By Abiola Olawale
The Supreme Court, Abuja, has thrashed the appeal put forward by Alhaji Ali Abacha, a brother of a late Head of State, Sani Abacha, to unfreeze account traced to him and other relatives of the later in United Kingdom (UK), Switzerland, Jersey, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg.
The Supreme court dismissed the appeal, Friday, to unfreeze the accounts given that the case was statue barred as at when it commenced in April 2004.
The judgement was prepared by Honorable Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun and read by Honorable Justice Ejembi Eko.
The court dismissed the case on the grounds that a similar appeal brought by another brother of the late Abacha, Abba Mohammed Sani, was dismissed last February.
The court also recalled that Reuben Atabo (SAN) who is the counsel to Ali Abacha, was also the counsel in the earlier appealed case.
As a result, the court dismissed the case. In Eko words, “No new superior arguments were proffered here to warrant a departure from the decision in the case of Alhaji Sani, earlier decided. This appeal fails and it is hereby dismissed.”
It would be recalled that Ali Abacha appealed the judgement of the court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna following the dissatisfaction of their judgement.
The Appeal Court, Kaduna, set aside the September, 2004 judgement by Justice Mohammed Liman who upheld the claims by Ali Abacha and granted all the reliefs sought, and unfreezed the accounts on the grounds that the then Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Kanu Agabi (SAN) lacked powers to request foreign national to freeze the accounts.
Justices John Inyang Okoro, Baba Alkali Ba’aba and Mohammed Lawal Garba of the Court of Appeals, Kaduna, unanimously agreed that the suit was statute barred.
The panel declared that the AGF was not accorded fair hearing by the Federal Court and as a result dismissed the judgement.
It would also be recalled that the suit saga started in 2004 when Ali Abacha sued the Federal Government under the administration of Olusegun Obasanjo and the AGF, Agabi, for the decision made in 1999 to freeze all the accounts traced to the late Abacha in the UK, Switzerland, Jersey, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg.
