Mohammed Abacha

Mohammed Abacha is the eldest surviving son of Nigeria's former de facto President, the late general Sani Abacha and Maryam Abacha.

Allegations

Money Laundering

During his father's military rule, Mohammed Abacha was allegedly involved in looting the government. A preliminary report published by the Abdulsalam Abubakar transitional government in November 1998 described the process. Sani Abacha told his National Security Adviser Ismaila Gwarzo to provide fake funding requests, which Abacha approved. The funds were supposedly sent in cash or travellers' cheques by the Central Bank of Nigeria to Gwarzo Kuncnoni, who was said to have taken them to Abacha's house.

Mohammed Abacha would then arrange to launder the money to offshore accounts.[1] An estimated $1.4 billion in cash was reportedly delivered in this way.[2]

Arrest and deal with government

In 1999, Mohammed Abacha was arrested and charged with the murder of Kudirat Abiola (wife of MKO Abiola) and the attempted murder of Alex Ibru, head of The Guardian, an opposition newspaper. Although this was largely seen as a retaliation by President Olusegun Obasanjo; who was imprisoned by Abacha on charges of conspiring to overthrow the de facto government. Sani Abacha's Chief Security Officer Hamza al-Mustapha was his co-defendant.[3] In 2002, Abacha was ultimately acquitted and released by President Olusegun Obasanjo. This was after an agreement was reached between the government and the Abacha family that they would hand over a balance, supposedly embezeled during Sani Abacha's rule.[4] Musa Umar Kazaure of The Weekly Trust said that the move was politically motivated.[5] The prison did not immediately release Mohammed Abacha after Obasanjo acquitted him.[6]

On April 18, 2005, Justice Amina Adamu Augie of the Court of Appeal in Abuja said that Mohammed Abacha would undergo a trial at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory due to offenses related to the stealing of public funds. Mohammed Abacha filed an appeal to fight the judgment.[7]

As of 2008, he is married with 5 children from Fatimah his first wife and 1 from his second wife.

Political Career

Mohammed Abacha ran in the gubernatorial race in Kano, Nigeria in 2011. He was the popular candidate by a large degree, and won the primaries under the then CPC, now APC. Although merely weeks before the main elections, the then CPC leadership withdrew his ticket for ambiguous reasons, major protests broke out although Mohammed Abacha urged his supporters not to engage in violence.

Mohammed Abacha remains a prominent politician in Kano, Nigeria.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Pieth, Mark (2008). Recovering stolen assets. Peter Lang. pp. 43–44. ISBN 3-03911-583-9.
  2. ↑ Lewis, Peter (2007). Growing apart: oil, politics, and economic change in Indonesia and Nigeria. University of Michigan Press. p. 178. ISBN 0-472-06980-2.
  3. ↑ Human rights watch world report, 2000. Human Rights Watch. 1999. p. 58. ISBN 1-56432-238-6.
  4. ↑ Lemmy Ughegbe (July 26, 2002). "Government ties Mohammed Abacha's freedom to $402m deal". Vanguard (Nigeria). Archived from the original on July 9, 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  5. ↑ Musa Umar Kazaure (2002-07-19). "Abacha's release: Justice or politics?". The Weekly Trust. Archived from the original on May 20, 2006. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  6. ↑ "Obasanjo visit sparks Kano riot". BBC. 29 July 2002. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  7. ↑ "Nigeria: Court of Appeal says "no immunity" for Abacha's son." ThisDay.
  8. ↑ https://www.nairaland.com/651625/court-rejects-mohammed-abacha-cpc


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.