By Femi Falana SAN
Former military head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar has belatedly joined the dubious campaign to sanitise the ignominous Abacha era. In his interview published by the Sun newspaper on June 26, 2026, the retired general attempted to rewrite history in a rather untidy manner when he claimed that the much talked about Abacha loot is a hoax, saying that the former military head of state, the late General Sani Abacha, never stole money belonging to the country.
According to General Abubakar, what is usually referred to as Abacha loot was money the former head of state had saved for the country, following advice from former Libyan Leader, Muammar Gaddafi; former Benin Republic President, Mathieu Kérékou and others, in order for the country not to be financially handicapped in case of freezing of the nation’s accounts arising from sanctions from the international community. Even though Presidents Gaddafi and Kerekou are no longer alive to confirm or deny the monstrous allegation, they could not have advised General Abacha to engage in the reckless looting of the nation’s treasury.
In fact, General Abubakar did not believe the cock and bull story that General Abacha had saved any money for the country. Hence, on the 23rd day of July 1998, his regime instituted a Special Investigation Panel (SIP) with the sole mandate to investigate the looting and corruption that characterised the Abacha era. In the course of the investigation, the SIP headed by Mr. Peter Gana, a Deputy Commissioner of Police unravelled the gargantuan Abacha loot with the connivance of the management of the Central Bank of Nigeria. A large quantity of the cash and properties were recovered by the SIP.
