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  • For the records:​Abacha was a thief; Buhari gave wrong evidence, Al-Mustapha a liar (2)- Godwin Etakibuebu

    For the records:​Abacha was a thief; Buhari gave wrong evidence, Al-Mustapha a liar (2)- Godwin Etakibuebu

    By Godwin Etakibuebu

    Last week, in this column, facts of how General Sani Abacha, a former Military Head of State, looted massively from the Nigerian treasury were presented.

    And first evidences produced [last week] were that of President Muhammadu Buhari, the current president of the Federal Republic. His evidences, which translated into false, inaccurate or wrong, helped much in bringing the facts to the open that Sani Abacha stole pathologically.

    This week, in this concluding work, we are presenting evidences of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha on the matter. Mustapha was the Chief Security Officer [CSO] to General Abacha, from the beginning to the very end. He was loyal and fully dedicated to the boss. He, like President Buhari, also defended Abacha that he never stole. Unlike President Buhari presentation of his defense, Mustapha admitted that money was stolen but not by Abacha. He concluded weirdly, “stressing that those who took over when the former Head of State [Sani Abacha] died were the thieves”. He even suggested that they [Abacha successors] that laundered the money stolen into foreign accounts under Abacha’s name. What a bizarre and unnatural defense!

    Then I will present the strenuous journey in pursuing the thief, identifying where and where around the globe he secretly stored away the loot, taken by the Federal Government since 1999 till date. This narration shall include engagement of foreign governments and some notable individual, mostly within the legal communities, courts processes, agreements signed and other numerous endeavours of the Nigerian government, again since 1999, till date.

    Stories of Abacha loot are lies’ – Al-Mustapha
    Daily Post of February 7, 2020
    Hamza Al-Mustapha, a former Chief Security Officer to late ex-Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, has revealed that he was forced to implicate President Muhammadu Buhari in a case of public funds looting. Al-Mustapha disclosed that he was forced to implicate the Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF, under the leadership of Buhari of looting.
    Featuring on Voice of Nigeria, VOA, on Thursday, Al-Mustapha insisted that stories of Abacha looting public funds were lies, stressing that those who took over when the former Head of State died were thieves.
    He stated that when late Abacha assumed leadership in Nigeria, there was about $200 billion in Nigeria’s foreign reserve. Al-Mustapha said some big names were angry with his former boss because he stepped on big toes while he was alive, hence the lies.
    He said: “But before Abacha died, our foreign reserve rose to over $900 billion. “I was forced to implicate the leadership of the defunct PTF under President Buhari then, during the military era. “If there will be a genuine fight against corruption in Nigeria, many people will be arrested.”

    Supreme Court rejects appeals to unfreeze Abacha’s accounts in Switzerland, UK, others.
    Nigeria has recovered, repatriated $200m Abacha loot – Onyeama
    The family of the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, lost, on Friday, its bid to regain access to the many accounts held by its members in banks in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Jersey, Liechenstein and Luxembourg blocked upon a directive by the Nigerian government in 1999.
    A five-man panel of the Supreme Court held, in a judgment on Friday, that it was too late for the Abacha family to query the decision taken by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1999, via a letter authored by the then Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Kanu Agabi (SAN).
    Justice Chima Nweze, who authored the panel’s lead judgment, in the appeal marked: SC/68/2010, held among others, that in view of the evidence presented by parties, he was left with no other options than to uphold the earlier concurrent decisions of the two lower courts (the Federal High Court, Kano and the Court of Appeal, Kaduna division), to the effect that the action was statute barred.
    Justice Nweze was absent at the court’s proceedings on Friday, but had his lead judgment read by Justice Amina Augie, who quoted him as saying: “In all forms, with the eloquent submission of the respondents’ counsel, and submissions anchored on the admitted evidence, I have no hesitation in affirming the concurrent decisions of the lower courts. Accordingly, I hereby enter an order dismissing this appeal. I further affirm the concurrent findings and decisions of the lower courts. Appeal dismissed.”
    Lawyer to the appellant, Reuben Atabo had in his brief of argument contended that the Federal Government acted without any legal backing. He also faulted the decisions of the two lower courts and argued that the FG, in asking foreign agents to freeze the accounts traced to the Abachas, acted on a law that was no longer in existence. He contended that the Banking (Freezing of Accounts) Act of 1st December 1983, which the FG relied on in September 1999 to demand the freezing of the accounts, was repealed on May 29, 1999.
    “In other words, between September 1999 and October 2003 when the various acts leading to the freezing of the appellant’s accounts were carried out by the respondents, the Banking (Freezing of Accounts) Act of 1st December 1983 upon which the said acts were carried out or founded, was non-existent, same having been repealed on 29ths May, 1999,” Atabo said.
    According to court documents, the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo, in December 1999, authorized the then AGF, Agabi, to request the Swiss authorities to freeze all bank accounts held in its jurisdiction by the late Head of State, General Abacha, his children, servants, agents and any other individuals or companies liked to them between 1993 and 1998.
    The Nigeria government was also said to have requested the Swiss authorities to seize and detain all banking and other documents relating to the affected accounts, charge and prosecute all holders of such accounts, in order to recover and pay over to the Federal Government of Nigeria all monies falsely and fraudulently taken from the government and people of Nigeria.
    Also, the FG was said to have engaged a foreign financial investigator, Enrico Monfrini of Hauchomann & Bottage in Geneva, Switzerland, to assist in recovering “all looted monies by General Abacha and his family members and other public servants and third parties who have used their position or participated as accomplices to misappropriate public funds.”
    Following these steps by the Federal Government, the accounts of the Abachas found in Switzerland, United Kingdom, Jersey, Liechenstein and Luxembourg were frozen, an action members of the late Head of State challenged by filing a suit, marked: FHC/KN/CS/6/2004, on January 28, 2004 before the Federal High Court, Kano.
    The suit filed on behalf of the Abachas by Alhaji Abba Mohammed Sani, had the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Attorney General of the Federation as respondents.
    After hearing parties, the court rendered its judgment in 2006, in which it upheld the argument by the respondents to the effect that the case was not only statute barred, the plaintiff could not relitigate the same case that had been decided by the court’s Abuja division in suit: FHC/ABJ/CS/347/2001brought by Sulgrave Holdings Inc & 19 others against the FRN & three others.
    Alhaji Sani appealed the decision of the Federal High Court, Kano at the Court of Appeal, Kaduna. But in its judgment on December 15, 2009, the appellate court upheld the decision of the trail court and dismissed the appeal, a decision Alhaji Sani again appealed to the Supreme Court, which the apex court dismissed on Friday.
    Other members of the Supreme Court’s five-man panel that heard the appeal, include Justices Olukayode Ariwoola, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Augie and Paul Galumje, all agreed with the lead judgment as written by Justice Nweze.

