The Presidency has disclosed why Nigerian government is
finding it difficult to repatriate looted funds stashed in the United States,
US, by the late Military Head of State, Gen Sani Abacha (rtd).
Senior Special Assistant to President Mohammed Buhari on
Prosecutions, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, revealed that the failure of the immediate
past administration was responsible for the delay in recovering the funds.
Obono-Obla explained that the inability of former Attorney
General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke to enter a defence to a motion filed
before a Maryland court in US was responsible for the delay in recovering the
funds.
Featuring on Channels television, the Presidential aide,
however, noted that despite of the setback, the current government is making
efforts to recovery the funds.
According to Obono-Obla, “It has been very difficult to get
back some of the hidden funds in the United State, US.
“For instance, the Abacha loot, in the last administration,
the then attorney general, Mohammed Adoke, failed to file a defence to a motion
filed in a district court in Maryland, USA, and this made the court to enter a
default judgment and confiscated part of that money.
“We have been making effort to set aside that judgment and
get back our money.”
Recall that the Presidency had in November, 2016 said the Nigerian
Government will soon commence discussion with the US on the repatriation of the
$480m loot stashed in American banks by Abacha.
However, in April 2017, the World Bank told Socio-Economic
Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) that it, “cannot locate any
additional information on the projects executed with recovered stolen public
funds by the late General Sani Abacha.”
By Seun Opejobi
