The United States is opposing alleged plan by the federal government
to give $100 million out the recovered Sani Abacha loot to Kebbi State
Governor, Atiku Bagudu.
Aside this, the U.S. is also asking Nigerians to help recover alleged
stolen finds traced to Bagudu, the chairman of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) Governors Forum.
Bloomberg reports that there has been commitment by Nigeria to
transfer the funds to the governor, whom the U.S. Department of Justice
(DoJ) says was involved in corruption with Abacha.
The U.S. and Nigeria recently agreed on the repatriation of over $308million to the African nation.
The U.S. Department of Justice believes Nigeria is blocking U.S. efforts to recover allegedly laundered money traced to Bagudu.
The department in a statement on February 3, disclosed that Bagudu
was part of Abacha network that “embezzled, misappropriated and extorted
billions from the government of Nigeria.”
But the Buhari administration allegedly insisted that an existing
17-year-old agreement entitles Bagudu to a fraction of the repatriated
funds.
This argument was contained in recent filings from the District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington.
It recalled that in 2013, the U.S., following a Nigerian government
request in 2012, initiated a forfeiture action, including four
investment portfolios held in London in trust for Bagudu and his family.
Now, the Buhari government says it cannot assist because it is
legally bound by a settlement Bagudu reached with the Olusegun Obasanjo
administration in 2003, according to the court filings.
Under the terms approved by a U.K. court, Bagudu returned $163
million of alleged laundered money to the Nigerian government, which
then dropped all outstanding civil and criminal claims against him.
This information was contained in a December 23, 2019, memorandum opinion by District Judge John D. Bates in Washington D.C.
“This case illustrates how complex and contentious repatriating
stolen assets to Nigeria can be,” said Matthew Page, an associate fellow
at London-based Chatham House
The former Nigeria expert for U.S. intelligence agencies added that
instead of welcoming U.S. efforts, “Nigeria’s lawyers appear to be
supporting the interests of one of the country’s most powerful
families.”
Successive Nigerian governments have so far repatriated more than $2
billion out of the $5billion Transparency International estimated Abacha
stole.