    ‘ABACHA LOOT’: SWITZERLAND TO RETURN $320M TO NIGERIA
    5 December 2017
    The late ruler is suspected to have embezzled about $2.2bn from Nigeria’s central bank
    The Swiss government has announced that it will return $320m (£240m) of the money allegedly stolen by Nigeria’s late military ruler Sani Abacha.
    The money was frozen in 2014 by a Swiss court after a legal procedure against his son, Abba Abacha.
    Originally deposited in Luxembourg, it is a fraction of the billions of dollars allegedly looted during his rule from 1993 to 1998.
    Recovering the “Abacha loot” has been a major priority for Nigeria.
    Although an agreement to repatriate the money was signed in March, the Nigerian Ministry of Justice, the World Bank and Switzerland have been grappling with legal complications surrounding the return of the money, says the BBC’s Stephanie Hegarty in Abuja.
    However an agreement setting out how the money would be repaid was signed on Monday by the three parties at the Global Forum on Asset Recovery GFAR in Washington, which means the funds will finally be sent back to Nigeria.
    How much ‘Abacha loot’ is outstanding?
    The Swiss government has paid $700m of the “Abacha loot” to the Nigerian government in the last 10 years and the outstanding $320m is the last of the money on Swiss soil and will be remitted in the next two to three years, ambassador Roberto Balzaretti, head of the Swiss delegation to GFAR told BBC’s Gbolahan Macjob in a telephone interview. “The money will be transferred to the Bank for International Settlements in Basel into the Nigerian government account,” he said. “It will be used to finance projects that will strengthen social security for the poorest sections of the Nigerian population.”
    What are the conditions of the agreement?
    The money will be paid in instalments and in small amounts, specifically to finance the National Social Safety Net projects, which would be agreed with the Nigerian government under the supervision of the World Bank with regular audits.
    If the first instalment is not properly accounted for, subsequent payment will be halted. This is to prevent the funds from being stolen again, Mr Balzaretti said.
    Having gone through all the facts of this presentation, what are your conclusions? Are you now convinced of the following?
    1. That Sani Abacha stole our monies massively.
    2. That evidence of President Buhari, saying that Abacha was not a thief, was not correct.
    3. That on this matter of Abacha stealing our monies, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha was a liar.
    Let all of us pray to the Creator of Heaven and Earth, our Maker and Redeemer this simple prayer. God, please, give us leaders in place of dealers!
    Godwin Etakibuebu; a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.
    Contact:
    Twitter: @godwin_buebu
    Facebook: Godwin Etakibuebu
    Facebook Page: Veteran Column
    Phone: +234-906-887-0014 – short messages only.
    You can also listen to this author [Godwin Etakibuebu] every Monday; 9:30 – 11am on Lagos Talk 91.3 FM live, in a weekly review of topical issues, presented by The News Guru [TNG].

