[size=18pt]Abacha's achievements praised by Chief Tom Ikimi[/size]

In a recent interview to mark his 60th birthday anniversary, Nigeria’s former Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Tom Ikimi paid glowing tribute to the memory of the late military Head of State, General Sani Abacha. Rarely do former public office holders praise the memory of departed leaders in order to avoid offending those in power. And that is why Tom Ikimi should be commended for his sincerity and courage.

Chief Ikimi, who was speaking recently to the Punch newspaper, said Abacha meant well for Nigeria, despite the attempts by his opponents to diminish his achievements by playing up his weakness, which are normal with every ordinary human being. According to Ikimi, the former Obasanjo administration had more resources and longer stay in power but it didn’t beat the record of Abacha’s achievements.

He particularly recalled the successful re-investment of petroleum subsidy withdrawal proceeds to make life better for Nigerians. The former Foreign Affairs Minister said the late Abacha’s Petroleum Trust Fund, which was selfishly abolished by Obasanjo, started off very successfully, bringing remarkable improvements in the conditions of public schools, hospitals, roads, water supply and other critical areas of social services. He regretted the culture of vilifying the memory of past leaders and discrediting their achievements.

In fact, we don’t need a reminder from Tom Ikimi to acknowledge Abacha’s impressive legacy within just the five years he was destined to rule. During the eight years of the former Obasanjo administration, Nigeria’s foreign reserve reached an all-time high, hitting 64 billion dollars. Ironically, such huge oil revenues didn’t produce any significant impact on Nigerians. Instead of building houses of his own, Obasanjo was selling away those built by administrations before him, thereby pushing up rents to unbelievable levels in Abuja. The late Abacha built the Gwarimpa Housing Estate within just five years he was in office. It is the biggest single housing project in Africa, according to property experts.

Governance is not only about the resources available to the government but also about the commitment and sincerity of leaders to apply public resources to improve the quality of lives of the citizens. It is on record that the former Obasanjo administration spent 16 billion dollars to improve power generation but Nigeria is still struggling between 2,500 to 3000 megawatts. South Africa generates 45,000 megawatts of electricity, while the self-acclaimed giant of Africa is till unable to meet the minimum requirement even in the nation’s Federal Capital Territory of Abuja.

The level of stealing has risen dramatically while the dividends of the so-called democracy can only be found in the pockets of the “elected” leaders. As Professor Patrick Utomi, the founder of the Lagos Business School, perfectly observed, what we have in Nigeria today is not democracy but “a government of politicians for politicians and by politicians.” Democracy is supposed to be a vehicle to provide honest and selfless services but what we have today are leaders who are attracted to elective offices for private gain. According to American religious philosopher, Ambrose Bierce, “politics is the conduct of public affairs for private gain.” The greed of our politicians makes this reality ever louder day after day.

Nigerians always look back with nostalgia to the record of Abacha. Apart from his patriotism by resisting dictation by foreign powers, Abacha brought credibility to Nigeria in Liberia because his administration allowed Liberians to choose whoever they wanted; he had no candidate in the election in Liberia. He returned stability to Liberia through a foreign policy of neutrality. The passage of time is the best judge. Confronted by the huge failures of the Obasanjo administration, many Nigerians are becoming more forgiving of Abacha’s imperfections and focusing more on his positive legacies, which are yet to be rivaled by the records of his opponents.

“Nigeria will be great again” was the guiding philosophy of the Obasanjo administration when he staged a come-back in 1999 (this time as a civilian President). However, eight years after leaving office, Nigerians were beginning to discover the rot caused by his administration. The corruption, greed and disregard for due process, which characterized privatization, the so-called power projects and other scandals, ultimately removed the mask from the face of Obasanjo’s administration. His administration was the most self-righteous but its hypocrisy came falling apart like skeletons from the cupboard. Whether Tom Ikimi said it or not, Nigerians can no longer be deceived by the propaganda that Abacha was the worst evil to befall Nigeria.

Danladi wrote in from Yahaya Road, Kaduna,

email:gsuliemandanladi@gmail.com

http://blueprintng.com/2012/05/abacha-in-the-eyes-of-ikimi/

Thanks a lot for your time Yasmeena, you really get the gist

Yasmeena: WOW.. Iyaniwura.. thumbs up 2 U 4 dat lenghty n insightful piece on d lyf of our beautiful ex-1st lady.. I appreciate dat d piece cuts across both d positive n negative things about Hajia Maryam..

[size=23pt]Swiss court document on so-called "Abacha Loot" case, shows Abacha was maliciously and unjustly blamed[/size]

http://www.mcswisslaw.com/pages_e/2008%20Monfrini%20-%20The%20Abacha%20Case.pdf

[size=18pt]" The existence of a system of confiscation orders that is independent from a criminal conviction is therefore a necessity in grand corruption cases. In this context, reversing the burden of proof or imposing procedural consequences on the failure of the asset holder to cooperate regarding the origin of the assets, appear to be best legislative practice. The presumption of innocence does not necessarily apply to confiscation proceedings and ‘presumptions of fact or of law operate in every criminal-law system and are not prohibited in principle’ and therefore do not breach the right to a fair trial.28 "[/size]


[size=18pt]This is 21 page Swiss court document but the above extract is very revealing indeed.

Basically, by qualifying Abacha's family members together with PDP stooges claiming to be Abacha's business associates as a 'Criminal Organisation', Nigerian Government did not need to prove that the funds in the foreign accounts belonged to Abacha, The Onus was on Abacha to proof that he was innocent of the charges.

Of course a deceased man could not do that.

Abacha's son Mohammed could not fully challenge the allegations as he was locked up at the time by Obasanjo on trumped up charges.[/size]