The narrative of Nigeria’s late ruler, whose unlawfully obtained funds are still being returned to the country he governed like his own business some years after his death, shows that certain officeholders in Nigeria are still richer than the millions of living people.
Mohammed Abacha’s decision to refund $1.2 billion of his father’s unlawfully acquired wealth stunned the globe. Sani Abacha’s son, Mohammed, is a prominent Nigerian politician. When the late military ruler died, everyone was curious about his massive personal wealth. Before he died in 1998, Sani Abacha had a net worth of $1 billion.
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According to Forbes, African presidents past and present are the richest persons on the continent, although they are not ranked by Forbes since most of them obtain fortune by turning governmental resources into their own use, which Forbes considers unreliable.
These accounts include personal and proxy bank accounts in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Jersey, and Liechtenstein, where Sani Abacha stored large sums of dollars, pounds, and euros. We will use this information to estimate his net worth.
No, he is from Kano State, Nigeria.
However, Sani Abacha is not from Kano State as reported by various internet sources. Only a few individuals are aware of this fact. Borno State, in Nigeria’s north-east geopolitical zone, was the birthplace of both the late ruler and his wife, Dr Maryam Abacha.
A Kanuri man from Nganzai, General Sani Abacha is married to a Shuwa woman from Borno’s Jere LGA, where she was born and raised. The Northern area is home to two distinct ethnic groups.
However, Abacha was born in Kano State on September 20, 1943. He was born in Kano. He was born and raised in the city, which he later adopted as his home state.
When and how Abacha seized control
The late Sani Abacha was commissioned into the Nigerian Army in 1963 after completing the Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot, England, where he was trained in the art of military leadership.
He was involved in a number of coups in Nigeria.
Even as a young officer in the 1960s, the late Army General was known as brutal and reckless, and as such, he played important roles in many Nigerian coups, including:
Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi’s military administration was overthrown in a counter-coup on July 29, 1966, thanks in large part to his involvement. Second Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion, he was based in Kaduna at the time.
The last day of the year was December 31st, 1983 Coup: He played a key role in the removal of Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s civilian government and the subsequent installation of Maj General Muhammadu Buhari as president.
After saying “Joyful New Year, happy New administration” in a countrywide broadcast on January 1, 1984, Buhari was overthrown on August 27, 1985, by the same cabals who put him in power. Key players in the coup included Abacha.
Following the overthrow of Muhammadu Buhari in 1985, how was Sani Abacha compensated?
For his part in bringing down the administration of Maj-Gen Buhari in 1985, the late Sani Abacha was given a large sum of money.
Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, the country’s new military leader, elevated him to the position of Chief of Army Staff.
This year, he was named Minister of Defense.
How he profited from the annulment of the 1993 presidential election
The late military ruler was a major beneficiary of the 1993 presidential election annulment.
On August 26, 1993, Babangida relinquished power to Chief Ernest Shonekan as temporary president of Nigeria following the annulment of the election won by the late M.K.O Abiola.
Abacha, well aware of the opportunity that he had created, staged a palace takeover against Shonekan.
Sanni Abacha made the announcement in a national broadcast:
As a result, the following decision is immediately implemented. The Interim National Government has been abolished by this decree. The legislatures of the United States and each individual state have been disbanded as well.
To put it another way, that pronouncement on November 17, 1993, opened the door for Late Sani Abacha to obtain billions of dollars and other public monies for his family, cronies, and friends.
How did Abacha amass such a large fortune?
Sani Abacha’s riches was revealed in a 42-page document that leaked in 2014.
The United States Department of Justice’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section presented the document to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe amassed multiple multi-million dollar homes all around the world thanks to money laundered in foreign accounts, as revealed in the document.
Those who are accused of helping Sani Abacha smuggle money out of Nigeria:
- He was Ibrahim Abacha’s eldest son.
- second-eldest son, Mohammed Abacha
- His associate Abubakar Atiku Bagudu; (now a governor)
- Ismaila Gwarzo, a former National Security Advisor
- Ahmadu Daura
- Chief Anthony Ani, then-Minister of Finance;
- The Abacha family’s attorney, David Umaru
Late General Sani Abacha, according to the USA Africa Dialogue Series, began accumulating his Western Bank deposits as soon as he assumed control.
Under the pretence of “National Security,” he is accused of stealing money from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Sani Abacha is Linked to a Total of 47 Foreign Bank Accounts.
- The London branch of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ)
- ANZ – New York
- Frankfurt, ANZ, Inc.
- Bank in Liechtenstein A. G. Vaduz
- Zurich-based bank Len
- City of London-based Bankers Trust
- the Frankfurt branch of Bankers Trust
- New York’s Bankers Trust Company
- Geneva-based bank Barring Brothers
- New York City’s Barclays Bank
- London, Barclays
- General Bank of Edouard Constant
- Switzerland’s National Bank of Paris
- The Bank of Paris, London
- Basle Branch of the French National Bank
- London Citibank N.A.
- Bank of America, New York City
- Luxembourg Citibank N.A.
- Zurich-based Citibank
- Credit Suisse, New York New York City-based Credit Suisse
- General Credit Suisse, Inc.
- Switzerland’s Credit Suisse
- Deutche Morgan Grenfell, Jersey
- the Zurich branch of FIBI Bank (Swiss) AG
- A branch of the First Boston Bank in London
- There is a First Nigerian bank in London.
- Zurich-based Goldman Sachs and Company
- Geneva’s Gothard Bank
- An inland bank based in Lagos, Nigeria
- The Vaduz branch of LGT Liechtenstein Bank
- Federal Reserve Bank of Lausanne (M. Warburg and Company, Luxembourg, M. Warburg and Company, Zurich, M. Warburg and Company, Hamburg)
- New York-based Merrill Lynch Bank
- The Geneva branch of Merrill Lynch
- City of London’s Midland Bank
- London-based National Westminister Bank
- Intercontinental Merchant Bank of Lagos, Nigeria
- London’s Paribus
- Geneva, please pardon me for saying so,
- Yorkshire’s Royal Bank of Scotland
- UK-based Standard Chartered Bank
- Zurich-based financial services company UBS AG
- Geneva-based UBS AG
- Geneva’s Union Bancaire Privee
- In London, Union Bancaire Prive
- The London Branch of Union Bank of Nigeria
- Nigeria’s Universal Trust Bank, Lagos
- Bank of Administration and Private Wealth Management, Vaduz
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A professional writer by day, a tech-nerd by night, with a love for all things money.