Why Then Did Buhari Weep?

 By Ifeanyi Maduako

Unlike women, it’s natural that men rarely weep or shed tears. Whatever makes a man weep must have overwhelmed him emotionally in such a manner that he cannot hold back tears. Therefore, when a man weeps in public, it’s possible that he may have wept several times over in his closet. Whatever makes a general to weep on camera before the whole world must be on something that touches on his nerves beyond emotional control.

*Buhari 

Against the foregoing background, when the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), wept before the cameras sometime in 2012 after losing the 2011 presidential election which was his third attempt at the presidential seat, the world was taken aback seeing a retired general shedding tears publicly ostensibly over the state of the nation.

$322m Abacha Loot: Separating Politics From Economics

By Emmanuel Obe

A lot of Nigerians have expressed their anger (and rightly so) over the planned disbursement of the $322 million recovered from the loot of the late Gen. Sani Abacha to 302,000 poor households in Nigeria.

*Abacha 

As the argument of those opposed to the planned disbursement goes, it appears unreasonable to just take out money and share out to people that did not work for it.

For them it makes no economic sense when that money, amounting to about N115 billion, could be invested in tangible projects that will generate revenue for government, employment for the youth and goods for the household. Some of the opponents of the policy have even gone ahead to recommend psychiatric tests for the government officials that proposed the disbursement on the grounds that it looked rather insane to share out money in that fashion.

Abacha Loot: Redistributing Illegally Acquired Funds

By Kunle Uthman

On December 4, 2017 in Washington D.C, United States of America, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Ambassador Roberto Balzaretti, Secretary of State and Director of the Directorate of International Law and Rachid Benmessaoud, Country Director for Nigeria, the International Development Association, IDA,  signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU.

*Gen Sani Abacha

It was between the Nigerian Government, the Swiss Federal Council and the IDA  “On the Return, Monitoring and Management of Illegally-Acquired Assets Confiscated By Switzerland To Be Restituted To The Federal Republic Of Nigeria.”

Abacha Loot: Matters Miscellany

By Sufuyan Ojeifo

I got a credible information last week from some grapevines in Abuja that the much-talked about outstanding sum of $322 million (not $321 million as has been widely reported) stashed away in some secret accounts by former military dictator, the late General Sani Abacha, in Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland, routinely referred to as Abacha loot, has been repatriated and it is sitting pretty in a dedicated account in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

This calls for pomp and ceremony, especially by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), which had committed to ensure that the loot was repatriated, regardless of the shenanigans and blackmail from within and outside some official quarters in Nigeria. 

*Late Gen Abacha

 A powerful Nigerian delegation, led by Malami and comprising a team of Nigerian law firm of Oladipo Okpeseyi and Co., had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Swiss Federal Council and the World Bank on December 7, 2017 for the repatriation of the loot, composed of $250 million traced to Liechtenstein and $72 million traced to Luxembourg, which was confiscated by the Court of Switzerland.