Analysis: The Big Abacha loot Jonathan gave amnesty

By fiat, Nigeria’s Federal Government led by President Goodluck Jonathan, withdrew a theft charge for humongous amount of money against Mohammed Abacha, the second son of former Nigerian tyrant, General Sani Abacha.

The thieving tyrant was alleged to be one of the greatest kleptocrats in Nigeria’s history, stealing over $4 billion, by the humble standards of the 1990s. Most of the money are now trapped in European and American banks, with just a fraction recovered by Nigeria’s government under General Abdulsalami Abubakar and President Olusegun Obasanjo. Just recently the US government froze about $500 million cash linked with the Abacha family.

Abacha’s son along with Atiku Bagudu, now a senator have been on trial over some of the money brazenly taken out of the Nigerian treasury, with Abacha fighting up to the Supreme Court to get the charge quashed.

But he fought in vain as the Supreme Court ordered his trial.

When the case was refiled at the Federal High Court in Abuja, Bagudu was no longer on the charge sheet. Only Mohammed Abacha was accused of unlawfully receiving what some newspapers estimated to be N446.3billion allegedly stolen from government’s coffers between 1995 and 1998, the period his father reigned.

Mohammed was, in the charge of nine counts, accused of “dishonestly receiving stolen property” and “voluntarily assisted in concealing the money.”

The charge replaced the earlier one of 121 counts, in which Mohammed was charged with Atiku Bagudu, now a senator.

According to the new charge marked CR.21-24/2008, the stolen money allegedly received by Mohammed, and which he was accused of concealing included 141,100,000 pound sterling and $384,353,000 made up of cash and travellers cheques.

By today’s exchange rates, the stolen forex is valued at over N120 billion and is about a quarter of some estimates in circulation.

That is the money Jonathan’s attorney-general, Mohammed Adoke forgave today, may be under a new, yet to be announced ‘amnesty’ programme. The moral lesson for Nigerians is that looting of the commonwealth will never be punished.