Maryam Abacha, widow of Nigeria’s former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, has refuted longstanding allegations that her late husband looted the nation’s treasury during his time in office.
Speaking during a televised interview on TVC, 27 years after the late military ruler’s death, Mrs. Abacha insisted that no funds were embezzled under his administration, stating that the controversies surrounding the so-called *Abacha loot* have been misunderstood and misrepresented.
General Abacha ruled Nigeria from 1993 until his sudden death on June 8, 1998. Since then, successive administrations have recovered billions of dollars linked to his regime from international accounts in countries including Switzerland, the United States, and the United Kingdom. These recovered funds, commonly referred to as the “Abacha loot,” have been redirected into various national social investment programs.
However, Maryam Abacha questioned the credibility of the evidence presented over the years to support claims of financial wrongdoing.
“Who is the witness of the monies that were being stashed?” she queried during the interview. “Did you see the signature or the evidence of any monies stashed abroad? And the monies that my husband kept for Nigeria, in a few months, the monies vanished. People are not talking about that.”
Mrs. Abacha suggested that the charges against her late husband may have been motivated by ethnic and religious biases, arguing that the public had too easily accepted a narrative shaped by prejudice and misinformation.
She further contended that no single individual—be it Abacha, Babangida, or Abiola—had the absolute power to dictate national affairs, emphasizing that nation-building is a shared responsibility among all citizens.
In her comments on the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Mrs. Abacha distanced her husband from the decision, stating that it was made by others in government at the time. According to her, placing sole responsibility on General Abacha exaggerated his influence and failed to reflect the complexity of the political environment.
“I pray for Nigerians. I pray for all of us. I pray that we should have goodness in our hearts. We should stop telling lies and blaming people,” she said. “Why are we so bad towards each other? Because somebody is a northerner or a southerner, somebody is a Muslim or a Christian, or somebody is nice or… It is not fair.”
Her remarks come amid renewed discussions around transparency, accountability, and the historical legacy of Nigeria’s military era.
