The representative of the 18th District of Texas, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, is sponsoring a bill which would allow the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to use money from the recovered Abacha loot to provide relief for families of the abducted Chibok girls.
Speaking on Wednesday (May 11) at a Congressional subcommittee hearing on America’s role in helping Nigeria confront Boko Haram, Jackson Lee sought the Committee’s support for H.R. 528.
“I have HR 528 which I would like to bring to the Committee’s attention”, she said, giving the title of the bill as “Victims of Terror Protection Act” and added that “it deals with the Abacha loot which the DOJ has,” she said.
The Congresswoman, who visited Nigeria on a fact-finding mission a few weeks after the Chibok kidnapping, said the bill was motivated by the plight of the families of the kidnapped girls and that the intention was to create relief fund for them and other victims.
“When we were in Nigeria two years ago, families were still in pain, they are still in limbo,” she said.
“Boko Haram has killed Muslims, Christians and others, they’ve killed and burned mosques and churches and homes and schools.”
The U.S. was one of the first counties the late Sani Abacha and his family chose to hide their illegally acquired wealth.