During an interview with BBC Hausa on Thursday, June 11, 2020, Al-Mustapha said the monies the former Head of State kept overseas were meant to save Nigeria from sanction and protect Nigerians from suffering. 

He maintained that the idea to keep the monies in foreign banks was a collective decision of key stakeholders involving emirs and chiefs from the south and from the north and VIPs of that time.

He said, “I have said it that there was a period Nigeria was to be sanctioned. So there were plans to keep money overseas so that Nigeria and Nigerians would not suffer when the sanction was imposed on the country,” he said.

“We gathered emirs and chiefs from the south and from the north, together with VIPs of that time; those in government and those not in government. We met at a place called Camp Bassey Officers’ Mess in the Brigade of Guards. It was there we deliberated on the threat to sanction Nigeria. Many decisions were made”.

Al-Mustapha further said that the regime of the late dictator raised Nigeria’s image and also helped to raise the country’s foreign reserve from less than $2 billion to over $9 billion.

He said, “I am surprised by the way Abacha is being blackmailed. I am surprised because when he assumed leadership, Nigeria had less than $2 billion in the foreign reserve.

“But within four years and eight months, he raised it to over $9 billion. After his death, all the billions vanished in nine months.

“The person that raised Nigeria’s image and enhanced security is now the subject of insult. But those who shared the money he left are still alive and untouchable.”

Between 1998 and 2020, over $3.624 billion looted by Abacha has been recovered from four countries.

Recall that in May, President Muhammadu Buhari disclosed that close to $1billion was stolen during Abacha’s regime.