The widow of former Nigerian military ruler, General Sani Abacha, has made a striking claim that the money her husband kept for Nigeria disappeared shortly after his death.
Maryam Abacha stated this while defending her late husband against ongoing accusations of looting public funds during his regime.
Speaking passionately, she questioned the validity of the looting allegations and pointed out that no one has presented clear proof of wrongdoing.
“Who is the witness of the monies that were being stashed? Did you see the signature or the evidence of any monies stashed abroad?” she asked.
Her statement has reignited the long-standing national debate surrounding the Abacha loot, a term widely used to describe funds allegedly stolen during General Abacha’s rule between 1993 and 1998.
General Sani Abacha died on June 8, 1998, while in office.
In the years that followed, several countries, including Switzerland, began returning millions of dollars linked to the Abacha family.
In 2014, Swiss authorities revealed they would return \$320 million initially held in Luxembourg and frozen due to legal actions involving Abacha’s son, Abba.
Despite these developments, Mrs. Abacha remains firm in denying that her husband looted public funds.
She insisted that Nigerians should rather focus on the good he did and the money he “secured” for the country.
“And the monies that my husband kept for Nigeria, in a few months, the monies vanished. People are not talking about that,” she said.
The Abacha loot has been a major talking point in Nigeria’s anti-corruption efforts.
However, Maryam believes that the narrative is unfairly one-sided and influenced by bias.
“Why are you blaming somebody? Is that tribalism or a religious problem or what is the problem with Nigerians?” she asked.
In addition, she called for unity and truth among Nigerians, asking that the culture of blame and division be replaced with compassion and integrity.
“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,” she urged.
She further added, “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 or… It’s not fair.”
