Supreme Court rejects Abacha family’s demand to unfreeze accounts in UK, Switzerland

The Supreme Court has refused an application by Ali Abacha, a brother to late Head of State, Sani Abacha seeking to unfreeze his and other relatives’ accounts in the UK, Switzerland, Jersey, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg.

A five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Sylvester Ngwuta on Friday unanimously held that Ali Abacha’s application was statute barred as at when it was commenced in April 2004 at the Federal High Court in Kaduna.

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In the lead judgment prepared by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, but read on Friday by Justice Ejembi Eko, the court held that, having dismissed a similar appeal in an earlier judgment given in February 2020, it has no reason to depart from its reasoning in the case brought by Alhaji Abba Mohammed Sani on behalf of the Abacha family.

The judgment was in the appeal marked: SC/359/2010, filed by Alhaji Ali Abacha, said to be a brother of the late Gen Sani Abacha.

The court said it noticed that the appellant in this appeal is represented by Reuben Atabo who, incidentally, was the appellant’s counsel in the earlier appeal.

“No new superior arguments were proffered here to warrant a departure from the decision in the case of Alhaji Sani, earlier decided. This appeal fails, and it is hereby dismissed,” the court ruled