Sani Abacha also announced that he was dissolving the leaderships of two striking oil workers' unions and the trades union federation. His nationwide broadcast on Wednesday (17/8) left Nigerians in no doubt that his administration was ready to take tough action to try to end the country's worst political crisis since a civil war in 1970. SHOWS: LAGOS, NIGERIA, 17/8 extracts from televised speech by general abacha, english sot saying supporters of (jailed opposition politician) abiola broke the law, and abiola's recent move in declaring himself president prompted his arrest, and the government should not interfere in legal process: he is committed to early return to civilian rule, he came into office at time of crisis, and during past 9 months has had to cope with unnecessary turmoil preventing return to civilian rule: the government will deal strongly with anyone who threatens our economic interests... 1.50 ends Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...