eGuerrilla:

Why don't you do yourself a favour and find out just how much of Nigeria's earnings ended up in this despot's bank account during his reign.

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

How easy was it to loot money and have it 'kept' in countries that were part of the west who sanctioned Nigeria and also blocked Nigeria and the outside world (west) from doing business together?

Nigeria was under financial/economic/social sanctions all through the reign of Abacha, how then was he able to keep his loots in some of these countries that were part of those against his govt?

Can you keep your goat at your public enemy's house?

Surely, his death would mean different things to different people.
Many people claiming he was the best president compared to others had their reasons; but to me, he wasn't.
On the 6th of June, 1998, a certain man had his appointment with Abacha himself, rescheduled (a civillian and a nonentity to me at that time). How he got that connection, I don't know. He was told that the C-in-C himself rescheduled his appointment for June 9, 1998. That was how he never got that opportunity to get his own indomie at that time. Abacha's death, to such a man, would be a painful one.
To the Yoruba nation, Abacha would never be in their good books. So many people asked if insurgency and wanton loss of lives happened in his time like we have now. The answer is YES, it did. Modakeke and Ife war consumed lives in Osun state and this thing happened twice during Abacha's reign, yet little was done to forestall the crises at that time.
Our civil service was jeopardized during this man's reign. As a teacher then, you had to introduce a book or handouts to the students to buy so that they can have some enjoyment. Those in the civil service won't even come to work at all, while those that decided to, would just turn the office to a gist planet.
The middle class was non-existent at that time. It was either the high class or the low class. The economy was of no effect to the majority of people at all. The Naira was of great value that time, but it must be noted that to get N500 at that time was not a small thing at all.
His tyranny paved way for OBJ to become the president, though against the Yoruba nation's wishes. Had OBJ, a military-civilian, not become the president, we would have been under the man whom the whole nation hated and hate till today, IBB.
Abacha's tyranny would have been good had it been propagated like late Chavez of Venezuela or late Ghaddafi of Libya.
Besides, soldiers are not meant to rule, they are only meant to protect the sovereignty of a nation, and if they get the taste of power, they won't differentiate it from handling gun (power).

freshcvv:

How easy was it to loot money and have it 'kept' in countries that were part of the west who sanctioned Nigeria and also blocked Nigeria and the outside world (west) from doing business together?

Nigeria was under financial/economic/social sanctions all through the reign of Abacha, how then was he able to keep his loots in some of these countries that were part of those against his govt?

Can you keep your goat at your public enemy's house?

Money is not stolen like reading ABC sir. There were technicalities involved in doing those things. The same western imperialists that sanctioned him had machineries on ground to romance with him (Abacha), though indirectly.

freshcvv:

How easy was it to loot money and have it 'kept' in countries that were part of the west who sanctioned Nigeria and also blocked Nigeria and the outside world (west) from doing business together?

Nigeria was under financial/economic/social sanctions all through the reign of Abacha, how then was he able to keep his loots in some of these countries that were part of those against his govt?

Can you keep your goat at your public enemy's house?

Why don't you come out and state your point instead of meandering all over the place via some circuitous route?

At least take some pride in your revisionism, by making your position succinctly clear

tjadeba:

She is perfectly alright.Abacha was one helluva man,indiscriminately wicked dictator.He was living large,at the detriment of the masses.A senior lecturer's take home pay was 7k at that time.Minimum wage was N800 and it took the next regime of Abdulsalam Abubakar to jerk it to N5000.what a big leap and relief for the suffering masses. There was no money and freedom of speech. Imagine,people were even afraid to discuss government affairs with their immediate family ...meeehn,it was as bad

O boy! Are you too alryt?

