A deal between the Federal Government and the Abacha family goes sour and frustrates Muhammed Abacha’s fight for freedom.

For the second time in three weeks, Muhammed Sani Abacha, the oldest surviving son of late despot, General Sani Abacha, had a slim encounter with freedom. An Abuja High Court granted Muhammed’s application for bail in a financial crime suit filed against him and his business associate, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu, by the federal government. In the suit which bore 111 counts, the government sought to establish cases of theft, conspiracy and possession of stolen property against the duo of Muhammed and Bagudu. But Muhammed, basking in an earlier acquittal of murder charges by the Supreme Court, sought bail pending the final determination of the suit.

In the bail application filed before Justice Dahiru Saleh and dated 17 July, Muhammed’s lawyers contended that the alleged offences were bailable. Even when the relevant law states that offences that attract over three years imprisonment were not ordinarily bailable, Abacha’s lawyers held that section 341 of the Criminal Penal Code empowers the presiding judge to use his discretion to grant bail in the matter provided that the applicant tables sufficient materials for the judge.

In an affidavit supporting the application, deposed to by one Simon Ameobi, Muhammed Abacha swore that as the bread winner of the Abacha family, his continued incarceration had dismally affected the finances of the family. So bad, he said, was the situation that feeding and payment of other bills had become a huge problem for the family. He also claimed to be sick and in urgent need of medical attention. Muhammed swore that the charges brought against him were not true and that he had no previous criminal record.

But in a counter affidavit, deposed to also on the 17 July, the Federal Government strongly disputed the claims of Muhammed. The younger Abacha, the government averred, would pervert the cause of justice, especially as it concerned the suit under determination once freed. The counter affidavit further disputed Muhammed’s claim of ill-health. The government held that the money involved was so colossal that it would not risk letting Muhammed go. The fear, the government insisted, is that Abacha may jump bail and possibly leave the country.

When both parties appeared before Justice Saleh two weeks ago, an epic battle was envisaged. But that was not to be as the federal government’s lawyers, led by the Federal Director of Public Prosecution, Mrs. Stella Ominyi, was outrightly outclassed by Muhammed Abacha’s legal team that included Alhaji A.B. Mahmood (SAN), Ustaz Yunus Usman (SAN), Alhaji Kaloma Ali, Alhaji Aliyu Umar and Mr. Bala Ibn Na’Allah.

For about an hour, Mahmood wooed Justice Saleh. Muhammed, he said would not jump bail since his international passport had been with the security services since 1999. “He has said in the affidavit that he will always make himself available in court any day this case is scheduled for hearing. I want to reaffirm that,” Mahmood told the judge. He said the government had not shown evidence that Muhammed would interfere with the case once released. On the likelihood that Muhammed would make away with the money in dispute, Mahmood told Justice Saleh that the money in question has since been frozen. “The money will remain frozen until the final determination of the suit. So the condition of the money has nothing to do with the bail,” the lawyer argued. He reminded the judge that Muhammed’s health was in shambles and in urgent need for proper medication.

Unfortunately however, the Federal Government’s legal team was unable to bring fresh facts other than what was contained in the counter affidavit. Ominyi, who held the government’s brief, merely repeated the claims in the counter affidavit that the accused would jump bail if freed and that he would interfere with the case from the outside if set free. She also argued that it was not true that Mohammed’s health was bad. Asked to tender proof, Ominyi said she was resting her case but added that government remained opposed to the bail.

Justice Saleh’s ruling came two and half hours after. He upheld the claims of Muhammed’s lawyers that their client qualifies for bail having given the court enough materials to buttress the claims. Justice Saleh held that the government’s legal team was unable to tender sufficient evidence to counter Muhammed’s claims. “There is no compelling material before the court that showed that it would be risky to grant the applicant bail. Prosecution has not shown any material to prove its claim. The materials placed before the court by the applicant satisfy the bail condition and the prosecution has not brought any material to say that it is not enough,” Justice Saleh held.

The Judge granted Muhammed’s application but not before spelling out three conditions. Muhammed should personally sign a bail bond worth N10 million while two other persons with landed property in Abuja, who would stand as guarantors sign bail bonds worth N2 million each; that Muhammed’s international passport remains with the security services and that Muhammed be placed under security surveillance by the state security services.

Though generally upbeat in court, Muhammed was not entirely jubilant when the ruling came. Prison-weary, it was evident Muhammed was yet to pack his things at the Kuje Prison. “We know that the government would not let him go until they collect all his money. We know they are still after Muhammed,” confided a close associate of Muhammed shortly after the ruling. While Muhammed and his uncle Abdulkadri Abacha began making efforts to meet the bail conditions, the federal government’s legal team were perfecting the wordings of fresh charges against the scion of the Abacha family. “They are going to re-arrest Muhammed and file new charges against him. I think the new charges include stealing and fraud, they are perfecting that right now,” offered the Muhammed confidante.

But why does the government want to hold on to Muhammed? Though government’s spokesmen would not openly comment on the bail saga, this magazine was told that the Abacha family, particularly Muhammed, reneged on a tripartite agreement between federal government, Abacha family and Swiss authorities. The agreement would have seen the government dropping all charges of financial crime against Muhammed and other members of the Abacha family once the family returned the sum of $1.2 billion said to have been stolen from the nation’s treasury. The Abacha family would retain $100 million. “That is one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make in my life because I know that the Abacha family hadn’t legitimately done any work to deserve $100 million,” President Obasanjo once said of the money-for-freedom – deal.

Henry Ugbolue, TheNEWS (Nigeria), August 12, 2002