Nigeria
Mixed reactions on Nigeria's Abacha deal

afrol News, 22 April - Last week, the Nigerian government had secured the return of US$ 1 billion of the fortune of its late military dictator, Sani Abacha, frozen in international banks. The stolen funds could only be returned after the government agreed to drop charges against Abacha's family and business partners and release them US$ 100 million, which they had earned before Abacha was president. Reactions to the deal are mostly negative.

- How can you leave US$ 100 million to the family on the grounds there was no evidence it was stolen? Ekene Amadi asked on calling the UN media IRIN. "It is self-evident that there's no way a general could have earned that much money honestly even if he worked for 100 years."

Abacha, family members and representatives of his regime - are believed to have "systematically plundered" the Nigerian central bank for some years, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice - which announced the Abacha deal last week - said in January. Nigerian authorities accuse them of a number of property crimes including embezzlement, fraud, forgery and money laundering, it added. The dictator, who died in 1998, allegedly stole more than US$ 3 billion from the treasury during his five years as military Head of State.

In the northern city of Kano, Abacha's hometown, the news of the out-of-court settlement between the Nigerian government and the Abacha family has been received positively. High-profiled Kano politicians and businessmen had continuously complained about the detention without charges of Abacha's family and business contacts. It has been "causing bad blood" between the federal government of President Olusegun Obasanjo and the political class in Kano, according to a northern pressure group.

Shina Loremikan of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) told the news agency IPS that after a detention of more than three years, it was now "just right" to set free Abacha family members. The selective nature in prosecuting the Abacha family, he says, has made it impossible to speak in favour of the arrest and trial of members of the dictator's family. "The anti-corruption crusade of Obasanjo is not performing," he claims, referring to "many ex-military governors and retired generals" that were "busy building and owning mansions and companies worth billions of Naira and nobody knows their source of wealth."

Also Bola A. Akinterinwa in a letter of opinion published in the Lagos-based 'This Day' connects the issue to the government's failed "anti-corruption crusade". He expects that the outcome of the deal with the Abacha family only shows "that there will not be an end to official looting in Nigeria." He claims that "government policy since the [return to democracy] appears to be condoning malpractice, on the one hand, while preaching the gospel of anti-corruption, on the other."

- Politically, President Obasanjo wants to improve his relationship with the people of Kano, also Akinterinwa analyses the situation. Ex-governor Alhaji Abubakar Rimi had given the federal government a hard time criticising the double standards in its anti-corruption campaign, only targeting sons of Kano. However, "the wishes of the people of Nigeria cannot be said to have been well protected with the arrangement," Akinterinwa concludes. 

When Abacha died in 1998, he was suspected of having placed US$ 3 billion abroad. In 1999, 19 Swiss banks blocked US$ 700 million found on accounts in Abacha's name. A 2001 report by the Swiss Federal Banking Commission (SFBC) did not find any more Abacha assets, but blamed 6 of the 19 banks of turning a blind eye on Abacha accounts. 

Last week, The Swiss Federal Office of Justice announced that "the largest part of the Abacha assets blocked in foreign countries, in excess of one billion US dollars, are to be transferred to the Bank for International Settlements in Basel in favour of the federal government of Nigeria." Swiss banks alone are being ordered to return US$ 535 million. 

General Abacha's military regime had caused international outrage for its poor human rights record and systematised corruption. The leader of the opposition against Abacha, Chief Abiola, who assumingly won the 1993 elections, was thrown to prison in 1994 and died in 1998. Abacha's Nigeria in 1995 was suspended from the Commonwealth following the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other minority rights activists. 

The unpopular military leader's sudden death in 1998 was widely celebrated in 1998 and caused a quick return to democracy in Africa's most populous country.

Sources: Based on press, Swiss Federal Office of Justice and afrol archives

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