The finer details to the recent recovery of N6.18billion loot from the family of the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha by the federal government of Nigeria last week [September 3, 2011] off an Island near Normandy in France – may have not been heard.
Damien Dodo [SAN] and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] Secretary Emmanuel Akonmaye were reported to be among the delegation that negotiated for the release of the money to Nigeria. The loot was said to have been hidden away through the assistance of a Lebanese indigene who was living in Nigeria.
Applauding the new recovery was Mrs Okonjo-Iweala who wrote a letter of commendation to AGF Adoke encouraging him to help relocate more of Abacha loot in other parts of the world.
It is recalled the role played by Okomjo-Iweala in earlier recoveries of Abacha’s loot. Mrs Okonjo-Iweala during the Obasanjo/Atiku had facilitated for the repatriation of over $600m stashed away by the family in Switzerland. But a recent Wikileaks cable release indicates that the amount recovered was much more that the announced $600m. The amount was put in excess of $1.2billion.
According to the confidential wire sent by Ambassador Howard F. Jeter [the then United States of America Ambassador to Nigeria] to the Central Intelligence Agency of the USA concerning the recovery process, he expressed concern over what appears an ongoing negotiation between the late Sani Abacha’s son [Mohammed Abacha] and the representatives of the Nigerian government.
Representating the Nigerian government in the deal agreement was the then Attorney General Godwin Kanu Agabi and representing the Abachas were Sokoto politician and former Presidential aspirant Umaru Shinkafi, Abacha-era Minister Muhammad Kaloma Ali and Nigeria’s one-time UN Permanent Representative, Yusuff Maitama Sule.
The Ambassador quoted the younger brother of Abacha, Kabiru as having told him that the negotiators wanted a commission out of the $1.2billion and Mohammed Abacha was unwilling “to part with any money” Mohammed Abacha who was locked up in prison at the time was offered $300m out of the $1.2billion. He turned it down.
With Yusuff Maitama Sule bumped out of the deal citing his “greed” and that his “standard of living exceeded his means“, the deal was renegotiated allowing Mohammed Abacha to keep $500m out of the “recovered” $1.2billion. The middlemen were quoted as having been settled for their efforts. And the then Vice President Abubakar Atiku was quoted as being the responsible party to sign the agreement between the Abacha family and Nigeria. The agreement included insulating “the Abachas from any future liability for past actions and to permit them to participate fully in the political process“.
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001028
SUBJECT: ABACHA LOOT: GON AND FAMILY SAID CLOSE TO AGREEMENT
CLASSIFIED BY AMBASSADOR HOWARD F. JETER. REASON: 1.5(D)
¶1. (U) According to some newspaper reports, the
family of the late General Sani Abacha has agreed to
return to the GON approximately USD 1.2 billion. The
media accounts are not clear on whether this sum
consists entirely of “new” money or might include
certain amounts frozen earlier but subject to
ownership litigation.
¶2. (C) According to a well-informed contact from Kano
who cited Abacha’s younger brother Kadiri as his
source, the talks began soon after the Obasanjo
Government assumed power, with once-and-present
Attorney-General Godwin Kanu Agabi in the lead for the
GON. Representing the Abachas were Sokoto politician
and former Presidential aspirant Umaru Shinkafi,
Abacha-era Minister Muhammad Kaloma Ali and Nigeria’s
one-time UN PermRep, Yusuff Maitama Sule. Source said
the talks had stalled over the middlemen’s demands for
commissions and Mohammed Abacha’s unwillingness to
part with any money. The source opined that some
means clearly had been found to compensate the
middlemen; he understood the Abachas would be allowed
to keep about USD 300 million.
¶3. (C) COMMENT: When the late Chief Bola Ige
succeeded Agabi at the Ministry of Justice in mid-
2000, he chose not to pursue the talks. Denied bail
after his indictment for murder in Lagos State,
Mohammed Abacha has languished in jail (sometimes in
Kirikiri Prison in Lagos and sometimes at Kuje Prison
outside Abuja). Attempts by his family to turn the
bail denial into a political issue were only partly
successful despite their reportedly having spent
considerable amounts of money to obtain favorable
media treatment from some outlets and to underwrite a
large poster campaign in several cities. According to
a source who visits Mohammed occasionally, the Abacha
scion at first was supremely confident he would
ultimately be freed and thus was uninterested in
cutting a deal. However, there are credible reports
that his health began to deteriorate late last year
and suggestions that his mother, having lost her first
son, Ibrahim, to a plane crash, did not want to risk
Mohammed also. Agabi’s return to MOJ offered both the
GON and the Abachas an occasion to reopen
negotiations. END COMMENT.
¶4. (C) A second Kano-based source confirmed that the
talks were near conclusion and cited Shinkafi, Kaloma
Ali and one of Abacha’s erstwhile political advisers,
Sule Yahaya Hamma, as intermediaries. Asked about
Maitama Sule, source commented that Maitama’s standard
of living exceeded his means, so he was always nosing
around for money and might have insinuated himself
into the process to that end. This source said he
understood the Abachas stood to retain about USD 500
million, and the middlemen would be “settled” for
their efforts. The USD 1.2 billion, source continued,
consisted mostly of funds physically taken from the
Central Bank of Nigeria which Abacha had wanted
dispersed abroad as a hedge against sanctions. He had
entrusted the money to his son’s custody, but, after
Sani Abacha died, Mohammed Abacha reportedly claimed
the GON had no proof the money had not been his
father’s lawful property and refused to part with any
of it.
¶5. (C) The final step, the second source continued,
was for the GON to sign the agreement. The decision
had been made that Vice President Atiku Abubakar would
take on that responsibility, source noted, adding that
he was expected to do so upon his return from the U.S.
o/a April 8. The source noted that part of the deal
was to insulate the Abachas from any future liability
for past actions and to permit them to “participate
fully in the political process.”
¶6. (C) COMMENT: While recovering USD 1.2 billion
would help the GON sustain its foreign exchange
reserves and balance its cashflow during the upcoming
electoral cycle, letting the Abachas “get away” with
several hundred million dollars will be controversial
when details of the agreement leak to the public. The
GON figure who signs off on this deal may be called
before the court of public opinion, notably in
southern Nigeria. Even their home city of Kano,
support for the Abachas is not overwhelming.
JETER
