Moses Ofodeme
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami has replied critics who faulted him; for describing the recently repatriated Abacha loots as “Abacha assets”.
Malami, responding through a statement issued by Dr Umar Gwandu, his Special Assistant on Media, on Wednesday, May 6; in Abuja said his attention had been drawn to the needless media hype relating to the purported characterisation of the recovered assets associated with the former Head of State as “Abacha Assets”.
He also maintained that the choice of words was deliberate.
“It is to be noted that by way of antecedence; I have been consistently describing the recovered funds as “Abacha loot” at several fora during the process of recovery particularly before the eventual repatriation of the funds.
“The point needs to be made that when the seal of legitimacy was appended to the funds by way of repatriation; it became an asset in favour of the Federal Government as a beneficial owner of the same.
“Beyond the issues of verbal dexterity and vocal acrobatics; Nigerians should focus more on the effective utilisation of the recovered funds; in accordance with the content of the signed tripartite agreement in the interest of Nigerians.”
Malami said that the use of the word ‘assets’ in relation to the post-recovery of looted funds is to qualify the same as federal government assets.
“It is palpable that news about the successful return of the looted assets have brought nightmares to nay-sayers and pessimists who wanted to frustrate the repatriation process through a campaign of calumny.
“They resorted to rhetoric instead of burying their heads in shame.”
He said that the return of the looted funds demonstrated not only commendable efforts of the present government; but also a pointer to the level of confidence; trust and also respect the international community accorded the Buhari-led Federal Government.