How Tinubu’s ministerial nominee, Bagudu amassed, laundered shady billions of dollars for late Sani Abacha

Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, a former Kebbi State governor who allegedly stole and laundered billions of dollars on behalf of Sani Abacha, the late infamous military dictator who ruled Nigeria from November 1993 till his sudden death in June 1998 is among the 19 new ministerial nominees in the second batch sent in by President Bola Tinubu.

This second batch of ministerial nominees was submitted to the Senate on Wednesday following the initial list of 28 nominees that Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to the President presented last week.

Before joining politics, Bagudu, was a prolific bagman for Abacha helping the dictator and his family to launder a large chunk of the estimated $2.2 billion stolen from Nigeria’s coffers.

He has over the years been in the news over plans by the United States to help Nigeria repatriate millions of dollars from the British Island of Jersey.

The funds were part of the billions of dollars traced to Abacha.

Shortly after the agreement was signed in the US, Bloomberg wire service reported that officials of the US department of justice (DoJ) were kicking against plans by the Nigerian government to return $100 million to Bagudu from the Abacha Loot.

The DoJ had said in a February 3, 2020 statement that the former Kebbi governor and now ministerial nominee was part of a network controlled by Abacha that “embezzled, misappropriated and extorted billions from the government of Nigeria”.

Bagudu was said to created anonymous companies in the British Virgin Islands and other financial havens.

His offshore network system relied on a sprawling global industry of bankers, and investment portfolio managers and go-betweens who worked together to protect his stolen wealth.

He also reportedly used anonymous companies, investment trusts and other paper entities to create complex structures to disguise the origins of Abacha’s dirty money.

“Bagudu was a known associate of former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha, who was accused of stealing more than $2.2 billion of public funds during his five-year tenure as Nigerian president in the 1990s. In 2003, Bagudu was arrested and extradited from Houston, Texas at the request of Jersey, where Bagudu had set up a shell company called Doraville Properties to launder funds stolen from Nigeria,” says Wikipedia on corrupt practices of one of the former Kebbi governor.

“Bagudu eventually reached a settlement, agreeing to return $160 million of stolen money in exchange for deportation to Nigeria to face trial. Despite the considerable evidence from legal authorities in the U.S., Jersey, and Switzerland, Bagudu was never questioned after returning to Nigeria. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the repatriation of $480 million stolen by Sani Abacha and his co-conspirators.

“In its complaint, the U.S. government alleged that Sani Abacha, his son Mohammed Sani Abacha, their associate Abubakar Atiku Bagudu and others "embezzled, misappropriated and extorted billions of dollars from the government of Nigeria and others, then laundered their criminal proceeds through U.S. financial institutions and the purchase of bonds backed by the United States."

“In February 2020, the U.S. government entered into a trilateral agreement with Nigeria and Jersey to repatriate over $300 million in additional money that Bagudu played a role in stealing during the Abacha regime.The U.S. announced that it was continuing to seek forfeiture of over $177 million in additional laundered funds held in trusts that name Bagudu and his relatives as beneficiaries. Bagudu is immune from prosecution while governor.

“Bagudu was one of the Nigerians unveiled by the 2021 Pandora Papers as hiding dirty money in offshore shell companies.”

In 2020, the US government opposed a move by Nigeria to hand over $110 million to Bagudu.

SaharaReporters had reported that the money was part of the Abacha loot to be repatriated.

The former Kebbi governor’s assets were seized along with Abacha’s because they were considered to be his reward for the “services” he rendered to the military head of state.

Court documents had showed that the payment was a product of a 2018 agreement between Bagudu and the Nigerian government.

Other documents also revealed that the former President Muhammadu Buhari administration was then vigorously challenging a move by the United States government to further question Ibrahim Bagudu, his elder brother in relation to the laundered fund.

The Buhari-led administration also fought to thwart America’s effort to remove the confidential classification of the agreements, which would make available for public scrutiny as well as being presented as evidence in court.

The court papers further rubbished the claim by Bagudu that he had done nothing wrong and that the United States government was merely trying to use him as an excuse to confiscate the recovery of the money by the Nigerian government.