Nigerian leaders looted funds my husband left in treasury – Maryam Abacha

TWENTY-seven years after the death of former military ruler General Sani Abacha, his widow, Maryam Abacha, has claimed that funds left in the nation’s treasury by her husband were looted by subsequent Nigerian leaders.

In a TVC interview aired on Sunday, June 8, to mark the anniversary of Abacha’s death in office in 1998, the former First Lady dismissed long-standing accusations that her husband embezzled billions of dollars during his rule from 1993 to 1998.

She, instead, alleged that Nigeria’s political elite squirrelled the public funds her husband left behind and had continued to blame her husband to mask their own theft.

She questioned the credibility of those accusing her husband of looting, asking for evidence such as signatures or official documentation proving the funds were illegally moved abroad.

“Who is the witness of the monies that were being stashed? Did you see the signature or the evidence of any money stashed abroad? And the monies that my husband kept for Nigeria, in a few months, the monies vanished. People are not talking about that,” she said.

She claimed that the narrative surrounding the funds linked to Abacha had been deliberately distorted.

She further questioned whether ethnicity, religion, or regional bias played a role in the persistent criticism of her late husband.

“Why are you blaming somebody for something? Is that tribalism or a religious problem? Or what is the problem with Nigerians? I pray for Nigerians. I pray for all of us.

“I pray that we should have goodness in our hearts. We should stop telling lies and blaming people. Why are we so bad towards each other? Because somebody is a northerner or a southerner, somebody is a Muslim or a Christian, or somebody is nice.”

She also criticised the media, urging journalists to educate and inform the public rather than “bastardise people.”

The ICIR reports that Abacha ruled Nigeria between 1993 and 1998, following a military coup that ousted the interim government of Chief Ernest Shonekan.

His regime, widely seen as authoritarian, was marked by human rights abuses, the jailing of pro-democracy activists, and the execution of critics such as Ken Saro-Wiwa.

The late Abacha, who died in office on June 8, 1998, has been accused by successive Nigerian governments and international agencies of embezzling billions of dollars and stashing them in foreign accounts.

The recovered loot, often referred to as ‘Abacha loot,’ has been repatriated from countries namely Switzerland, the UK, and the US, with over $3.6 billion reportedly returned to Nigeria since 1999.

While responding to comments about a relatively stable economy under her husband’s leadership, she suggested that Nigerians were manipulated into believing falsehoods about her husband.

“So, where did he steal the money from? So where would he have stolen the money from?” she asked. “And because Nigerians are fools, they listen to everything.”

The former First Lady further called for national unity, adding that no individual, past or present, is bigger than the country.

“Babangida doesn’t make Nigeria alone. Abacha does not make Nigeria alone. Abiola and everybody, nobody is big enough for Nigeria. Even the single man on the street is very important. We are all human beings, for goodness’ sake. All these wahala (troubles) should stop.”