  • For the records: Abacha was a thief, Buhari gave wrong evidence, Al-Mustapha is a liar (Pt. 1) – Godwin Etakibuebu

    By Godwin Etakibuebu

    THIS THING IS GOOD

    My dutiful responsibility in this exercise is very simple. It is to keep the records straight so that we can be often reminded of what actually happened in Nigeria at a particular time and the role-play of individual personae dramatis associated with events of such times. Today, we are dealing with a particular historical event, albeit fighting corruption and bringing back home Nigeria’s wealth – wealth excellently looted by a Nigerian Head of State – General Sani Abacha [a Four-Star General of the Nigerian Army]. May God bless his memorable Soul in the kingdom of scandalous looting.

    This conversation is never a verdict that the Gentleman Infantry officer of the Nigerian Army was the only Head of State [or President of the Nigerian Federation] that would be a thief. No, it would never be wise to conclude like that. Not with the well-known military antecedents of the Nigerian Gentlemen officers’ in corruption and kleptomaniac acumen. We know them. And that is not to say that the malady of stealing the Nigerian common wealth, dry and silly, is limited to the military era alone. No. The Nigerian democratic governments that succeeded the military since 1999 came with a refined version of the kleptomaniac drive, albeit untamed, unprecedented and unashamed. The Nigerian People’s common wealth is being looted, with impressive regularity, even as this piece is being written.

    Today however, in this exercise, we are looking strictly at the Sani Abacha’s looting facts. It is an endeavours in establishing the fact that he “looted and carted away”, and to establish this, we must consider some contrary opinions; for and against, in the matter. There are four angles to look into in establishing the fact, or even the fallacy, of the episode.

    First, we have to look at the statement credited to President Muhammadu Buhari; both before becoming President, and even after being sworn-in as a Constitutional Executive President of the Nigerian Federation. He; Muhammadu Buhari, defended General Sani Abacha astutely, saying the man never stole Nigeria’s money.

    We shall, after presentation of President Buhari’s wrong and misleading information, present the evidence credited to Major Hamza Al-Mustapha [Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State]’s claim that the loots were not stolen by General Sani Abacha, but was instead, stolen by his successors and placed in different bank accounts overseas under “Abacha’s name”. His lies in defending his former boss differed logicality, reasons and common facts of world’s rudiment of financial transaction. It was nothing but naked absurdity from an uninitiated individual. I will present his narration nevertheless for your consumption as such would navigate us to the “sea of reality” some Nigerians can build in preserving corruption.

    This will be followed by evidences from some countries and major cities around the world where Abacha’s loots were laundered and deposited; confirming the names of those family members and nefarious Associates in the stealing [one of the criminal associates that helped Abacha so much in that tragedy of unequalled stealing is currently a serving governor in one of the States in Northern Nigeria]. The countries and the cities are United States of America, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Jersey, Liechenstein and Luxembourg.

    We shall add factual evidences of the Nigerian Government’s pursuance of the loots; a journey that started off in 1999, when President Olusegun Obasanjo took over from General Abdulsalem Abubakar, who represented the last of Military interloping into the serenity of Nigerian political domain. We shall add to the federal government efforts in identifying the loots and efforts in retrieving same some different courts’ judgement, both in Nigeria and Overseas – all confirming beyond reasonable doubt the propensity of General Sani Abacha’ stealing mechanism.

    Your pronouncement of judgement might be even better than mine, at the end of going through all evidences herein produced, that Sani Abacha was a thief, Muhammadu Buhari gave wrong information in evidence, while Hamza Al-Mustapha remains a chronicle liar.
    Fact Number 1. Against President Buhari’s information – albeit wrong information.

    BUHARI CONFIRMS LOOT 10 YEARS AFTER DEFENDING THIEVING ABACHA

    Ten years ago, President Muhammadu Buhari, who served as the Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) under the late former military Head of State, Gen. Sanni Abacha denied that his former boss looted the treasury, but his government on Tuesday confirmed the repatriation of Abacha loot. The Ministry of Finance has announced that $322.5 million was returned to Nigeria by the Swiss Government as part of funds looted by the late Abacha.

    In June 2008, Buhari who had just lost election as presidential candidate of the All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP) gave Abacha a clean bill of health in Kano after the remembrance prayers marking 10 years of his death. He said there was no basis for accusing Abacha of corruption.

    “Ten years without the late Abacha, the said allegations remain silent because there are no facts. All the allegations levelled against the personality of the late Gen Sanni Abacha will remain allegations. It is 10 years now, things should be over by now,” Buhari said then according to newspaper reports. He added that rather than maligning Abacha, the late ruler deserved to be praised for initiating developmental ideas that moved the country forward.

    But Abacha has been accused of stealing nearly £5 billion while in office, out of which over $1 billion has reportedly been recovered from various sources around the world. On Tuesday, the Federal government through the office of the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, confirmed the release of $322.5 million in a statement issued by her Media Adviser, Oluyinka Akintunde. The minister said the money was paid to the Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria on December 18, 2017.
    Also in 2003, the government announced that a total of 22.5 million euro Abacha loot was recovered. The then Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke said a total of 175 million euro was also recovered from the family of the late head of state following a confiscation order by the Supreme Court of Liechtenstein. The Swiss government as at December 2002 said that it had so far returned to Nigeria $700 million stolen by the late dictator and deposited in several Swiss banks.

