The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by the family of late military head of state, Sani Abacha, to have accounts in UK, Switzerland, Jersey, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg linked to the family unfreezed.

Ali Abacha, a brother to the ex-military ruler, on behalf of the family appealed to the apex court to grant the family access to the accounts.

In a five-man panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice Centus Nweze, the apex court ruled that the case was statute-barred dating back to April 2004 when it was first brought before the Federal High Court in Kaduna.

The judgement read by Justice Ejembi Eko stated that a similar appeal filed on behalf of the Abacha family by Abba Mohammed Sani was dismissed in February last year.

“It is pertinent to state at this juncture that a case with the same facts and issues was decided recently by this court in SC. 68/2010 Alhaji Abba Mohammed Sani Vs the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Attorney-General of the Federation.” The Judge read. “Although the appellants are different, the facts and issues in contention are the same. Both had their bank accounts in Switzerland and other countries frozen as a result of the authorization given to the Swiss law firm by the respondents. In conclusion, I find this appeal to be devoid of merit. It is hereby dismissed. “

The junta heads’ accounts had been initially frozen by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999. The accounts traceable to his family members and agents had also been frozen between 1993-1998, following an application by former attorney-general Kanu Agabi (SAN).

The Swiss authorities were asked to detain all other documents relating to the frozen accounts, as well as prosecute the holders of those accounts, in a bid to recover the stolen monies for Nigeria.

The late military head of state, Mr. Abacha, reportedly looted and stashed funds in several foreign banks before his demise on June 8, 1998.

In April 2020, the attorney-general’s office had disclosed that the country recovered over $311 million of the stolen funds by the country’s former military ruler after an agreement was signed in February with the United States.