The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed another suit filed by the family of the late military dictator Sani Abacha seeking access to funds stashed in foreign bank accounts.
A five-man panel led by Justice Sylvester Ngwuta dismissed the appeal filed by the late dictator’s brother Ali Abacha for lacking in merit.
Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, who prepared the lead judgment, held that the case was not different from that of a son of the ex-dictator Abba Sani which was earlier dismissed by the apex court on February 7, 2020.
The court said: “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.
“Judgment was delivered on February 7, 2020. It is now reported in (2020) 2-3 SC (Pt. II).
“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 result of the authorisation given to the Swiss law firm by the respondents.
“In the earlier case, the contention was also that the respondents acted outside the scope of their duties under a repealed law and were therefore not entitled to seek refuge under section 2(a) of the Public Officer Protection Act.”
The court further held that as in Sani’s case, the Ali Abacha’s matter too had become statute-barred and incompetent because it was not filed at the trial court within three months of the occurrence of the action complained about, thereby flouting section 2(a) of the Public Officer Protection Act.
It ruled that it was unnecessary to go further to resolve other issues in the appeal.
The Abacha family had won in the trial court but the Federal Government got it overturned at the Court of Appeal.
