Abacha loot as chronique scandaleuse

Stories about the depravity of public office holders who rape the public till are common place today. They no longer titillate or excite the senses. The primitive acquisitiveness of the custodians of the public weal is proverbial; the tendency to purloin the public treasury or our common patrimony is generally presumed.

The stories are in the mould of a type of writing presenting intrigues, love affairs and petty gossip and are usually associated with life at court or in high places. As a rule, such writings give the impression of having been written by an eye-witness.

For its projected credibility, the personal element is important, and scandal is the food upon which such chronicles thrive. The History of Louis Xl (1460-1483) of France, a chronique scandaleuse par excellence credited to Jean de Troyes, is an eminent example. This same interest in gossip about the intimate, personal life of the great and of the near-great survives today in the tabloids and in the stories, for instance, which are told of the life of moving-picture stars and other popular socialites. Shorn of its tongue-twisting pronunciation, chronique scandaleuse bespeaks the attitude of the public to tantalising stories, chronicling the fancies, foibles, failings or weaknesses of the high and mighty.

We open by saying that the Federal Government through its spokespersons have, by their incoherent statements, conduced to the general confusion befogging the vexed issue of the true identity of the depositors or owners of monies stashed away in foreign bank vaults by the Gen. Sani Abacha regime. President Muhammadu Buhari was quoted in 2008 as saying that Gen. Abacha did not loot the national treasury contrary to the general or pervasive impression.

On the April 27, 2016, however, the same President Buhari informed a bewildered nation that Nigeria was awaiting receipt from the Swiss Government of the sum of US $320 million identified as illegally taken from Nigeria under the Abacha Government. Major Al-Mustapha, Abacha’s Chief Security Officer and Man Friday has issued press statements or given interviews at which he consistently attempted to present an over-view of events leading to the requirement to keep the nation’s money in private accounts in foreign banks.

On Monday May 30, 2016, Al-Mustapha narrated the story of how, at a meeting in Abuja involving traditional rulers, key politicians and some members of the Abacha cabinet, it was agreed that due to feared or impending sanctions against Nigeria by the international community, it was necessary to stay afloat by keeping some money abroad. He, in fact, mentioned names of certain living persons like Chief Tom Ikimi, then Foreign Affairs Minister and Mr. David Attah who was Chief Press Secretary to Gen. Abacha, as witnesses to the truth-value of his narration.

At a press conference recently, the incumbent Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Geofrey Onyeama, alerted the nation to the difficulty encountered by this government in the recovering monies kept in foreign banks by the Abacha regime. He identified alleged looters as elements “blocking us from recovering Abacha loot.” Onyeama drew a red-herring when he alleged that a depositor of a sum of £140 million of loot allegedly belonging to Abacha was considering taking a legal action to frustrate the repatriation of the fund to Nigeria.

Former Military President Ibrahim Babangida was reported as saying that Abacha never stole a kobo from the nation’s coffers. He said this in Kano after attending the 10th anniversary remembrance prayers for the late Abacha. Not to be undone, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in reacting to demands (including a directive in the form of a court order) that monies recovered from alleged Abacha loot should be accounted for, emerged in his vintage persona, bullying: “… the money recovered from Abacha I should account for it. What stupidity. The man who asked for it (the order of court), the man who gave the judgment or who answered them are all stupid…” So there is a general cloud of uncertainty regarding the true state of affairs.

Law makers in the Congress of the United States may soon vote on a motion that will allow President Obama and the U.S. government to set aside all or part of the so-called Abacha loot recovered in the U.S. for victims of the Boko Haram insurgency. So we are to be dictated to how to go about our affairs; we have lost one of the attributes of a sovereign state i.e. to exercise supreme power over affairs and events concerning our people and territory.

The Criminal Division of the office of International Affairs of the U.S. Department of Justice has, in a letter to the Nigerian Federal Government, vain-gloriously identified where alleged Abacha loot has been hidden. The Department underlined the accounts as:
The Swiss authorities say they plan to return USD723 million.

The aforestated amount includes $321 million which they covenanted by agreement to return immediately. The agreement was signed on March 8, 2016 in Abuja by the authorities of the Swiss Federal Council and the Nigerian government. Titled “Letter of Intent on the Restitution of illegally acquired assets forfeited in Switzerland,” the agreement was executed on behalf of the Federal Government by its Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and the Swiss Head of Foreign Affairs Department, Didier Birkhalter.

It is generally believed in international financial circles that European banks held the bulk of $2.2 billion which was taken out of the Nigerian coffers. About $4.3 billion is also touted as having been lodged in foreign accounts by the administration of the late Abacha.

Al-Mustapha has thrown luminous light on one of the surreptitious or arcane ways of government everywhere Government, the world over, is uniquely powerful and wondrous in its ways. It can, for instance, fitfully organise well-heeled members of the community and shower them with unearned favours or privileges. It can, in the morbid fear of an external backlash on its domestic or homeland policies, take panic measures including giving V.I.Ps huge sums of money to keep in their name on behalf of all of us. The stage is now set for unmasking all those who have been our unsolicited exchequers with a view to making us clear the fog in the way of the stark truth concerning alleged Abacha loot.

Despite the pervading gruesome realities, the subject of the irresponsibility of persons in authority regarding their charge over us is discussed light-heartedly without being irresponsible. It should, however, not be taken for granted. The challenge or difficulty resides in involving our leaders to take discussions seriously in time to arrive at rational conclusions.
Rotimi-John, a lawyer and commentator on public affairs, contributed this piece from Abuja via rotimijohnandcompany@gmail.com