The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami has come under criticism for referring to the returned $311 million which was stolen by the late Gen. Sanni Abacha as ‘Abacha asset’.
“I am happy to confirm that the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Monday 4th May 2020 received $311,797,866.11 of the Abacha assets repatriated from the United States and the Bailiwick of Jersey,” Mr. Malami stated in a tweet.
However, the use of ‘Abacha loot’ by the Attorney-General drew criticism from many Nigerians including Omoyele Sowore, former presidential candidate and human rights activist.
“Attorney-General Abubakar Malami, woke up one day, labelled Nigerian wealth looted by late Gen. Sanni Abacha, “Abacha Assets” & people think he is stupid, he knows exactly what he’s doing. Just telling you all that we are just warehousing these assets for the Abachas,” Mr. Sowore stated.
In a statement, Garba Shehu, President Buhari’s spokesperson, referred to the returned money as “stolen from the citizens of Nigeria during the Abacha regime.”
It is not clear why Mr. Malami labelled the loot as asset, but checks show that often times, official statements from the office of the Attorney-General under Malami have referred to monies connected to the late Gen. Abacha as assets.
The highlights of the statement issued by Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, as tweeted by the verified handle of the Nigerian government on February 22nd, 2020 show sentences constructed to refer to the late Abacha’s loot as asset.
Responding to Punch Newspaper’s inquiry about whether the reference to ‘Abacha loot’ as ‘Abacha assets’ was a policy, Gwandu said: “you (sic) an intelligent person yourself, you can decided (sic) whether it was deliberate or not.”
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