Abacha Did Not Steal Nigeria’s Money, Al Mustapha Explains What He Did
Hamza Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer to late military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, has dismissed allegations that his former boss stole Nigeria’s money and hid it in foreign countries.
Speaking during an interview with the BBC, he alleged that the money in question was used to support Nigerians during tough economic times.
He insisted that the money was not stolen but kept in a national account to support Nigeria’s economic plan.
According to him, “At that time, the government was running under a lot of hardship. There was no money. So, we went to Libya with several people to learn how they were surviving. Libya had faced sanctions for 11 years.”
He explained that after studying Libya’s system, the Abacha government introduced a policy that allowed Nigerian-owned companies to receive government support to buy goods and sell them to citizens at affordable prices.
“These were the things we copied, and by God’s grace, Nigerians were not crushed. But after Abacha died, some people didn’t return the money. Instead, they created many false stories against him.
“I don’t believe the money they say was returned to Nigeria was in Abacha’s name. The money was kept in national accounts to support this economic plan. Some returned it, others hid it, ” he said.
He questioned the allegations further by saying, “Did Abacha ever travel abroad? Were the funds found with his signature? Or did anyone catch him transferring money? No.”
When asked about Nigeria’s democracy, Al-Mustapha acknowledged that there has been political progress but said ordinary Nigerians lives have not improved.
“Democracy is good, but using it in a way that harms the people is a big problem,” he said.
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