Maryam Abacha, widow of the late military ruler General Sani Abacha, says decades-old claims that her husband stashed away billions are baseless and fuelled by misinformation.

 

Speaking on TVC’s Politics on Sunday, Mrs Abacha argued that those accusing the former head of state have never produced concrete proof. If money was really hidden abroad, she asked, “where are the signatures and the witnesses?” She also pointed out that funds her husband supposedly “kept for Nigeria” disappeared within months after his death, yet the blame still falls on him.

 

Addressing the annulled 1993 election, Mrs Abacha insisted her husband was not responsible. If he had been, she said, it would have meant he wielded more power than the sitting president—an idea she called implausible.

 

Beyond defending her husband, the former First Lady lamented rising ethnic and religious divisions. Nigerians, she said, must judge one another “not as Northerners or Southerners, Muslims or Christians, but as compatriots.”

 

Turning to security, she expressed frustration that Nigeria’s well-resourced military has struggled for years to subdue insurgents while smaller nations have resolved similar conflicts. Citing the success of ECOMOG peacekeepers abroad, she urged closer collaboration between civilian authorities and the armed forces: “The government must work hand-in-hand with the military to end this.”

 

Mrs Abacha also criticised the stop-start nature of government programmes. Without policy continuity, she warned, even good initiatives stall—pointing to the Africa First Ladies Peace Mission, a project from the 1990s that still functions, as proof that lasting institutions are possible.

 

While acknowledging that military regimes operate differently from civilian governments, she maintained that every administration—military or civilian—can succeed if Nigerians cooperate. She concluded with an appeal to the media to practise responsible journalism: “Let’s pray for our country, speak well of our leaders, and build rather than destroy reputations.”