The desperation of the presidency to nail former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (IBB), and hopefully make him unelectable in next year’s presidential election appears to be taking a more definitive push as the authorities seek to put a name to huge cash deposits in different countries around the world – all of which the presidency believe are traceable to the Minna General.

• Babangida Photo By: Sun News Publishing

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The amounts involved, details of which Saturday Sun gathered may have been forwarded to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), include, but not restricted to, £6.2 billion, $2 billion, 7.41 billion Swiss Francs and 9 billion Deutsche Marks.

But pro-IBB campaigners insist that the figures are not new. In fact, Prince Kassim Afegbua, Secretrary-General of the National Democratic Party (NDP) who was recently appointed in charge of the publicity of the IBB presidency campaign project, told Saturday Sun that the alleged deposits had been bandied around for the last six or seven years and that nobody has been able to trace any Cent therein to Babangida.

So, who owns the money

True to Afegbua’s claim, a document had, indeed, emanated from the newsroom of London Financial Times in 1999. Like a wild fire, the content of that document quickly circulated around the world, and has refused to fizzle out.

It was all about a document containing a list of 21 names of Nigerian military officers who at one time or the other ran the affairs of the nation. The document was a matter of public discourse in many quarters, especially as its publication coincided with the birth of the new democracy in Nigeria. The agitation, timing and intention for the release of the list and the names contained therein was to get the new government up on its toes to launch into the deep for these alleged looters. In fact, it was projected as a prerequisite for the club of the nation’s creditors to listen to her plead for debt relief.

Two major names stood out among others and these were Sani Abacha and Ibrahim Babangida, both retired Generals that had ruled the nation as dictators. They had the highest amount of allegedly looted funds to their names. Nigerians kicked and spoiled for war without end, but got irritated that the government was slack in taking action because it was rumoured that Babangida was instrumental to the enthronement of the 1999 democratic government. As majority of Nigerians kept their cool over the matter, few in the civil rights league kept the fire on the matter smouldering, not actually allowing the life to get out of the faggots.

In one of such fora to discuss the issue, Hurilaws, a group run by Olisa Agbakoba, prominent human rights activist, organised a talkshop at Golden Gate Hotel, Lagos in December 1999 when the issue featured prominently. Most of the new National Assembly legislators that attended were persuaded to take action, but that never came.

The controversial document

Birth place of the document was accredited to the World Bank, but the world body has been deep into a task of purging itself of a relationship with the document for eight years, and the stains of the affinity have not actually paved way. Up till November 6 last year when World Bank issued a statement to further its denial, many did not believe it.

“ As part of our due diligence with regard to anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML-CFT), we subscribe to a number of commercial list services," suggesting that the IFC may indeed have access to such information as contained in the list", World Bank wrote.

Reference to World Bank as source of the list featured in the Financial Times of London June 24, 1999. Another source indicated that World Bank allegedly passed this list to President Obasanjo but that the presidency might have chosen to ignore it.

The ghost of that document was however resurrected last year when President Obasanjo commenced moves to secure debt relief for the nation. There were very reliable facts that the world financial bodies and creditor organisations confronted Nigeria’s debt-negotiating team over this document and what the federal government has to say about the indicted persons and “there was no official denial of this from the Nigerian government”.

Give and take

However, rather than an outright plot to hound IBB, there are pointers that the latest move to investigate his legendary wealth is a fallout of the fact that the Nigerian government may have entered into a commitment to pursue serious action on the document, in keeping with the spirit of the debt forgiveness deal.

According to a popular website on graft and debt issues, as reported on July 27, 2005, "in exchange for partial debt relief, the Paris Club of creditor nations handed Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo a list of well-placed Nigerians to go after and prosecute for allegedly stealing and stashing public funds in overseas bank accounts."

The website, further noted that: "According to various reports, the Presidency confirmed the list publicly after it was pressured by a delegation from a state in the middle belt to reveal the conditions of the Paris Club debt relief deal. “Similarly, very reliable sources said the World Bank had first passed such a list to the Federal Government several years back, and went ahead to leak it to the Financial Times when the Nigerian government refused to take any action on the list, except regarding the Late General Sani Abacha’.

The N3 trillion debacle

The list puts Babangida's alleged deposits at 6.2 billion pounds, SWF7.41 billion (Swiss Franc), US$2 billion and DM9 billion (Deutsche Marks). These figures converted into naira would amount to about N3 trillion. The money, according to our findings, with the passage of time, are no longer kept in vaults cooling off but have been scattered into undercover investments that answer all manner of names and attributed to so many cronies who run the estate, especially outside Nigeria.

Further to its desperate defense, the World Bank has constantly and brazenly posited that it is “not a policing institution and if it has any information it would pass it to the appropriate authorities”. But Herbert Boh, then a communication officer at the World Bank, pointedly disassociated the World Bank from such a list.

Under pressure

To actually show that not many are believing the denials of World Bank, the body while asserting that it is not in possession of any such document, however. revealed that the "World Bank does not have such information, but the World Bank has received "numerous other requests on this list, but such a list is not from the World Bank and is not connected to the World Bank."

In another version of the story from International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank agency that deals with the private sector, Corrie Shanahan, IFC's spokesperson, also stated that the IFC does not maintain such a list. But Shanahan however added that "as part of our due diligence with regard to anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML-CFT), we subscribe to a number of commercial list services”. It is believed that this position is a subtle acceptance by IFC of actually having access to information contained in the list. Shanahan also noted that basically such information contained in the list were bank secrets. Observers say this may explain why the World Bank and its agency are trying hard to distance themselves from the list”.

Africa’s record

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission boss has over time alluded that £220 billion was "squandered" between independence from Britain in 1960 and the return of civilian rule in 1999”.

"We cannot be accurate down to the last figure but that is our projection," Osita Nwajah, the commission’s spokesman, said in Abuja.

If that figure by Ribadu is accurate, it means the nation since 1960 has lost what the entire African continent got in foreign aid to looting rulers.

“The stolen fortune tallies almost exactly with the £220 billion of western aid given to Africa between 1960 and 1997. That amounted to six times the American help given to post-war Europe under the Marshall Plan.

British aid for Africa totalled £720 million last year. If that sum was spent annually for the next three centuries, it would cover the cost of Nigeria's looting”, reliable documents reveal.

Politics of a probe

The dilemma the government seems to have with IBB, however, is that it has been unable to pin anything concrete on IBB. Even Obasanjo has said that whoever has any evidence that IBB looted the country’s treasury should come forth with such evidence. This also explains why a proper investigation of IBB has yet to be constituted till date.

The question then is: has the Federal Government stumbled on anything new? Or is the present onslaught against the former head of state a ploy to discredit him and dent his electoral fortunes in the event that he actually decides to stand election next year? Afegbua says that the latter is the case but that “they will fail”.