Joey82:

for a lay man on the street, the difference is clear.
i remember 3cups of garri sold for 5 naira then, how much is a cup of garri now.
pump price of pms remained at 11 naira, infact those marketers who didnt want to comply with the price regime were forced to, hw much is the pump price of pms now.
the naira was stable at 71 to a dollar through out his 5year reign, hw much is naira now to a dollar.
with all the sanctions imposed on nigeria during his time, he managed to rule without borrowing a cent from no westerner, hw much debt have we incured just in the last 2years and hw well have we been able to use the monies borrowed.
Abacha was a patriotic leader and it was through and through.
the most unfortunate thing about nigerian politics is it is only those who do not even wish to become democratic leaders that end up being. people who have wanted it badly never get there.
i pray someday soon, we will get a well prepared democratic leader so he wont be short of ideas and discernment 1s he/she gets there

More revisionism, I see.

Abacha, who did not borrow from the west, ended up siphoning more than $5 billion of his peoples' commonwealth, over a five year period, at a time when annual earnings from oil was about $10 billion/year. Do you see the glaring contradiction?

Now, as if this lame attempt at histrionics was not bad enough; you then reduce the major role he played in hastening the systematic decay which currently abounds in Nigeria - both as second in charge and a supreme leader - by referring to the price of gari. This one truly boggles the mind, I tell you.

I won't even both responding to his much touted patriotism, since he clearly ranks some distance behind Joseph-Désiré Mobutu - who not only dropped his English first name under the guise of an Africanization policy, but also renamed his country 'Zaire'.

No sir, history will not absolve Abacha of his many sins.

Katier00 :
he was a real leader, rip to one of the best nigeria's leader

i am sure ur type of person like suffering and smiling so much.

eGuerrilla:

More revisionism, I see.

Revisionism is necessary in Abacha's case , it is time to tell the truth after the lies that were started by obasanjo and IBB.

GenBuhari: [b][size=18pt]Abacha never looted.

The money repatriated by Obasanjo was from one of Obj's or his associates swiss accounts and had nothing to do with Abacha.

Obasanjo accused Abacha initially of looting $6billion, yet only approx half a Billion dollars were ever returned; and even that returned money is untraceable.

The whole repatriation of looted funds was a scam by Obj, IBB and his cousin Abdulsalami Abubakar to convince Nigerians that Abacha looted.

Abacha ruled when oil was selling as low as $9 per Barrel (Today oil prices averages $110 per barrel)

Yet :
Abacha refused IMF loans and their economic dictates

He maintained a strong Naira at N22 = $1

He raised fuel prices by only N6 per litre, and used the revenue generated to fund the Petroleum Trust Fund which he entrusted to the non-corrupt Buhari to be used to maintain and improve infrastructure. He never sold fuel for more than N14 per litre.

He reduced our debt by $9bn

He increased our reserves by $9bn

He reduced inflation from 60% to 8%

He built the national hospital in Abuja

he built the largest housing estate in Africa

He delivered 2 olympic gold medals

He delivered AFCON and in the process gave Nigeria Steven Keshi

He fulfilled our role as an African superpower by intervening in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

All this while earning as little as $9 per barrel from crude sales.

He would have to have been a magician to find any money to loot as well.

He re-surrected the War against Indiscipline and corruption.

He created 6 states.

World bank estimates that approx $200bn has been looted from Nigeria since Abacha died, yet gullible Nigerians are only focussing on "recovering" money Abacha was falsely accused of looting.




[/size][/b]

Brilliance9000: After reading the comments on this thread, I must say we NEED ANOTHER ABACHA, particularly, to deal with or if I may borrow Abacha's word "dissolve" some of Nairalanders. Most of you are the most ignorant piece of sh$it I have seen in my life. The saddest thing is when you look up their profiles, these are men in their 30s, 40s and 50s. Meaning, they have no absolute clue of why Abacha was killed after all these years and never care to research. Yes he dissolved some individuals, what leader hasn't?

Democracy is not for every country. Some countries need dictatorship to manage its stubborn citizenry. Typical example is Nigeria where 90% of its citizenry are psychologically mad. This has been proven by Psychologists and psychiatrists.

