The figures keep increasing, and the money keeps on rolling in. The well of funds looted by the former military dictator, General Sani Abacha doesn’t seem to dry up as more funds are being unearthed every other year.
With the discovery of fresh funds, some Nigerians have taken it as a blessing in disguise. As hilarious as it sounds, Abacha is sending us money from heaven at a time when we need it, and people are pleased. So we have curated all the times Abacha loot was discovered in some bank somewhere.
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July 1999 – 2000 -President Olusegun Obasanjo discovered and froze $420 million in assets and $750 million in foreign accounts.
May 2002 – President Olusegun Obasanjo made a deal with the Abacha family for the recovery of $1.2 billion.
November 2003 – Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala claimed that $149 million Abacha loot from Jersey Island had been recovered.
September 2005 -It was stated by finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala that Switzerland had returned $458 million in cash and $2 billion in assets.
March 2014 – Switzerland repatriated $380 million of Abacha funds.
June 2014 – Liechtenstein returned $227 million of Abacha’s loot
August 2014 – United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that the largest amount of money ever returned in the organizations history was $480 million which they intended to return to the Nigerian government
2016 – Switzerland confirmed that they had returned $723 million so far to the Nigerian government from Abacha loot.
December 2017 – Switzerland also promised to release $322 million dollars more of the Abacha loot
May 2019 – £211 million found in a bank in Jersey, United States.
January 2020 – The latest discovery is a fresh $321 million in a bank in Jersey. On January 29, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the signing of an agreement with the Island of Jersey and the United States of America for the repatriation of the stolen assets.
Surprised? Well, remember a member of the Abacha family was rumored to have said “no matter how much money they (the FG) discovers, we still cannot be as poor as Dangote”. Let’s be watching as the sugar daddy sends us more money in the future.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
