A Swiss lawyer, Enrico Monfrini says he has been working for the past twenty years to recover funds looted by the military government of Late General Sani Abacha government.

Channels Television quoted Mr. Monfrini as saying he was first contacted by the civilian government of President Olusegun Obasanjo to help with the recovery of the funds stolen by Abacha.

He also explained some of his findings on how the former military dictator diverted the funds to Swiss banks which he described as dollars by truckloads.

General Sani Abacha stole dollars by truckloads, says Swiss lawyer

General Sani Abacha. Photo credit: @CFR_org

According to him, by 2018, the amount of Abacha stolen funds Switzerland had returned to Nigeria had reached more than $1billion.

He alleged that the late dictator diverted over four to five billion dollars at the initial stage.

He added that he is still expecting $30million from the United Kingdom to be returned, along with $144million in France and a further $18million in New Jersey, USA.

Meanwhile, the immediate past Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Major-General Tukur Buratai now holds the title of Nigeria's longest-serving COAS beating Late Abacha's record.

The Borno-born General spent a total of 66 months as the nation's top army chief and he is followed closely by Abacha who spent 60 months as the COAS.

David Ejoor served as the COAS for 56 months, TY Danjuma served for 51 months and Azubuike Ihejirika served for 40 months.

Out of those mentioned, only Danjuma from Taraba state and Ihejirika from Abia state are still alive.


The president made the promise in his 2021 new year message to Nigerians on Friday, January 1, adding that the security agencies will be trained adequately on how to engage, push back and dismantle the operations of both internal and external extremist and criminal groups.Recall that President Buhari had promised to reorganise Nigeria's security architecture in the year 2021.