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| Late General Sani Abacha |
The highest court in Switzerland yesterday gave order for a retrial of Alhaji Abba Abacha, one of the sons of one of Nigeria’s former dictators late General Sani Abacha. Abba Abacha was charged in Geneva for taking part in a criminal organization. The young Abacha was sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence. His assets were also confiscated.
The Swiss Federal Tribunal however annulled the sentence and ordered a retrial due to irregularities in the procedure of the earlier trial, owing also to the fact that Alhaji Abacha was not able to attend the trial because he was not able to obtain a visa then.
A Geneva police court in June 2010 found Abba Abacha guilty of participating in Abacha’s family thievery of Nigeria’s wealth.
The late General Sani Abacha ruled Nigeria from 1993 to 1998 when he died in office,
It is suspected that while in office he corruptly enriched himself and family members to the tune of $2.2 billion.
Since 1999 when former President Olusegun Obasanjo sent a request to Switzerland asking for help to recover the Abacha’s loot allegedly hidden in that country, Abba and his elder brother, Mohammed, who controlled majority of the alleged loot have been on trial. 