    Falana asks Buhari to apologise to Nigerians for saying Abacha didn’t steal
    Femi Falana, human rights lawyer, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to apologise to Nigerians over his comment on funds diverted by Sani Abacha, the late military dictator. Buhari had said Abacha did not loot the country. Last year alone, the federal government recovered $321 million Abacha loot from Switzerland.

    Speaking at a conference organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) in Abuja on Wednesday, Falana said it has been established that Abacha stole over $5 billion. He said about $3.5 billion had been recovered from the Abacha Loot. “On account of the loot that has recovered so far by the federal government President Buhari ought to publicly apologise to the Nigerian people having denied that the late General Sani Abacha was involved in the criminal diversion of public funds,” Falana said.
    The concluding part comes up next week Tuesday, for your enjoyable reading.

    Godwin Etakibuebu; a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.
    Contact:
    Twitter: @godwin_buebu
    Facebook: Godwin Etakibuebu
    Facebook Page: Veteran Column
    Phone: +234-906-887-0014 – short messages only.
    You can also listen to this author [Godwin Etakibuebu] every Monday; 9:30 – 11am on Lagos Talk 91.3 FM live, in a weekly review of topical issues, presented by The News Guru [TNG].

  • Supreme Court rejects appeals to unfreeze Abacha’s accounts in Switzerland, UK, others

    Supreme Court rejects appeals to unfreeze Abacha’s accounts in Switzerland, UK, others

    The family of the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, lost, on Friday, its bid to regain access to the many accounts held by its members in banks in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Jersey, Liechenstein and Luxembourg blocked upon a directive by the Nigerian government in 1999.

    A five-man panel of the Supreme Court held, in a judgment on Friday, that it was too late for the Abacha family to query the decision taken by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1999, via a letter authored by the then Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Kanu Agabi (SAN).

    Justice Chima Nweze, who authored the panel’s lead judgment. in the appeal marked: SC/68/2010, held among others, that in view of the evidence presented by parties, he was left with no other options than to uphold the earlier concurrent decisions of the two lower courts (the Federal High Court, Kano and the Court of Appeal, Kaduna division), to the effect that the action was statute barred.

    Justice Nweze was absent at the court’s proceedings on Friday, but had his lead judgment read by Justice Amina Augie, who quoted him as saying: “In all forms, with the eloquent submission of the respondents’ counsel, and submissions anchored on the admitted evidence, I have no hesitation in affirming the concurrent decisions of the lower courts.

    “Accordingly, I hereby enter an order dismissing this appeal. I further affirm the concurrent findings and decisions of the lower courts. Appeal dismissed.”

    Lawyer to the appellant, Reuben Atabo had in his brief of argument contended that the Federal Government acted without any legal backing. He also faulted the decisions of the two lower courts and argued that the FG, in asking foreign agents to freeze the accounts traced to the Abachas, acted on a law that was no longer in existence.

    He contended that the Banking (Freezing of Accounts) Act of 1st December 1983, which the FG relied on in September 1999 to demand the freezing of the accounts, was repealed on May 29, 1999.

    “In other words, between September 1999 and October 2003 when the various acts leading to the freezing of the appellant’s accounts were carried out by the respondents, the Banking (Freezing of Accounts) Act of 1st December 1983 upon which the said acts were carried out or founded, was non-existent, same having been repealed on 29ths May, 1999,” Atabo said.

    According to court documents, the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo, in December 1999, authorized the then AGF, Agabi, to request the Swiss authorities to freeze all bank accounts held in its jurisdiction by the late Head of State, General Abacha, his children, servants, agents and any other individuals or companies liked to them between 1993 and 1998.

    The Nigeria government was also said to have requested the Swiss authorities to seize and detain all banking and other documents relating to the affected accounts, charge and prosecute all holders of such accounts, in order to recover and pay over to the Federal Government of Nigeria all monies falsely and fraudulently taken from the government and people of Nigeria.

    Also, the FG was said to have engaged a foreign financial investigator, Enrico Monfrini of Hauchomann & Bottage in Geneva, Switzerland, to assist in recovering “all looted monies by General Abacha and his family members and other public servants and third parties who have used their position or participated as accomplices to misappropriate public funds.”

    Following these steps by the Federal Government, the accounts of the Abachas found in Switzerland, United Kingdom, Jersey, Liechenstein and Luxembourg were frozen, an action members of the late Head of State challenged by filing a suit, marked: FHC/KN/CS/6/2004, on January 28, 2004 before the Federal High Court, Kano.

    The suit filed on behalf of the Abachas by Alhaji Abba Mohammed Sani, had the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Attorney General of the Federation as respondents.

