Abacha’s loot: What Nigerian govt agreed with UK, US – AGF, Malami

Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, has said thatvthe Nigerian government has agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the United Kingdom, UK, United States, US, on the repatriation of loots of former Head of State, Gen Sani Abacha stashed in foreign countries.

Malami said this after meeting with top officials of UK and US, yesterday in London to work out the final modalities for repartraiting $500 million Abacha loot frozen by the American government.

This is coming at a time the National Coordinator of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), Nigeria and Special Assistant to the President on Justice Reforms, Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu said Abacha’s loot in Switzerland will soon be shared to Nigerians.

But speaking with Vanguard, the AGF said: “At our meeting in London today, we reviewed the MoU to be signed by Nigeria, US, UK, and Jersey and made collective input into it so that at our next and final meeting in July we can sign the document and agree on the final drawdown of the money.

“Indeed, Nigeria has made tremendous progress regarding the repatriation of the cash. Right now, the case filed by a Nigerian lawyer claiming to be entitled to a huge percentage of the amount from the Abacha loot has been dismissed by the Appeal Court but he can still appeal if he wants to.

“But our strong conviction is that the money will be drawn down for the benefit of the country and we are working hard to ensure that it is done as soon as possible by taking the necessary legal and diplomatic steps to deal with it.”