Nigeria, Sept. 21 -- Long before he was elected governor, prosecutors in the United States and the United Kingdom said Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State was a bagman for the infamous late military dictator, Sani Abacha.

Mr Abacha, who died in 1998, was a relentless kleptocrat who stole an estimated $2.2 billion naira from the country's coffers.

Court documents revealed that Mr Bagudu was the gas that powered Mr Abacha's extensive money laundering operations.

Working with some members of his own family, top members of the regime and Mohammed, Mr Abacha's eldest son, prosecutors claimed the governor used an intricate network of phoney companies to siphon several millions of dollars from government treasury into offshore bank accounts operat...