    After hearing parties, the court rendered its judgment in 2006, in which it upheld the argument by the respondents to the effect that the case was not only statute barred, the plaintiff could not relitigate the same case that had been decided by the court’s Abuja division in suit: FHC/ABJ/CS/347/2001brought by Sulgrave Holdings Inc & 19 others against the FRN & three others.

    Alhaji Sani appealed the decision of the Federal High Court, Kano at the Court of Appeal, Kaduna. But in its judgment on December 15, 2009, the appellate court upheld the decision of the trail court and dismissed the appeal, a decision Alhaji Sani again appealed to the Supreme Court, which the apex court dismissed on Friday.

    Other members of the Supreme Court’s five-man panel that heard the appeal, include Justices Olukayode Ariwoola, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Augie and Paul Galumje, all agreed with the lead judgment as written by Justice Nweze.

  • ‘Repatriated cash looted by successors, not Abacha’

    ‘Repatriated cash looted by successors, not Abacha’

    The $318,460,329 due to be repatriated from the United States (U.S.) and Jersey was not stolen by former Head of State, the late Gen. Sani Abacha, his ex-Chief Security Officer, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, has said.

    According to him, the loot was taken from the public till and hidden abroad in the late Abacha’s name by his successors.

    The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami and some senior government officials travelled to the U.S. where the tripartite agreement to repatriatec the cash was signed on Tuesday.

    Al-Mustapha, who spoke on the Voice of America (VOA) Hausa Service monitored in Kaduna on Thursday, faulted the the story that millions of dollars were stashed in foreign banks by his late boss.

    According to him, the late Gen. Abacha assumed leadership in Nigeria and found not more than $200 billion in Nigeria’s foreign reserve.

    “But before Abacha died, our foreign reserve rose to over $900 billion,” Al Mustapha claimed, saying that the late Abacha had stepped on so many toes while he presided over Nigeria, the reason some people were so angry and could sponsor such kinds of lies against him.

    He said: “All the money being repatriated were those stolen by some leaders who served after Abacha’s death.

    “The late Abacha’s successors in the Presidential Villa were the thieves who stole the billions and hid the money elsewhere.

    “I was forced to implicate the leadership of the defunct PTF under President Buhari then, during the military era.

    “If there will be a genuine fight against corruption in Nigeria, many people will be arrested.”

  • ‘Another Abacha era is here’, Obasanjo attacks Buhari again

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of returning the country to the era when state institutions were used to fight perceived enemies of the government.

    He made the allegation on Sunday while briefing reporters at his residence in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

    Obasanjo alleged that the President was putting into practice, the lessons he allegedly learned from late General Sani Abacha.

    “Today, another Abacha Era is here. The security institutions are being misused to fight all critics and opponents of Buhari and to derail our fledgeling democracy,” he claimed.

    “EFCC, Police and Code of Conduct Tribunal are also being equally misused to deal with those Buhari sees as enemies for criticising him or as those who may not do his bidding in manipulating election results.”

    The elder statesman alleged further, “Criticism, choice and being different are inherent trademarks of democracy.

    “If democracy is derailed or aborted, anarchy and authoritarianism will automatically follow. It is clear from all indications that Buhari is putting into practice the lessons he learned from Abacha.”

    In an open letter entitled “Point for Concern and Action”, the former President accused President Buhari of planning to rig the elections and intimidating the private sector.

    He also alleged that President Buhari has attacked the National Assembly and intimidated the Judiciary to “cow them to submission”.

    The former President, however, called on Nigerians to use the elections to make a statement by electing only leaders that can put the country on the path of progress.

  • Abacha’s repatriated loot: Matters Arising, By Henry Boyo

    Abacha’s repatriated loot: Matters Arising, By Henry Boyo

    By Henry Boyo

    The actual amount stolen from Nigeria’s Treasury between 1993-8, by former Military Dictator, Sanni Abacha, may never be known. Nonetheless, Amnesty International, for example, has suggested, that over $5bn of Abacha loot had been identified, even when speculations still persist that the audacious ‘shop lift’, by Abacha, and his associates, is probably nearer $10bn. The Nigerian treasury, may have been boosted by the recovery of well over $3bn, since Obasanjo initiated, the International pursuit of Abacha’s loot in September 1999.

    Notably, Liechtenstein returned $227m in 2014, while Jersey, reportedly returned €149m by November 2003, with another tranche of €315m, expected by December 2014; Luxembourg authorities, also announced that $630m of Abacha money, had been identified and frozen in 8 bank accounts.

    Furthermore, the US had in August 2014, similarly announced seizure and return of $480m Abacha loot to Nigeria. However, with Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun’s confirmation, in April 11 2018, Switzerland will have fulfilled its pledge to return another $322m, in addition to the first tranche of $700m which was fully repatriated into Nigeria’s kitty by December 2012.