Didn't want to comment on this funny thread till I saw ur comment.
And you are soooooo right.
The mistake people make is to think democracy is for every country. My belief is that some countries are J̶̲̥̅̊u̶̲̥̅̊S̤̥̈̊τ̲̣̣̥ too ehh......MAD to practice it.
Give them freedom of speech and they call u a weak leader and make cartoons of you.
I honestly think a military or communism govt would be best for d set of animals we have wearing suit and ties on the streets of nigeria.
A place like warri where if they haven't seen a soldier with GUN, they cannot behave themselves. English and reason don't work. The only thing we heed to is FORCE. Its a shame

Kewt: Sadly, 15 after, and 14 years of unfettered democratic rule, not much has changed.

Below is the speech he read to Nigerians on the eve of his hostile take over of government from Chief Ernest Shonekan:

Fellow Nigerians, sequel to the resignation of the former Head of the Interim National Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Chief Ernest Shonekan and my subsequent appointment as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief, I have had extensive consultations within the armed forces hierarchy and other well meaning Nigerians in a bid to find solutions to the various political, economic and social problems which have engulfed our beloved country, and which have made life most difficult to the ordinary citizen of this nation.

Chief Ernest Shonekan took over as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces at a most trying time in the history of the country. Politically, economically, and socially, there were lots of uncertainties. Things
appeared bleak and the atmosphere was heavy with uncertainties. However, driven by a belief in himself, his countrymen,
and love for his country, he accepted to face the challenges of our time. I will, therefore, like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to him for his selfless service to the nation. He showed great courage at taking on the daunting task of heading the Interim National Government and even greater courage to know when to leave. Many have expressed fears about the apparent return of the military.

Many have talked about the concern of the international community. However, under the present circumstances the survival of our beloved country is far above any other consideration. Nigeria is the only country we have. We must, therefore, solve our problems ourselves. We must lay a very solid foundation for the growth of democracy. We should avoid any ad hoc or temporary solutions. The problems must be addressed firmly, objectively, decisively and with all sincerity of purpose. Consequently, the following decisions come into immediate effect:

The Interim National Government is hereby dissolved.
The National and State Assemblies
are also dissolved.
The State Executive Councils are
dissolved.

The Brigade Commanders are to take over from the Governors in their States until Administrators are appointed. Where there are no Brigade Commanders, the Commissioners of Police in the State are to take over.
All Local Governments stand dissolved. The Directors of Personnel are to take over the administration of the Local
Governments until Administrators are appointed.

All former Secretaries to Federal Ministries are to hand over to their
Directors-General until Ministers are appointed.

The two political parties are hereby dissolved.
All processions, political meetings and associations of any type in any part of the country are hereby banned.
Any consultative committee by whatever name called is hereby proscribed.
Decree 61 of 1993 is hereby abrogated.

A Provisional Ruling Council (PRC), is hereby established. It will comprise:

The Head of State, Commander-in-
Chief of the Armed Forces of the federal Republic of Nigeria as Chairman.
The Chief of General Staff as Vice-Chairman
The Honourable Minister of Defence
The Chief of Defence Staff
The Service Chiefs
The Inspector General of Police
The Attorney General and Minister
of Justice
The Internal Affairs Minister
The Foreign Affairs Minister

Also, a Federal Executive Council will be put in place.

Our security system will be enhanced to ensure that lives of citizens, property of individuals are protected and preserved. Drug trafficking and other economic crimes such as 419 must be tackled and eliminated. On the current
strike throughout the nation following the increase in the price of fuel, I appeal to all the trade unions to return to work immediately. We cannot afford further dislocation and destruction of our economy. On the closed
media houses, government is hereby lifting the order of proscription with immediate effect.

We, however, appeal to the media houses that in this spirit of national reconciliation, we should show more restraint and build a united and peaceful Nigeria.

Fellow Nigerians, the events of the past months, starting from the annulment of the June 12
presidential election, culminating in the appointment of the former Head of State, Chief Ernest Shonekan, who unfortunately resigned yesterday, are well known to you.

