The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Friday declined a request by the family members of the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha to unfreeze accounts belonging to them in foreign countries.

The accounts which are in banks in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Jersey, Liechenstein and Luxembourg were frozen in 1999 following a directive by the Nigerian government.
The Abacha family had in a suit filed on their behalf by Alhaji Abba Mohammed Sani, taken the Federal Government to court to reverse the said directive, but their request was declined at the trial court and the Court of Appeal.
Justice Chima Nweze who authored the panel’s lead judgment in  the appeal marked: SC/68/2010, held among others, that in view of the evidence presented by parties, he was left with no other options than to uphold the earlier concurrent decisions of the two lower courts (the Federal High Court, Kano and the Court of Appeal, Kaduna Division), to the effect that the action was statute barred.
In the judgment read by Justice Amina Augie, the apex court held that, “In all forms, with the eloquent submission of the respondents’ counsel, and submissions anchored on the admitted evidence, I have no hesitation in affirming the concurrent decisions of the lower courts.
“Accordingly, I hereby enter an order dismissing this appeal. I further affirm the concurrent findings and decisions of the lower courts. Appeal dismissed.”
Other members of the Supreme Court’s five-man panel that heard the appeal, Justices Olukayode Ariwoola, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Augie and Paul Galumje, all agreed with the lead judgment as written by Justice Nweze.
Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, in December 1999, authorized the then Attorney General of the Federation, Kanu Agabi (SAN) to request the Swiss authorities and other countries to freeze all bank accounts held in its jurisdiction by the late Head of State, General Abacha, his children, servants, agents and any other individuals or companies linked to them between 1993 and 1998.
Following these directives by the Federal Government, the accounts of the Abachas found in Switzerland, United Kingdom, Jersey, Liechenstein and Luxembourg were frozen..
The suit filed on behalf of the Abachas by Alhaji Abba Mohammed Sani, had the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Attorney General of the Federation as respondents.