Abacha loot: Apologise to Nigerians, Falana, HEDA tell Buhari

…Falana seeks remittance of $40bn, N481bn to federation
account
…Seeks action against indicted western countries
…Other past presidents, Heads of State should also be investigated
– Suraju

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana and the Chairman,
Human Environment Development Agenda, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju on
Wednesday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to apologise to
Nigerians for saying in the past that the former Head of State,
Late General Sani Abacha did not loot the country.

They stated that with facts available and also given that
Buhari’s administration has recovered part of the Abacha loot, it
was necessary for Buhari to apologise to Nigerians for his
statement.

They spoke during HEDA’s conference on “Agenda setting for
citizens’ interaction with stolen assets recovery: Abacha loot
recovery and utilization as a case study,” in Abuja.

Falana lamented the looting and alleged mismanagement of huge
sums of money belonging to Nigeria, adding that if the monies were
recovered, there would be no need for Nigeria to borrow money from
abroad.

He stated that western countries, including their banks that
colluded with some Nigerians to loot the country, should be made to
pay for their unlawful action.

Falana said, “Buhari should apologise to the country. Before he
assumed power, he had said that the late Gen Sani Abacha never
looted the wealth of the country. Now that it has been confirmed,
now that his own administration has recovered part of the loot, it
is only normal for the president to apologise that he has made a
mistake.

“The government also is politically weak to take on this contest
because at the end of the day, they also take some aids from these
countries, so it is difficult for the government to go after them.
That is where civil society organisations come in. That is where
the Nigerian people who are the victims of corruption need to come
in to insist that any country that has colluded with dictators and
their friends to loot the treasure of the country be made to
account for it.”

He added, “We need to have an account of the money recovered so
far. It is not only Gen Abacha, there are other recoveries that are
being done. We must expand our search. We can not be limited to
1993. Between 1988 and 1992, two dedicated accounts opened in
Central Bank recorded $12.4bn at the end of the tenure of Gen
Ibrahim, $2.2bn could not be accounted for. And that is the finding
of Pius Okigbo panel instituted by the Sani Abacha junta. We need
to also investigate that.

“I also know a case of $7bn withdrawn from our foreign reserves
in 2006. The money was distributed to 14 banks, we have written to
the Central Bank repeatedly, and it has been totally silent.
Happily, the presidential panel on recovery of Public Property is
looking into that. So we must recover the entire looted wealth.

“Last week, I filed an action at the Federal High Court, Abuja
seeking to compel the Buhari administration to recover $40bn and
N481bn which a government auditing agency, NEITTI confirmed. And
this huge fund has not been remitted to the Federation
Account.”

Suraju alleged that over $500m recovered from the Abacha loot
was re-looted.

He also said Nigerians must insist that former Heads of State
and Presidents should be investigated and if found to have looted
public fund should be made to repay such looted funds.

He said, “I was expecting that by now with the facts that money
was recovered under President Muhammadu, he needs to explain beyond
mere apologies how he came about his initial conclusions.

“Anybody could have been naïve to the extent of what happened
but it is expected of a statesman that after discovering that he
misjudged the situation. (He) is expected to come to Nigerians to
really apologise and reaffirm what is the state of affairs.

“We need to beam searchlight on other former presidents. I can
tell you that it is not impossible that some of the former Heads of
State may have also looted more than Abacha did but because there
has been that sense of solidarity and camaraderie between them, it
has been a challenge going after former presidents.”

Subscribe ToNairalaw News!