How Abacha Family Hid $1bn Loot - And How Goodluck Jonathan Government Smoked Them Out

The Abacha family thought they had done Nigeria a favour by giving up $1.3 billion but the Goodluck Jonathan administration soon discovered that they still had $1 billion hidden in various accounts in Europe, according to Mohammed Bello Adoke.

Using the Nigerian legal system, Mohammed Abacha, the eldest surviving son of the late head of state, had tried to stop the federal government from seizing the looted funds and repatriating them to Nigeria, but “a simple trick” outsmarted him, the former attorney-general further said.

In his book, “Burden of Service: Reminiscences of Nigeria’s former Attorney-General”, Adoke insinuated that the Abacha family was so offended by his doggedness in the loot recovery that they found allies in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to hound him after he left office in 2015.

ABACHA LOOT: See Amount Recovered So Far

Even though he is no more, General Sani Abacha has been humorously described as one of the ancestors of Nigeria who has been donating money generously to successive governments from the land of the dead as his loot was outrageous. Sunday Vanguard captures the looted funds:

He’s a man of multiple impressions. To some people, he was an enigma. To others, he was humane. But to many, he was simply a mean dictator and the man who wore the thickest goggles in town. Yet, some quarters preferred him as a consummate soldier, leader par excellence, trailblazer, stabilizer and strategist.