Lawmakers in the Congress of the United States of America may soon vote on a bill that will allow President Barack Obama and his government to set aside all or part of Abacha loot recovered in the U.S. for victims of the Boko Haram insurgency.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee who represents the 18th District of Texas, is sponsoring a bill, H.R. 528, which will allow the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to use money from the recovered Abacha loot that is in its
custody to provide relief for families of the abducted Chibok girls, PREMIUM TIMES correspondent in Washington reported.
Speaking on Wednesday (May 11) at a Congressional subcommittee hearing on the U.S. role in helping Nigeria confront Boko Haram and other threats in Northern Nigeria, Ms. Jackson Lee sought the Committee’s support for H.R. 528.
“I have HR 528 which I would like to bring to the Committee’s attention”, she said, giving the title of the bill as “Victims of Terror Protection Act” and added that “it deals with the Abacha loot which the DOJ has.”
Ms. Jackson Lee was one of 10 people who spoke at the hearing, including one of the Chibok girls who escaped from Boko Haram terrorists on the night they were kidnapped.
The Congresswoman, who visited Nigeria on a fact-finding mission a few weeks after the kidnapping, said the bill was motivated by the plight of the families of the kidnapped girls and that the intention was to create relief fund for them and other victims.
“When we were in Nigeria two years ago, families were still in pain, they are still in limbo,” she said, adding “Boko Haram has killed Muslims, Christians and others, they’ve killed and burned mosques and churches and homes and schools.”
She said while the overall question remained what we can do to bring the girls back, “there are broken families out there” and she believed the DOJ “can begin to utilize that money asap” to provide the relief these
families desperately need.

Premium times

...It is well

FG to get, USA to release, FRANCE to do, CHINA about to, nearly can never kill a bird

Should they decide on what they don't own?

diagro:
Should they decide on what they don't own.

Bros e tire me oooooo

What manner of nonsense is this? U can't tell us how to use our looted funds.

emamos:
Kachy,you said so...It is well

Lol wetin Kachy talk ?

sarrki:


Lol wetin Kachy talk ?

lol... Sleep dey worry me...Ur name be saki or saraki?

Lolz..
Even US is dictating to us on how to use our looted funds. This is a clear case of "only the piper dictates the tune". Wonder what our President will say on this .....

Cindybella was here

What is their business? These guys have ulterior motive

Do Nigerians have a say. Americans and Europeans eat fat on our looted funds, that's why it's mostly encourage one way traffic. They accept the cash and frustrate the repatriation.

The United States Justice Department said Thursday it had won legal control of nearly a half-billion dollars worth of corrupt gains hidden in bank accounts by former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha.

The department said a court judgment on Wednesday gave it title to more than $480 million that Abacha, who ruled Nigeria from 1993 to 1998, and associates had embezzled and placed in accounts in Jersey, England, Ireland and France.

That took US authorities one step closer to eventually repatriating the money, only a portion of the billions allegedly stolen by Abacha, to Nigeria.

The US is still seeking control over another four Abacha-tied investment portfolios in Britain containing $148 million.

Based on the court judgement, the department will seek to have authorities in those four jurisdictions order banks to transfer the money to it, on the basis that the corrupt funds were originally moved through the US financial system.

“General Abacha and others systematically embezzled billions of dollars in public funds from the Central Bank of Nigeria on the false pretense that the funds were necessary for national security,” the justice department said.

“The conspirators withdrew the funds in cash and then moved the money overseas through US financial institutions.”

An army general deeply involved in Nigerian politics since the 1960s, Abacha ousted a transitional government in 1993 and assumed the role of head of state until he suddenly died in June 1998.

Assistant Attorney General Caldwell branded Abacha’s theft “brazen acts of kleptocracy” aided by his son Mohammed and his former associate and still-prominent politician Abubakar Atiku Bagudu.

Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said it was not clear how long it would take to take possession of the funds and give them back to Nigeria.

“Our goal is to repatriate the recouped funds for the benefit of the Nigerian people,” he said.

what!! unbelievable
well we all know they are so pained bcuz we turned to china

Aisha buhari the corrupt wife of Mohammed Buhari is already well positioned to land all the contracts to rebuild the north.

K

The West and Europe have stolen our money which they have conveniently tagged Abacha loot , but reality is that the stole our money and now refusing to return it.

If the thief dictates how the money they stole should be spent, in reality it is just the thief that is spending the loot meaning the stolen money is not refunded.