Reno Omokri, former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, has identified the late former military Head of State, Sani Abacha, as the biggest thief in world history, stating that 21-years after, more loots linked to the former dictator were still being uncovered. Omokri was responding to the claim by Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, that Northerners are rarely arrested for advance fee fraud, popularly known in local parlance as Yahoo Yahoo.
Speaking at the Northern Youth summit organised by Northern Hibiscus Initiative in Kaduna on Saturday, El-Rufai said although the North was the most backward and uneducated region in Nigeria, it was a thing of pride that Northerners were rarely arrested for Yahoo Yahoo and other financial crimes.
El-Rufai had said: “Nigeria consists of two countries; there is a backward, less educated and unhealthy northern Nigeria, and a developing, largely educated and healthy southern Nigeria.
We have to speak the truth to ourselves and ask why is it that northern Nigeria has development indicators similar to Afghanistan, a country still at war? “We have the largest number of poor people in the world, most of them in northern Nigeria.
Nigeria also has the largest number of out of school children, virtually all of them in Northern Nigeria. “We are being considered as the parasite of the federal economy, even though, that is not entirely true. Because northern Nigeria still feeds the nation.
The richest businessman in Nigeria is still Aliko Dangote, not someone from Southern Nigeria, thank God for that. “So, we still have a lot to be proud of. We should be proud of our culture and tradition, as well as unity. You hardly can find someone from northern Nigeria convicted of 419 or being a Yahoo boy.
That is something we should be proud of. Responding in a post on Twitter, Omokri said: “Dear Elrufai, “Before you label Southerners fraudsters, note that the biggest thief in world history is Sani Abacha. 21 years after, his loot is still being recovered, though @MBuhari said ‘Abacha never stole’. “There are good and bad Nigerians in North and South!”