    Notably, the Swiss Authorities were obviously unhappy, with the ‘hazy manner’ the $700m loot, earlier repatriated, was spent; consequently, the major pre-condition for drawdown of the second tranche of $322m was that “it will be used to finance projects that will strengthen social security for the poorest sections of the Nigerian population”.

    Already, there are grumblings that the choice of the poorest Nigerians, who will benefit, will ultimately be arbitrary, sectional or inequitable; besides, the wasteful manner, such funds had been applied, to uncoordinated, freewheeling, populist interventions, in the past, will certainly, not inspire much hope, that the additional repatriation of another $322m loot will have a meaningful or enduring social impact.

    Furthermore, the repatriation process for the latest $322m, may have, infact, actually commenced in 2014, with the pre-condition, according to a BBC December 5 2017 report, that “the money will be paid in installments, and in small amounts, specifically, to finance National social safety net projects, which have been agreed with the Nigerian government and executed with regular audits, under the supervision of the World Bank.”

    According to Ambassador Roberto Balzarretti, Head of the Swiss delegation, in the BBC report, on the Agreement with Nigeria, “if the first installment is not properly accounted for, subsequent payments will be halted. This is to prevent the funds from being stolen again!”

    What this may mean is that, although the Nigerian Government appears to presently, celebrate the reported return of $322m, however, the modus operandi for disbursement, according to the terms of agreement, was projected as installmental payments in “small amounts”. Notably, also, although, the Swiss Authorities, actually indicated, in May 2014, that a total of N380m would be returned, ultimately, by July 2018, just over $322m was confirmed as the actual net inflow. The difference of about $60m may, have been of course, incurred as “repatriation fees” to both Nigerian and foreign agents.

    However, the mind boggles, if the Abacha loot was, conversely, sensibly applied to create critical education, health and transport infrastructure since 2003. Regrettably, most of these funds were impounded in foreign custody, for possibly more than 20 years, without even a kobo interest payment. Indeed, it would not be totally preposterous to suggest that the Swiss and other International financial outfits, which harboured deposits of Abacha loot, may have also, circuitously, become Nigeria’s creditors from our government’s forays into the International debt market to finance fiscal deficits. All the same, maybe we should still be thankful that a part of the monstrous loot was at least recovered.

    The question, nonetheless, is whether or not the application of such repatriated loot will have any enduring or meaningful social impact on the challenge of reducing the number of 87million Nigerians who, according to a recent report from the Washington based, Brookings Institution, live in abject poverty(See “At last a world ‘trophy’ for Nigeria! www.betternigerianow.com).

    Instructively, however, if according to the agreement, installmental payments of the $322m Swiss loot were already made between 2014 -18, then, once again, the social impact of such interventions has regrettably, clearly not been noticeable.

    In essence, however, the agreement between the Swiss Authorities and the Nigerian government appears to have been rather simplistically predicated on the notion that, small cash hand outs, to the poor, from time to time, would reduce poverty, and provide social safety nets for almost 200 million Nigerians. Arguably, however, the surest social safety net against deepening poverty, everywhere, certainly, still remains ready opportunities to engage in gainful employment. Invariably, with the population of unemployed Nigerians still rising, the repatriated Abacha loot has failed so far, to ameliorate the widespread scourge of poverty, as expected.

    The obvious reason for the failure of expectations from such ‘charitable’ cash injections, is that increasing government expenditure, will not automatically propel economic growth or reduce poverty, so long as the underlying monetary indices, in the economy, remain counterproductive and out of gear. For example, the model of increasing government spending, when inflation is already well above best practice rates below 3% will not reduce poverty. It is equally implicit that interest rates, paid by local industrialists and businesses to borrow, will predictably remain higher than the inflation rate and therefore increase cost of production, since it is not rational for anyone to lend money, below prevailing inflation rate.

    Furthermore, higher rates of inflation, will inevitably, also constrain consumer demand, which will in turn, compel industrial and business contraction, with serious consequences for the level of employment. Regrettably, therefore, the re-injection of Abacha’s looted funds and other similar fiscal and extra budgetary cash interventions, to purportedly alleviate poverty, may have ‘also inadvertently’ contributed to our economy’s double digit inflationary push in recent years. The reason for this mismatch is quite obvious; invariably, best practice, implies that you do not put out the fire of inflation by pumping more and more money into a market, in which the monetary authorities, themselves, have expressed concerns, on the discomforting inflationary pressure of the burden of prevailing excess money supply.

    Inexplicably, all Administrations, since 1999 have consistently projected annual fiscal deficits which were usually funded by additional debt consolidation, even when the accommodation of such fortuitous cash interjections, such as the $322m Abacha loot would have eliminated or possibly reduce the need to borrow at such oppressive rates.

    Nonetheless, it is likely that the challenge of inflation is persistently instigated by CBN’s usual unilateral substitution of Naira allocations for all forex revenue, including repatriated loot, before distribution is patently responsible for spiraling inflation and the dysfunctionality of Nigeria’s economy and deepening mass poverty.

