The United States is
opposing alleged plan by the federal government to give $100 million out the
recovered Sani Abacha loot to Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu.
Aside this, the U.S.
is also asking Nigerians to help recover alleged stolen finds traced to Bagudu,
the chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governors Forum.
Bloomberg reports
that there has been commitment by Nigeria to transfer the funds to the
governor, whom the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) says was involved in
corruption with Abacha.
The U.S. and Nigeria
recently agreed on the repatriation of over $308million to the African nation.
The U.S. Department
of Justice believes Nigeria is blocking U.S. efforts to recover allegedly
laundered money traced to Bagudu.
The department in a
statement on February 3, disclosed that Bagudu was part of Abacha network that
“embezzled, misappropriated and extorted billions from the government of
Nigeria.”
But the Buhari
administration allegedly insisted that an existing 17-year-old agreement
entitles Bagudu to a fraction of the repatriated funds.
This argument was
contained in recent filings from the District Court for the District of
Columbia in Washington.
It recalled that in
2013, the U.S., following a Nigerian government request in 2012, initiated a
forfeiture action, including four investment portfolios held in London in trust
for Bagudu and his family.
Now, the Buhari
government says it cannot assist because it is legally bound by a settlement
Bagudu reached with the Olusegun Obasanjo administration in 2003, according to
the court filings.
Under the terms
approved by a U.K. court, Bagudu returned $163 million of alleged laundered
money to th Nigerian government, which then dropped all outstanding civil and
criminal claims against him.
This information was
contained in a December 23, 2019, memorandum opinion by District Judge John D.
Bates in Washington D.C.
“This case
illustrates how complex and contentious repatriating stolen assets to Nigeria
can be,” said Matthew Page, an associate fellow at London-based Chatham House
The former Nigeria
expert for U.S. intelligence agencies added that instead of welcoming U.S.
efforts, “Nigeria’s lawyers appear to be supporting the interests of one of the
country’s most powerful families.”
Successive Nigerian
governments have so far repatriated more than $2 billion out of the $5billion
Transparency International estimated Abacha stole.
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