It's a shame to lie about a dead man - Maryam Abacha

Former First lady, Maryam Abacha, has described as lies reports of the Federal government discovering monies allegedly stolen by her husband while he was in office.

Mrs Abacha who granted an interview recently to commemorate his 22nd death anniversary, said it is evil to speak ill of the dead. She said,

“How come this man was not a thief until he died? What is this amount of money after 22 years you say oh we have found this amount of money and we’re bringing it back? It is a shame to tell lies on a dead man! It is a shame to tell lies on your leader. 

If he had done wrong, God knows. If other people are putting the wrong on him, it is a matter of time. They will kneel down like America is kneeling down now. Anybody that is evil will kneel down just like this corona has come to shut this world".

According to Mrs. Abacha, her husband helped a lot of people who no longer greet her again.

“He worked in Kano and he planted Kano people, but there are people he helped a lot but they are not even greeting me now for no reason. They just hate us. But why? It is Haram and Allah is watching us.” she said

"Abacha stashed billions of dollars abroad to save Nigeria" - Galadima

Buba Galadima, a former ally of President Muhammadu Buhari, has said that the billions of dollars the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha stashed in foreign banks were not looted.

Galadima in an interview with TheNation newspaper said Abacha saved the monies abroad to save the country from an impending US sanction during his administration.

The 72-yr-old politician, who was the Director-General, National Maritime Authority during Abacha’s regime said the late Head of State was advised by the then President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein and his counterpart in Libya, Muammar Gaddafi to save the monies in foreign banks. He said, 

“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.

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 a position to talk about Abacha and the so-called loot”.

Galadima, however, maintained that those who believe Abacha was a monster are ignorant. General Sani Abacha ruled Nigeria between 1993 and 1998, but since 1999, Nigeria has been receiving some of the monies he stashed abroad.

On Monday, May 4, 2020, the Nigerian government received a sum of $311 million looted from the country’s treasury during the military regime of late Head of State.