The economic downturn has undoubtedly been aggravated by the ongoing political crisis. We require well thought-out and
permanent solutions to these problems if we are to emerge stronger for them. Consequently, a constitutional conference with full constituent powers will be established soon to determine the future constitutional structure of
Nigeria. The constitutional conference will also recommend the method of forming parties,
which will lead to the ultimate recognition of political parties formed by the people. While the conference is on, the re-organisation and reform of the following major institutions will be carried out:

The Military
The Police
The Customs
The Judiciary
NITEL
NNPC
NEPA
The Banking Industry
Higher Educational Institutions

This regime will be firm, humane, and decisive. We will not condone nor tolerate any act of indiscipline.
Any attempt to test our will be decisively dealt with.

For the International Community, we ask that you suspend judgment while we grapple with the onerous task
of nation building, reconciliation and repairs. This government is a child of necessity with a strong determination to restore peace and stability to our country and on these foundations, enthrone a lasting and true democracy. Give
us the chance to solve our problems in our own ways.

Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria

General Sani Abacha
GCFR
President Federal Republic Of Nigeria

Beautiful speech but alas! He was the devil in human skin. Nonetheless those dat had d opportunity to rule the country till date 're nt better off

GenBuhari:

Revisionism is necessary in Abacha's case , it is time to tell the truth after the lies that were started by obasanjo and IBB.

If this is what you choose to believe, it is your prerogative.

Some of us do not need an Obasanjo or an IBB to understand the events that unfolded during those dark years.

E no go beta 4am. Even his fellow inmates in had cold shivers on his arrival in hell ! The blood of d saro-wiwas, kudirat abiola and so many more would curse his condemned generation . Useless aboki

GenBuhari: [b][size=2pt]Abacha never looted.

The money repatriated by Obasanjo was from one of Obj's or his associates swiss accounts and had nothing to do with Abacha.

Obasanjo accused Abacha initially of looting $6billion, yet only approx half a Billion dollars were ever returned; and even that returned money is untraceable.

The whole repatriation of looted funds was a scam by Obj, IBB and his cousin Abdulsalami Abubakar to convince Nigerians that Abacha looted.

Abacha ruled when oil was selling as low as $9 per Barrel (Today oil prices averages $110 per barrel)

Yet :
Abacha refused IMF loans and their economic dictates

He maintained a strong Naira at N22 = $1

He raised fuel prices by only N6 per litre, and used the revenue generated to fund the Petroleum Trust Fund which he entrusted to the non-corrupt Buhari to be used to maintain and improve infrastructure. He never sold fuel for more than N14 per litre.

He reduced our debt by $9bn

He increased our reserves by $9bn

He reduced inflation from 60% to 8%

He built the national hospital in Abuja

he built the largest housing estate in Africa

He delivered 2 olympic gold medals

He delivered AFCON and in the process gave Nigeria Steven Keshi

He fulfilled our role as an African superpower by intervening in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

All this while earning as little as $9 per barrel from crude sales.

He would have to have been a magician to find any money to loot as well.

He re-surrected the War against Indiscipline and corruption.

He created 6 states.

World bank estimates that approx $200bn has been looted from Nigeria since Abacha died, yet gullible Nigerians are only focussing on "recovering" money Abacha was falsely accused of looting.




[/size][/b]

HIDING YOUR LIES BY REDUCING THE FONT SIZE

^ Elaborate!

Like someone said when Sanctions were imposed on Nigeria, if Abacha truely had funds in foreign banks those monies would havebeen frozen then in 1995

So that he built the National Hospital in Abuja na lie?

Or that he delivered Olympic gold medal in football?

That he intervened in Sierra Leone?

Which one na lie?

Pvt. Parts:


HIDING YOUR LIES BY REDUCING THE FONT SIZE

Short-man-devil

^ that term suits Obj better.

[color=#000099][/color]well as far as I'm concern he is one of the very best we've had..#gbam!

Bigcake: Because he didnt kill ur father like he did to Saro Wiwa.. A good leader who wanted to be a sit tight leader. Just to mention a few.

Katier00 :
he was a real leader, rip to one of the best nigeria's leader

BABE I REAL FEEL U, I KNW U WHERE 1 OF HIS BABE FEEDING HIM APPLE BUT I HOPE NO BI UR HAND HE FINALLY PIA....

