The Anthony-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) had defended his labeling of the recently repatriated $311m that was looted by the former Head of State, Late General Sani Abacha, as ‘Abacha assets.’
The West African Pilot News had earlier reported that Malami Slammed for Referring to Abacha Loot as Abacha Assets.
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, labeled 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.
However, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Dr. Umar Gwadu, Malami argued that he deliberately called it ‘Abacha Assets’ because it had been repatriated to Nigeria and now Federal Government’s assets.
He described the criticism of his reference to the fund as ‘Abacha assets’ as unnecessary media hype, he then asked Nigerians to focus on the utilization of the funds for the public good.
He posited that “The office (of the AGF) maintained that the choice of words was deliberate.
“It is to be noted that by way of antecedence that Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN has been consistently describing the recovered funds as ‘Abacha loot’ at several fora during the process of recovery of the looted funds, particularly before the eventual repatriation of the funds.
“The point needs to be made that when the seal of legitimacy was appended to the funds by way of repatriation, it became an asset in favor of the Federal Government as a beneficial owner of the same.”
According to the statement, “Beyond the issues of verbal dexterity and vocal acrobatics, Nigerians should focus more on effective utilization of the recovered looted funds in accordance with the content of the signed tripartite agreement in the interest of the Nigerian public.
“It may interest the general public to note that there is a unit called Assets Recovery and Management Unit at the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
“The use of the word ‘assets’ in relation to the post-recovery of looted assets is to qualify the same as Federal Government assets.”
Malami on Monday announced the repatriation of the $311m from the United States of America and Bailiwick of Jersey via his Twitter handle, referring to the fund as ‘Abacha Assets’.
This got many Nigerians on twitter angry, arguing that referring to the fund as ‘Abacha assets’, could mean that the fund might be returned to the Abacha family.
However, Malami in his defense insisted that the money would be used on the infrastructural projects that have been identified as agreed in the contract between the government of Nigeria, the US, Bailiwick of Jersey.
