Late General Sani Abacha's widow, Maryam Abacha, has said all those who have taken advantage of her late husband's death for their own evil agenda, will surely pay the price at the appropriate time.
In a recent interview with LEADERSHIP, Former Chief Security Officer (COS) to Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, disclosed that all the funds discovered in foreign accounts and referred to as "Abacha loots" were actually monies saved for the sole purpose of circumventing sanctions placed on the country by the US and UK at the time.
He said the decision to create those foreign accounts and the modalities of operating the accounts were not decided by Abacha himself, but by prominent leaders from across the country who assembled at a place called Camp Bassey officer’s mess in the Brigade of Guards. He said the decision at the time, was necessary in order to shield Nigerians from the effects of the sanctions.
He then exposed why Abacha is now used as the scapegoat, saying following Abacha's death, huge amount of money meant for the foreign accounts never reached their destination, but were instead, shared by those who came after him, but no one is asking questions about those funds, neither is anyone held accountable.
He added that since Abacha is no longer alive, those who diverted those huge funds and shared among themselves, have now made Nigerians believe that the late head of state owned the funds in accounts that weren't even created by him nor for him.
He said, "The question is, why is it that the government found it difficult to mention any of the above? Another question is, after Abacha’s death, some of these accounts where counter sanctions funds were kept emerged, where are the documents? The monies that are there, were they returned to Nigeria’s coffers?
"The moment you ask that, there are some certain groups that are ready to shoot you. I wasn’t involved in anything monetary; I wasn’t consulted; I wasn’t involved. I had a business of keeping Nigeria afloat and in peace. If you must know, right at the beginning it was not money that took me to the army.
"I actually ran away to sneak into the army. Nobody knew how I joined the army in my family. So to me, these are the questions I am asking and I was asking them from prison.
"Those were the questions I used to ask the government of Abdulsalami then, and later Obasanjo. When Yar’adua came, I was asking questions, why not call me, why not subject me to tell you the little I know; they never did, they didn’t want to because there are some certain aspects of it… Soon after Abacha died, money was a problem.
"Whatever money that was not deposited was shared by numerous persons who were in government. You will get to hear that later. Abacha inherited an empty purse. He inherited it from Shonekan and there was nothing in foreign reserve, so Abacha began to build Nigeria from ground zero to $9.3 billion in foreign reserve by the time he died."
On her part, wife or the late head of state, said when all the blackmails against her late husband is over, Nigerians would be shocked by what would follow.
She said, “How come this man was not a thief until he died?”
“What is this amount of money after 22 years you say oh we have found this amount of money and we’re bringing it back?
“It is a shame to tell lies on a dead man! It is a shame to tell lies on your leader.
“If he had done wrong, God knows. If other people are putting the wrong on him, it is a matter of time.
“They will kneel down like America is kneeling down now. Anybody that is evil will kneel down just like this corona has come to shut this world.”