Reps In The Web Of Abachagate Conspiracy – By Ariyo-Dare Atoye
Loading ...Except that the Nollywood industry has still many grounds to explore in telling the truth about the contemporary Nigerian society, there would have been several movies premièring on the biggest recoveries of looted money from a single family in Nigeria spanning about 20 years, and still counting. The central theme would certainly qualify as Abachagate, a metonymy from which a series of other films could be adapted as was in the case of Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal.
Abachagate can also come in seasons, with several pulsating episodes. It will certainly have the potential to rival any film ever produced on the Watergate scandal in terms of box office appeal, if made to international taste. There are at least top five movies on President Richard Nixon’s Watergate disaster: All the President’s Men (1976) by Alan J. Pakula; Dick (1999) by Andrew Fleming; Frost/Nixon (2008) by Ron Howard; ‘Nixon’ (1996) by Oliver Stone and ‘The Assassination of Richard Nixon’ (2004) by Niels Mueller.
The Watergate scandal is arguably the most popular political scandal known to the outside world that occurred in the United States during the early 1970s. The disaster has continued to provide storytelling fodder from different angles; and, it has inspired a suffix for scandal. The story occurred following a break-in by five men at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972. President Richard Nixon made a desperate attempt to cover up his involvement and it led to his resignation.
There is no event-semblance in the storyline of Watergate and Abachagate, except that both qualified as code-red scandals that are more than shocking to the people of both countries. For instance, the recent repatriation of another tranche of $322. 5 million from Switzerland, might have changed the thinking of President Muhammadu Buhari, who had in 2008 come to the defence of Abacha when he said “the late military Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, did not loot the national treasury contrary to the general impression.” Buhari had served under Abacha as the chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund.
In Nigeria, the state of affairs and the political scene – power conspiracies and deals, sizzling administrative affairs, economic mismanagement and grubby political affairs, are still largely unacted in the Nigerian films industry to help reshape the system. The industry is yet to significantly shape local, state and national political pressures, decisions and negotiations. I dare say that some terrific happenings and mind-boggling developments in the Nigerian state in the last three decades alone are big multi-billion naira opportunities for the Nollywood to explore.
In all of the unraveled and unfolding events of Abachagate, an episode that could qualify as “Conspiracy of Re-looting’ is currently playing out, with the House of Representatives getting involved. The Green chamber has commissioned an investigation into a proposed payment of between five percent of the $322. 5 million Abacha loot to two Nigerian lawyers – Oladipo Okpeseyi, (SAN), and Temitope Adebayo – engaged by the Justice Minister and Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, for the assets recovery.
This piece seeks to raise the consciousness of the federal lawmakers to look far and beyond the contrived “narrow” media narrative over the issue. While it is a welcome development that the investigative committee has been mandated to ascertain whether due process was followed or not, it would however be a disservice to Nigerians and the parliament itself, if a thorough investigation is not done, such that Mr. Enrico Monfrini, the Swiss man who has been on the Abachagate since 1999, would be invited to testify with relevant documents.
It is curious and suspicious to note that Mr. Mark Terseer Gbillah (Benue: APC), who sponsored the motion had merely regurgitated what was planted in the media and nothing more. There was no effort to look beyond the surface, to have warranted him to include in his motion, the need to investigate the entire money so far recovered through Monfrini, and what the Swiss has been paid from inception. It may amount to a sheer blackmail if Gbillah had intervened from a premeditated angle, not looking beyond the surface. For instance, what makes him think that those who influenced the publication of the story in the media are not agents of Monfrini, doing his bidding in Nigeria?
But now that the parliamentarian is seized of the matter, it must do everything to: first, unravel the total money recovered through the Swiss lawyer since 1999; get the facts on all the previous payments – the percentages and other deductions – made to the Swiss; second, did Monfrini actually complete the process for the repatriation of the $322m? Why was the money lying fallow in Switzerland and the previous AGF did not make efforts to bring it? Did Monfrini ask for 20 percent of the money to complete the recovery process?
The House committee can now follow up to ask: why did the current AGF advertise to get a firm that can help to recover the money? Is it wrong to employ Nigerian lawyers to carry out such international assignments? It should establish whether it is standard practice for cost of asset recovery to be paid in percentage. If foreign firms or lawyers enjoy such payments, can Nigerian lawyers also enjoy it? In addition, it is equally pertinent for the lawmakers to take into consideration the involvement of the Swiss government and World bank in the arrangement. They can as well seek for additional information from these other partners.
It is not impossible the weight in naira of the amount to be paid the Nigerian lawyers is what is causing the ripples in the media. Truth be told, every kobo of money that belongs to the country is very important and must be spent judiciously, but also very sacrosanct is, in every obligation in which legitimate commitment has been made, fulfilment becomes a responsibility. Maybe the House will have little or nothing to contend with against the two Nigerian lawyers when the lawmakers get to know how much Monfrini had made on each tranche of previous assets recovered, including some controversial deductions.
Before the “Conspiracy of Re-looting” episode of Abachagate is set for future acting, hopefully if Nollywood considers the needful, it is quite important for the lawmakers to know that just the way the sponsor of the motion and others see the amount involved in naira quantity and not in percentage value is also the way many Nigerians see what the National Assembly gets from the yearly budget in quantity. But it has always been the argument of the federal lawmakers, and rightly so, that what NASS gets is less than 5 percent of the entire national budget. And to the Nigerian lawyers too, it is just 5 percent of less of the payment in contention, and nothing unusual. I think it may turn out to be a price we may have to pay for allowing some “unpatriotic” leaders ab initio to steal Nigeria’s money and store them in a foreign land.
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Atoye contributed this piece from Abuja via aristotle001us@yahoo.com
