Maryam Abacha defends late husband, questions claims of looted funds
By Kunle Sanni
Maryam Abacha, widow of the late military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, has questioned the long-standing narrative that her husband looted billions of dollars from Nigeria during his time in power, insisting that the funds he “kept for the country” were stolen after his death.
In an interview on TVC Politics with Femi Akande, aired on Sunday to mark the anniversary of her husband’s death on June 8, Maryam challenged the federal government and the international community to provide concrete evidence linking her husband to foreign assets.
“Did you see the signature or the evidence of any monies stashed abroad? And the money that my husband kept for Nigeria, in a few months, vanished. People are not talking about that,” she said.
Abacha ruled Nigeria from 1993 until his sudden death in 1998. Since then, successive administrations have recovered significant sums allegedly looted by his regime. As of 2020, over $3.6 billion had been retrieved from foreign accounts linked to Abacha. In 2022 alone, the UK returned $23 million, and the United States repatriated another $20 million as part of the alleged loot.
Maryam Abacha, however, dismissed these claims, asking rhetorically, “Who is the witness to the monies that were being stashed?”
She also suggested that her late husband had been unfairly targeted, hinting at possible tribal or religious motivations behind the accusations.
“Why are you blaming somebody? Is it tribalism or a religious problem, or what exactly is the problem with Nigerians?” she asked. “We should stop telling lies and blaming people… Why are we so bad towards each other?”
