This historic photo captures one of the very last public appearances of Nigeria’s military Head of State, General Sani Abacha.

On June 7, 1998, he warmly welcomed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja during Arafat’s stopover en route to an OAU summit.

Less than 16 hours later in the early hours of June 8, 1998 Abacha was found dead at Aso Villa at the age of 54