  • Buhari under fire for praising thieving dictator, Sani Abacha

    Buhari under fire for praising thieving dictator, Sani Abacha

    President Muhammadu Buhari is under fire for praising a former Nigerian military dictator, Sani Abacha who stole hundreds of millions of dollars from Nigeria.

    Buhari, who served under the late Mr Abacha as head of the Petroleum Trust Fund, (PTF), said the late dictator contributed to the infrastructural development of the nation.

    Recall that Hundreds of millions of dollars stolen by Mr Abacha and kept in foreign accounts have since been recovered by various Nigerian governments. Recently, Mr Buhari narrated what his government would do with the recently recovered stolen Abacha funds.

    This is not the first time Mr Buhari will be defending his late boss. He once expressed doubt about confirmed cases of theft of public resources by Mr Abacha.

    Unfortunately for Buhari, his attempt at changing the narrative around his late boss, Abacha has attracted lots of criticism of his administration.

    And rather than portray Abacha as a super infrastructure-builder, Buhari has escalated condemnations of the late thieving dictator as his name [Abacha] now trends on Twitter for negative reasons.

    Critics are of the opinion that praising Abacha at a time the country is bedeviled by corruption shows clearly that Buhari is not sincere about his anti-corruption crusade.

    Reno Omokri, a former media aide to ex-President, Goodluck Jonathan said “What type of anti corruption crusader chooses Abacha, a proven thief, who was also a blood thirsty buffoon, as his mentor? When I schooled in England, my university had a module on Abacha’s thievery. This is the man Buhari aspires to be? The man who exiled Tinubu and NADECO!”

    Similarly, another critic, Demola Rewaju said it was very wrong for Buhari to publicly defend Abacha’s corrupt ways.

    Rewaju’s words “Shehu Musa Yar’Adua was a Military Officer from the North, just like Buhari was in 1993 – yet he spoke up courageously against Abacha and was jailed until he died in jail.

    Buhari not only did not speak up against Abacha, he served under him and now defends his corruption.”

    Read more attacks on Buhari:

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    Mr Abacha ruled Nigeria as military head of state between 1993 and 1998 when he died in office.

    His regime was characterised by abuse of power, wanton corruption, victimisation of pro-democracy activists and killings of notable figures in democratic struggles, ostensibly by agents of the state.

  • Buhari reveals what he will do with $320m Abacha loot

    Buhari reveals what he will do with $320m Abacha loot

    The Federal Government on Monday in Abuja announced that $320m stolen funds by former late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, would be spent on the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme of the administration to support the poor.

    Declaring open the Eighth Commonwealth Conference of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Africa, Buhari, represented by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, said it was one condition given by the Switzerland authorities for the repatriation of the funds.

    Buhari said that The Global Forum on Asset Recovery, after its inaugural meeting in Washington, DC, in December 2017, had facilitated efforts toward asset recovery and return.

    “The GFAR saw the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Nigeria and the Government of Switzerland for the return of an additional $320m of the Sani Abacha loot.

    “Included in that agreement is the commitment that the funds would be invested in one of Nigeria’s flagship social investment programmes, the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme targeted at the poorest and most vulnerable households in our country.’’

  • Why I rejected my friends “commando style” plans to forcefully get me out of Abacha’s gulag – Obasanjo

    Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has explained why he rejected plans by his international friends to forcefully get him out of the Yola Prisons in 1995 using the ‘commando-style,” after the death of his erstwhile deputy, General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua in Abakaliki prison.

     

    The former Nigerian leader spoke on Friday at an event in Abuja to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of Gen. Yar’Adua.

    The duo were arrested in 1995 in connection with a phantom coup by the Abacha Administration.

    They were subsequently sentenced to death before the sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.

    Yar’Adua died in the Abakaliki Prison in 1997, Abacha a year later, and following the emergence of General Abdulsalami Abubakar as Head of State, Obasanjo was released from prison.

    He went on to become civilian president in 1999 and was re-elected in 2003.

    Going down memory lane on how he and Yar’Adua were arrested, tried and sentenced over the alleged coup plot, Obasanjo said: “When Shehu was first arrested, I was out in South Africa, and I rushed back home and asked the man who arrested him, and the man who arrested him said to me that he did not know that Shehu had been arrested.

    “I said, ‘Mr. Head of State, say that to the marines.’ There is no way the number two man in this country at one time will be arrested without the knowledge of the current number one man. Soon after, Shehu was released, but only for a few weeks.

    “When he was arrested a second time, I was arrested along with him and kept in separate locations. But after the verdict was given about what would happen to us, we met in Kirikiri. I believe that was his mistake because that was the last time we actually stayed together.

    “We had about three nights and we were able to speak and work together even at the Kirikiri Maximum prison. Even in prison, we strategised together. Unfortunately, our strategy did not work.”

