Buba Galadima, a
former ally of President Muhammadu Buhari, says Sani Abacha, the late military
dictator, was advised to save enough money for Nigeria abroad.
He said Saddam
Hussein, the late military ruler of Iraq, and Muammar Gaddafi, deceased ruler
of Libya, gave Abacha the advice.
Nigeria received
$311 million stolen during the Abacha regime from the US and the Bailiwick of
Jersey earlier in the month.
An estimate of $5
billion is said to have been stolen from Nigeria during Abacha’s five-year
rule, even as new discoveries of funds stashed abroad are being made.
According to an
analysis by TheCable, the Abacha Loot recovered from 1998 to 2020 amounts to
$3.624 billion.
In an interview with
The Nation, Galadima, who was a principal official of the Abacha regime, said
most opinions expressed by people concerning Abacha are based on ignorance.
“I have a completely
different idea about what you called Abacha loot. I know as a fact that at that
time, Abacha with knowledge of key members of his government, who knew about
this money being stacked out, he was rightly advised by some of his colleague
presidents around the world,” Galadima said.
“Saddam Hussein was
one of them. Muammar Gaddafi was one of them. They advised him that there was
the likelihood that the US could sanction Nigeria and as such he should save
money outside that could last the country, at least, six months, even Nigeria’s
account was blocked by the US, there won’t be panic.
“I was a key figure
in that government. I was one of the so-called Abacha boys if you must know. I
was the Director General, National Maritime Authority, whereby export and
import to Nigeria, including crude, were directly coming under my desk. So, am
in position to talk about Abacha and the so-called loot.
“It is true that
some Nigerians believe Abacha was a monster and you cannot fault their
ignorance. Yes of course. It is based on ignorance.
“But the truth of
the matter is that we are running a constitutional government called democracy.
People can hold different opinion provided it does not encroach on another’s
liberty. What I have said to you now is my own opinion based on what I knew of
the government and the man at that time.”
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You can tell that to the Almajiri people like yourself, who are so mentally malnourished. So a president/head od state will save money for his country in his name and only his family will have access to that money, and there will be no record of such "savings' with any of the nation's institution. So, he saved the nation's money like personal money. Its a pity we southerners find ourselves in the same country as these northerners, you contribute near zero to the country's wealth yet you consume most!
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