When in 1993, under the military regime of Ibrahim Babangida, a presidential election that was supposed to usher in a new dawn for Nigeria was sacrilegiously annulled, it appeared that the final nail had been driven into Nigeria’s coffin.
Before the annulment, it had appeared that there was no real commitment to returning the country to civilians by the Babangida administration. The suspect haste with which the elections were annulled was telling. But more telling was the fact that the chaos enabled yet another military regime to take over. Sani Abacha had worked closely with Ibrahim Babangida. In the carefully designed uncertainty surrounding the annulment, he rode into power via yet another military coup.
His five years in power between 1993 and 1998 brought with it a blizzard of assassinations, and unrivalled plunder of public funds.
In 1998, Abacha died in mysterious circumstances. His death paved the way for Nigeria to return to democracy but also lifted the curtain on just how much the Kano strongman stole from Nigeria.
He did not only steal from Nigeria on an unprecedented scale. In choosing to stash his loot in countries around the world, Abacha ensured that posthumously, he continues to paint Nigeria as a country caked in corruption and kleptocracy. Yet, to many, he remains a hero. In their eerie estimation, the Nigerian hero is not the one without sin but the one who showed pluck in committing sin.
An inventory of what Abacha stole from Nigeria reads like some thriller out of Hollywood. In 1998, $750 million was recovered from the Abacha family. In 2000, $64 million was recovered from Switzerland. In 2002, $1.2 billion was recovered from the Abacha family. In 2003, $88 million was recovered from Switzerland. In 2003, $160 million was recovered from New Jersey. In 2005, $461.3million was recovered from Switzerland. In 2006, $44.1 million was recovered from Switzerland. In 2014, $227 million was recovered from Liechtenstein. In 2018, $322 million was recovered from Switzerland. In 2020, $311.7 million was recovered from New Jersey.
The Federal Government of Nigeria recently signed an agreement with the government of the United States of America (USA) to repatriate the total sum of $23,439,724 looted by Abacha to Nigeria.
Given the trajectory of the funds so far recovered, it is almost certain that more money stolen will be uncovered and repatriated back to Nigeria where it may still be plundered under an administration that has so far paid only lip service to fighting corruption.
Even in death, Abacha’s unprecedented kleptocracy continues to haunt Nigeria, indicting all those countries that provided safe haven for his loot, and showing a new generation of Nigerian kleptocrats that in a country where the system is loose and permissive, anything at all is possible.
If today, corruption is ingrained in the psyche of the everyday Nigerian, the foundations were firmly laid under the various military regimes which oppressed the country at different times.
The story of Nigeria’s journey to its current sorry state will never be complete without this part of it. Current and future governments of Nigeria owe Nigerians not only a responsibility to ensure that the repatriated funds are not further plundered, but that it shall no longer be possible for anyone to steal Nigerians blind.
To do otherwise would be to pay homage to thieves and their memories.
Source: The Nation
