Several persons took to their Twitter handles to criticize the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) for referring to the funds recently recovered from the former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, and returned by the United States as “Abacha assets.”
Malami had on May 4 posted on Twitter: “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.”
But shortly after the tweet, other Twitter users criticized him for what they said is an attempt to portray the funds as belonging to Abacha.
Babatunde Olatere Gbadamosi replied: “Abacha ‘assets’ or Abacha loot? Call it what it is, or tell us how that money became his ‘assets’.”
On his part, Bid Ibeobi replied: “Calling it Abacha loot is tantamount to committing political suicide. Till this date his paymaster is still living in denial.”
Aye Mojubar said: “This statement has been written the sand of time and engraved on the granite of eternity, and each time people mention Abacha now or in the future, you will always be remembered for tagging a stolen money ‘Abacha assets’”.
There were still more tweets from Twitter users as Suleiman Abubakar asked: “How can anyone with a modicum of common sense and decency call our stolen funds Abacha assets? What was Abacha’s legitimate salaries as a military General? Those salaries are his assets, anything above those earnings is theft and stealing from the National treasury and is a loot.”
OjaSankara tweeted: “Lol no be only Abacha assets, Abacha’s loot dey fear you to talk? Talk am I dey here nobody go do you anything.. Call it what it is, LOOT! Buhari’s Boss and Friend was a LOOTER!”
Focus on fund utilisation, not rhetoric – Malami
Meanwhile, the AGF has advised Nigerians to look beyond verbal dexterity and vocal acrobatics, and focus more on effective utilisation of the recovered looted funds in accordance with the content of the signed tripartite agreement in the interest of the Nigerian public.
In a statement by his media aide, Dr Umar Gwandu, on Wednesday, Malami said during the course of negotiations for the repatriation of the funds, he had always referred to the funds as Abacha loot, adding that calling it assets is not unusual.
“It may interest the general public to note that there is a unit called Assets Recovery and Management Unit (ARMU) at the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice,” the statement read.
“The use of the word ‘assets’ in relation to the post-recovery of looted assets is to qualify same as Federal Government assets.
“It is palpable that news about successful return of the looted assets have brought nightmares to nay-sayers and pessimists who wanted to frustrate the repatriation process through campaign of calumny. Hence resorting to rhetoric instead of burying the heads in shame.
“The return of the looted funds demonstrates not only commendable efforts of the present government, but also a pointer to the level of confidence, trust and respect the international community accorded the Buhari-led Federal Government.”