GenBuhari: ^ Elaborate!

Like someone said when Sanctions were imposed on Nigeria, if Abacha truely had funds in foreign banks those monies would havebeen frozen then in 1995

I see you are now hedging your bets on the well documented hypocrisy of Western powers who looked the other way with the likes Abacha, Mobutu, and a long list of other despots around the world, at the time. This is a rather convenient alibi which lends itself to mind atrophy, given the events recounted below.

According to the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs, $700 million were returned to Nigeria. (Source: Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs, September 30, 2009.) In 2001, the Abacha family and associates reached an agreement with the Nigerian government to release $1.3 billion frozen in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg in exchange for being able to keep $100 million.

According to Attorney Enrico Monfrini (lawyer for Nigeria), "Thanks to the thorough investigation in the Geneva domestic criminal proceedings, the criminal origin of the funds was clearly demonstrated...On 19 August 2004, the Federal Office of Justice agreed to transmit to Nigeria all the assets in Switzerland beneficially owned by the Abacha family, waiving the condition of a prior judicial forfeiture decision in Nigeria," This decision was upheld for the most part by the Swiss Supreme Court in February 2005.

The Abacha family did not "attempt to reverse the presumption by proving that the balance of the attached funds was not of criminal origin." (Source: Enrico Monfrini, "The Abacha Case," in Mark Pieth, ed., Recovering Stolen Assets [Peter Lang, 2008]).

Source

Katier00 :
he was a real leader, rip to one of the best nigeria's leader

are u guyz 4 real?abacha that looted and looted Nigeria?

mmmustapha: how old r u kid?

none of ur biz.he has d right to say whateva.maybe u should enlighten him

Katier00 :
he was a real leader, rip to one of the best nigeria's leader

lmaooooooooooo

had just gotten back from "lesson" then when my neighn\bors ran out and said they just heard on cnn that Abacha was dead which is says a lot aboyut the decay in the Nigerian system that the president will die and we will have to depend on a foreign news agency to brake the news to us in Nigeria
But as par the man,AM sure most of you can not rem all the numerous suspicious bomb blasts going on all in the name of him claiming that enemies did not want him to rule the nation and am certain u all also forgot about the adoption of him as sole candidate by all 5 political parties in nigeria
lol....

eGuerrilla:

Why don't you come out and state your point instead of meandering all over the place via some circuitous route?

At least take some pride in your revisionism, by making your position succinctly clear

If you have answers to my questions, kindly provide instead of making statements like this.

Besides obj, I think he was the best military administrator the country had. R.I.P to those that were caught in his line of fire.

^ OBJ who handed over power in 1979 and used nations money meant for his "Operation Feed the Nation" to start his Ota farm.

Abacha is way too good to even be compared with genocidal kleptomaniac that is Obasanjo.

I have said it many times that the money repatriated, was not linked to Abacha and it was a scam purely for the purpose of duping the Nigerian public.

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


Abacha performance paying $9bn into reserves whilst facing sanctions prosecuting 2 wars and reducing inflation and earning only $9/barrel from crude exports whilst rejecting all IMF loans, makes it difficult to find how he could have looted.[/size]

eGuerrilla:

I see you are now hedging your bets on the well documented hypocrisy of Western powers who looked the other way with the likes Abacha, Mobutu, and a long list of other despots around the world, at the time. This is a rather convenient alibi which lends itself to mind atrophy, given the events recounted below.



Source

If he is not the best[uuote author=Katier00 ]he was a real leader, rip to one of the best nigeria's leader [/quote]

Some Nigerians are the most ungrateful no-brainer people on earth. How can someone/something be it human or animal say "He is the best president". WHAT DID ABACHA ACHIEVE FOR NIGERIA OTHER THAN CORRUPTION, ELITISM, RITUALS AND DESTABILITY. Nigerians are craze indeed

Nnamdi, GEJ, OBASANJO, SHAGARI, BUHARI are the best President Nigerians has ever have.

Abacha is the worst second to he brother IBB