Journal articles on the topic 'Sani Abacha'

As Recent Demilitarization And Democratic Trends World-Wide have shown, the exit of a dictator of the calibre of Abacha (1993–98) in Nigeria may foster a strong desire among successors for transition to a more democratic order. As in Chile after General Augusto Pinochet, and in Spain after Franco, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, who succeeded General Sani Abacha, presided in Nigeria over a programme of transition to civilian rule. This culminated in the election of General Olusegun Obasanjo (retired) in February 1999, and his subsequent official take-over of government in May 1999. However, since new democracies often revert to dictatorships, the new government faces daunting challenges in Nigeria's search for democracy and political stability.

Abstract While Nigeria was under President Sani Abacha’s dictatorship, the democratic system was toppled in Sierra Leone by rebels but Abacha reversed the trend. The reasons for the largely unilateral and hasty decision to restore democracy in Sierra Leone by the Abacha regime remain controversial. Wide skepticism and condemnation greeted the decision to commit Nigerian troops, money and materials to a foreign operation at the expense of Nigeria’s fragile economy. The Nigeria Armed Forces consequently became the instrument for the pursuant of an aggressive foreign policy. The Economic Community of West Africa Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) hastily deployed to Sierra Leone just as it had previously done in Liberia amidst various operational and logistical problems. In terms of interests, Nigeria’s attempt to restore democracy in Sierra Leone was perceived to be contradictory both at home and abroad since Abacha’s regime itself was undemocratic and facing international isolation. The view that the Force was being used by the Abacha regime to pursue its own economic and political interest dampened the enthusiasm of regional and international organizations to provide financial and logistic support. Either way, the argument of this paper is that Nigeria’s unilateral military action in Sierra Leone was a reflection of her desire to score a quick military victory outside an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sub regional security legal framework but it failed woefully.

Nigeria has had three programs of transition from military to civil rule in the last 13 years. Despite the enormous resources wasted on the first two programs, by Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha, democracy remains a mirage in Nigeria. The demise of the two programs was not just a monumental failure on the part of the two leaders; it also vividly demonstrates the military’s inability to effect a lasting transition to civil rule. In addition, the utter failure of both programs has exposed the political brinkmanship to which the military is prepared to go to subvert democracy. Babangida’s brazen annulment of the June 1993 presidential election and Abacha’s repressive, dictatorial, and corrupt governing style brought Nigeria closer to the edge of the precipice than any other crisis since the civil war of the 1960s.

In only four years, Nigeria has experienced two successive transition-to-civil-rule programs. The first, implemented with shocking inconsistency by the regime of General Sani Abacha, came to an abrupt anticlimax with the late despot’s unexpected death. The second appears to have been, judging by the country’s recent political history, unusually successful, culminating in the election of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) aspirant, General Olusegun Obasanjo, as presidentelect. While various reasons have been adduced for the apparent failure of one and the relative success of the other, political analysts in the country seem to agree that the main reason has to do with the fact that the programs differed profoundly in terms of motives, methodologies, and even ends.

Gen. Sani Abacha took over from Chief Ernest Shonekan's interim government which was formed when Gen Ibrahim Babangida "stepped aside". On assumption of office, Abacha was faced with the imminent disintegration of the country caused by the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election, widely believed to have been won by the late businessman, Chief M. K. O. Abiola. Also, threatening the administration was the activities of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) both at home and abroad. The main objective of this study was to find out how the press covered Nigeria's foreign policy within 1993-1998. The study involved content analysis, historical and case study designs. The instrument for data collection included content analysis of newspaper contents library material related to the subject matter. The sampling technique used for the study is the purposive sampling, involving all the newspaper stories, features, opinion articles on the subject matter. The population included all newspaper stories published on Abacha’s regime within the period of 1993-1998. A total sampling size of 56 news stories, articles and features were selected purposively through the constructed weeks based on two days interval. Four national newspapers, namely, The Guardian, This Day, the Vanguard and the Post Express were used. From the findings of the study we concluded that press reports on the examined foreign policy did not make much impact on the outcome of these foreign policy issues since the military regime in power never wanted opposition or criticisms. Therefore, the regime went ahead to Isolate itself from main stream international politics and the press was helpless due to the fear of being gagged or proscribed as was the practice of the Abacha's administration. However, the press assumed a patriotic posture in her support for the regime's approach to Bakassi Peninsula dispute between Nigeria and Cameroun. Also the issue of peace keeping in the sub-region got the strong approval of the Nigerian press, even when a cross section of Nigerian citizens were skeptical about the regime interventionist policy in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

The end of the cold war has made democratization, and its barest essential component elections, imperative for all nondemocratic forms of government. This is to be expected, given the dismal failure of the socialist alternative even in the first socialist country, the former Soviet Union. The United States, which is not only the foremost democracy in the world but also the only superpower, has been in the vanguard of democracy salesmanship. Africa, the continent with the least democratic space, has not been left out, as witnessed by President Bill Clinton’s unprecedented tour of the continent in March 1998. Understandably, Nigeria, arguably the most important country in Africa, was left out of the tour, since it was then under the obnoxious, undemocratic, and oppressive military regime of the late General Sani Abacha.