    Continuing, Obasanjo said: “When Shehu died in prison, my international friends decided that they would use the commando plan to get me out of prison, and they actually did make the plan, got the money and wanted to get a helicopter to get me out of Yola prison and take me to Cameroon.

    “They sent a message to me and I told them if you do, I will not get out of prison, and that was when they dropped the idea of using commando effort to get me out of prison.

    “That would have defeated what we stood for. We stood for Nigeria and we stood to face whatever consequences standing for Nigeria would cost us.

    “It cost Shehu Yar’adua his life. Those of us who believe in what Shehu stood for and are still alive, the only thing we can do is to allow the struggle to continue, because we are not at the end of the struggle yet.”

    He described Yar’Adua as the best deputy he could ever dream of.

    His words: “I could not have had a better deputy than Shehu Yar’adua. When I was military Head of State, we had quite a number of exciting and serious times together that we shared.

    “One day, I had cold and the doctor came to see me, and I said to him, ‘supposed this cold decides to take my life and I slump, what will you do?’ He said, ‘I will try first aid and I will do all I need to do to revive you.’

    I said, ‘If you try that and it doesn’t work, what will you do?’

    He said, ‘ I will call the Chief of Staff.’

    “Just then, Shehu came in and I said: ‘Shehu, listen to what we were talking about’, and I relayed to him the discussion and told him, ‘Now that you have come in, I am here on the ground, what will you do?’

    He said, ‘I have no problem with that. I will kick you with my military boot and say get up, this is your job!’

    “We had such interesting times together. We also had difficult times together.

    “We had to put our heads together and discuss how we could handle the issue of transition, how to implement our own programmes and how to move Nigeria forward.

    “We succeeded in doing what I believed was the right thing for the country at that time and putting in place a democratically elected government.

    “A few years after that, Shehu came to me in the farm and said he wanted to set up a grassroots party. He said from his study, he had discovered that Nigeria had never really had a truly grassroots party, not even NEPU.

    “I asked him if there was anything he wanted us to do while in government that we did not do and he said no. I said then, I pray that this grassroots party that you want to build will succeed.

    “I asked him, ‘Do you want to use this grassroots party to get into power?’

    “He said, ‘Not really. But if it turns out to be the case, will you ask me not to?’

    “I told him not really, but I will be very glad if it turns out to be the case.

    “Many members of that party have remained loyal to the cause he set out to build; his ideals and what he stood for both when he was alive and when he departed.”

    Obasanjo said Yar’adua lived a life of service, saying, “Those of us who knew Shehu very well, knew the type of man he was, the type of live he lived, his commitment to his family, to his religion, to his nation and his friends.

    “When you asked the question, what is life, I think Shehu Yar’adua’s life typifies the answer to that question.

    “He lived his life and gave us eloquent answers about what life is, and that is also evident from what we have seen here today. Twenty years after he passed on, we are here with his memory still green and fresh in all of us.”

    Former Vice President and one of Yar’Adua’s closest political associates, Atiku Abubakar, who is also the Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Shehu Yar’adua Foundation, was conspicuously missing at the event. His wife, Titi, was however present.

    President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone eulogized the late Tafidan Katsina for his selfless service to the country, while one of his colleagues in the army, General Paul Tarfa, explained that the coup that toppled Yakubu Gowon was staged principally against the junta and not aimed at Gowon.

    Dignitaries at the event include former Minister of Finance, Mallam Adamu Ciroma; former Minister of Police Affairs, Adamu Waziri; former Governors Donald Duke of Cross Rivers and Peter Obi of Anambra; Mrs Titilayo Ajanaku; Ambassador Patrick Dele Cole; Gen. Paul Tarfa, among others.

  • $300m Abacha, Alamieyeseigha’s loot: Nigeria, US sign MoU on repatriation of funds

    $300m Abacha, Alamieyeseigha’s loot: Nigeria, US sign MoU on repatriation of funds

    As part of bids to repatriate stolen funds starched in foreign countries, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, has signed an agreement with the United States of America spelling out the roadmap for the return to Nigeria over $300m looted by Nigeria’s former Head of State, the late Gen. Sani Abacha, and a former Governor of Bayelsa State, the late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.

    Malami said the US government had taken custody of the money, including parts of it stashed in the United Kingdom, France and Jersey.

    This is contained in the speech delivered by the AGF at Chatham House, London in the UK on Thursday.

    A copy of the speech made available to journalists in Abuja by the minister’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Salihu Isah, via e-mail, was titled, ‘Nigeria’s Anti-Corruption Effort: Working with the Media, Civil Society and International Partners’.

    The minister stated that the US government took custody of the over $300m following forfeiture orders made by American courts.

    He said of the $300m, the sums of $1.6m and £21.7m were in the UK, $145m was stashed in France, and $299m in Jersey.

    The disclosure by the AGF followed an earlier tripartite agreement he signed alongside the representatives of the Swiss government and World Bank for the return by Switzerland to Nigeria the sum of $321m looted by Abacha and members of his family.