by Mohammed Bello Doka
2 July, 2026.
In the shadowed corridors of Nigeria's power, where public trust dissolves faster than naira notes in the hands of the connected, a chilling truth emerges. The military dictator Sani Abacha, long vilified as the archetype of kleptocracy, stands accused of looting between $3 billion and $5 billion over his five-year reign. Yet under President Bola Tinubu's democratic watch since 2023, the scale of alleged diversions, leakages, and unaccounted funds has ballooned into realms that render Abacha's era almost quaint by comparison. This is not mere sentiment or partisan rant. The figures, drawn from World Bank reports, audit queries, civic trackers, and official probes, paint a damning portrait of systemic impunity in a so-called civilian dispensation.
Consider the stark numbers. Abacha's government faced international isolation and domestic scrutiny, with recovered loot totaling over $2.4 billion through global efforts. Transparency International and U.S. Department of Justice documents pegged his regime's theft at $3-5 billion, much of it traced via "security votes" from the Central Bank—over $2 billion in documented withdrawals. Contrast this with the Tinubu administration's tenure. A recent World Bank Nigeria Development Update highlights over N34.53 trillion diverted through pre-distribution deductions between 2023 and 2025 alone—roughly 41 percent of federation revenues that never reached the distributable pool for states and local governments. That is not a rounding error; it is structural hemorrhage on a scale that dwarfs Abacha's haul when adjusted for inflation, population, and economic size.
Broader aggregates tell an even graver story. Reports compiling missing, diverted, or unrecovered public funds from 2010 to 2026—spanning but accelerating under the current government—reach $214 billion, approximately N300 trillion. Under Tinubu, civic platforms like Tracka and BudgIT documented 92 fraudulent projects worth N15.07 billion in 2024/2025 alone, marked by fund diversion, ghost executions, and substandard work. The power sector echoes this rot: SERAP has urged probes into over N128 billion allegedly missing or diverted at the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc. (NBET) and Ministry of Power, including irregular contracts and unaccounted payments. These are not isolated slips but symptoms of a democracy where accountability evaporates.
The hypocrisy burns brightest here. The very voices that demonized Abacha as a tyrant—civil society activists, opposition figures, and self-proclaimed democrats—now preside over or defend a system of grander opacity. Abacha was a soldier who seized power; Tinubu's government operates under the 1999 Constitution, with its vaunted checks and balances. Yet where are the convictions? Betta Edu, former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, faced suspension over the N585 million transfer to a private account for "vulnerable groups" grants. Investigations revealed broader irregularities, yet swift justice remains elusive. Impunity reigns as audit queries pile up without consequence, much like the N110 billion National Assembly scandal for lawmakers' SUVs and allowances, declared unlawful by a Federal High Court in 2026 for breaching procurement laws and public trust. Lawmakers approved funds they directly benefited from, echoing the self-dealing Abacha's critics once decried.
Philosophers of old warned us. Aristotle, in his *Politics*, observed that "the most perfect political community is one in which the middle class is in control," lest extremes of wealth and poverty breed corruption. Nigeria's democratic elite, far from that Aristotelian ideal, have entrenched a kleptocratic middle that Aristotle would recognize as oligarchic decay. Saint Augustine, the theologian who grappled with earthly cities versus the divine, wrote in *City of God* that "justice being taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great bands of robbers?" Under Tinubu, the "great band" operates with constitutional cover, where fake agencies parade in the Federal Secretariat and bribery whispers surround appointments, as in the Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew impostor saga involving alleged multimillion demands. Abacha looted brazenly; today's operators do so with layers of bureaucracy, consultants, and "first-line charges" that shield them from scrutiny.
The figures expose the lie of democratic superiority. Abacha's era saw reserves climb from $494 million to $9.6 billion despite sanctions, with debt reduced from $36 billion to $27 billion. Inflation dropped from over 50 percent to single digits by 1997. Yet his theft, while massive, faced eventual global reckoning—U.S. forfeitures of $480 million and Swiss returns exceeding $1 billion. Tinubu's government inherited and amplified leakages: World Bank data on N34.53 trillion in deductions from 2023-2025 alone surpasses Abacha's documented security vote scams in relative impact. Project fraud at N15 billion, power sector gaps at N128 billion, and decade-long aggregates at $214 billion suggest not reform but entrenchment. No high-profile convictions match the rhetoric. The same politicians who taunted Abacha's "loot" now navigate budgets ballooning with unexplained items while citizens endure hardship.
This is the diagnosis: democracy without accountability is tyranny by another name. Plato, in *The Republic*, cautioned against guardians who become wolves. Nigeria's current guardians—ministers, lawmakers, and agency heads—feast while the polis starves. Theologian Thomas Aquinas echoed this in his *Summa Theologica*, arguing that law must serve the common good, not private gain; when rulers pervert it, the regime loses legitimacy. Tinubu's administration touts "Renewed Hope" amid fuel subsidy removal and forex unification, yet leakages persist. The EFCC and ICPC probe predecessors, but domestic impunity festers. Fake councils secure secretariat offices; lawmakers claim billions in vehicles beyond RMAFC guidelines; humanitarian funds vanish into private accounts.
Logically, the dots connect. Abacha ruled by decree with visible, if brutal, extraction. Tinubu's democracy offers plausible deniability—deductions, sub-accounts, and "reforms" that mask diversion. The scale has grown: N34.53 trillion in three years versus Abacha's $3-5 billion over five. Population and economy are larger today, yet per capita suffering deepens. No one is held to full account because the system protects its own. Critics who once marched against military loot now shrug at civilian excess, revealing selective outrage.
Nigerians deserve better than this false choice between military kleptocracy and democratic plunder. As Aristotle urged, virtue in leadership demands temperance and justice. Augustine reminded us that true peace flows from ordered liberty under God. Until figures dictate policy—transparent remittances, prosecuted diversion, audited every kobo—the republic risks becoming what Plato feared: a ship steered by fools and thieves. The numbers do not lie. Corruption under Abacha was grievous. Under Tinubu, it threatens to redefine the art. Beyond sentiment, let the figures speak—and demand reckoning.
(Word count: 1,148)
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via [email protected]
Abuja Network News
Tags
Opinion