Nigeria
Obasanjo speaks out on Abacha-deal

afrol News, 20 May - Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo for the first time has made a public statement on the March agreement between his government and the family of late dictator General Sani Abacha to return over US$ 1 billion stolen funds to Nigeria and let the family keep US$ 100 million. "That is one of the hardest decisions I have to make in my life," Obasanjo stated.

The President was interviewed by the weekly 'TELL Magazine' on the much criticised 'Abacha-deal'. Obasanjo said the decision was so hard because he knew "that the Abacha family hadn't legitimately done any work to deserve US$ 100 million." Still, he had concluded it would be the best option. 

At the time the deal was cut, a large number of international banks had frozen the assets in late Abacha's name for years. They would however not be released before the legal struggle between the Nigerian federal government and the Abacha family had come to a conclusion. The court case had already cost Nigerian tax payers more than US$ 1 million and seemed to drag on for years. What the Abacha lawyer wanted "was to go on endlessly and they can do that almost for ever," Obasanjo said.

The deal included an amnesty for Abacha family members under criminal investigation in Nigeria and the release of US$ 100 million to the family; an amount that "demonstrably do not derive from criminal acts," according to a Swiss government investigation. Critics however asked how an ordinary general could have earned such an amount legally; a critique Obasanjo now openly sides with.

All in all, President Obasanjo concludes the deal was a good one, when seen relative to other comparable cases. He pointed to the similar cases of Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, the late Shah of Iran and the late President Mobutu of Congo Kinshasa (then Zaire), where succeeding governments not had been able to recover anything. 

- So, our lawyers came and said: Well you have a choice to make, Obasanjo told 'TELL'. "We got to a situation where we can get about US$ 1.2 billion," they advised him. "But should I go ahead to recover US$ 1.2 billion of Nigeria's money or go to tell Nigerians that we are fighting this case and 25, 30 years from now you wouldn't get anything. So I told the lawyer 'let me think about it because it wasn't an easy decision for me.'"

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. 

In March, 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 and caused a quick return to democracy in Africa's most populous country.

Sources: Based on press reports and afrol archives

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