Lagos — The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) have challenged recent statements credited to former Generals Muhammadu Buhari, Abdulsalami Abubakar and Ibrahim Babangida that late General Sani Abacha did not loot the national treasury, saying that the statements "amount to a travesty of the truth", and insisting that these statements "are wrong and fly in the face of compelling and proven cases of corruption against the Abacha government, and will undermine current national efforts especially by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to rid the country of the culture of corruption and impunity of perpetrators.

The former military heads of state had on Sunday claimed that Abacha, who ruled between 1993 and 1998, was a courageous, loyal and honest military head of state, who stood for the development of the country during his years in government. They also claimed that the looting allegations against Abacha were unfounded and baseless, and without justifications. They stated that the allegations against Abacha remain unproven because of lack of facts.

SERAP and CDHR in a statement said, "the comments by the former heads of state cannot withstand the overwhelming amount of evidence and proven allegations of massive and high level official corruption by the Abahca government.