The end of the cold war has made democratization, and its barest essential component elections, imperative for all nondemocratic forms of government. This is to be expected, given the dismal failure of the socialist alternative even in the first socialist country, the former Soviet Union. The United States, which is not only the foremost democracy in the world but also the only superpower, has been in the vanguard of democracy salesmanship. Africa, the continent with the least democratic space, has not been left out, as witnessed by President Bill Clinton’s unprecedented tour of the continent in March 1998.Understandably, Nigeria, arguably the most important country in Africa, was left out of the tour, since it was then under the obnoxious, undemocratic, and oppressive military regime of the late General Sani Abacha.

The return of the generals to power following the coup d'état of November 1993 has posed fundamental challenges to the survival of the nation. On the one hand, it has brought out the worst in Nigerian politics: repression, intimidation, violence, corruption, betrayals, and the manipulation of primordial loyalties. On the other hand, it has exposed the nature and extent of the Nigerian political rot, and provided the still weak and fledgling civil society with added strength and legitimacy. Could the resurgence of military rule in Nigeria have been predicted? Could anyone have foreseen that General Sani Abacha would become such an all-powerful President? Was it possible to anticipate the popular protests and bloody confrontations which culminated in the hanging of nine environmental activists in November 1995? What is the way forward for the contending political communities?1

Modeled after the U.S. presidency, the office of the president of Nigeria is easily the most powerful position in the land. The president is both the chief of state and the head of government. The authority of the nation’s chief executive expanded greatly during the patrimonial regimes of General Ibrahim Babangida and General Sani Abacha. Indeed, not only was power concentrated in the hands of these despots, its exercise was also marked by massive corruption, brazen nepotism, and sustained brutality. Against this background, it was perhaps natural that the presidential election of February 27, 1999, would excite keen interest among the Nigerian populace, elite groups, ethnoregional blocs, and the international community. This article highlights some of the ethnoregional forces and elite interests that influenced the election and examines their possible implications for the sustenance of democracy and good governance in Nigeria.

The execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, noted advocate of rights for the Ogoni people of the Niger delta, who was hanged with eight of his colleagues in Port Harcourt on 10 November 1995, drew universal condemnation from governments, human rights organisations, and literary figures. Following the trial of these Ogoni activists, the Nigerian régime headed by General Sani Abacha decided that the verdict of the appointed tribunal should be endorsed and implemented without delay, despite an international campaign for clemency. In the view of many, Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike, an independent judicial court would not have found the accused guilty of the murder in May 1994 of the four prominent Ogoni who had been killed during a riotous rally. For the military administration, however, the claims for self-determination made by Saro-Wiwa had run counter to national policy, nOt least by having highlighted long-standing tensions between the country's ethnic mosaic and its political centralisation.

The Conference of Nationalities organized in Nigeria by the Campaign for Democracy, and held on December 17-19, 1998, has come and gone with little impact either on the national consciousness or on the process of transition to democracy. At the outset, I should state that I have never been convinced that the type of national conference planned in Nigeria after the expiration of the regime of Sani Abacha was going to be as useful as the most successful Conferences Nationales pioneered in francophone Africa. From the particular example of a similar conference in the Republic of Benin, the weaknesses of the Nigerian parley can be crystallized. The choice of Benin is quite easy. The Conference Nationale there was a resounding success. That triumphant experiment is a much better yardstick for measuring the Nigerian effort than, say, the failed one in Togo, although the Togo case is not without humbling lessons for the Nigerian organizers of the Conference of Nationalities.

This article critically examined the complexities that abound in Nigeria’s Foreign Policy under the final three military administrations of Generals Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha, and Abdulsalami Abubakar, before the transition to democratic rule in 1999. It adopted a novel approach by identifying and intricately examining a distinct pattern of contortion evinced in Nigeria’s foreign policy during this epoch. It contended that although Nigeria’s foreign policy had historically been somewhat knotty at varying points in time, this period in its foreign policy and external relations was especially marked by tortuousness and a somewhat back and forth agenda. This began in 1985 with the Babangida administration, whose foreign policy posture initially seemed commendable, only for political debacles to mar it. An exacerbation of this downslide in foreign policy occurred under the Abacha regime, whereby the country obtained pariah status among the comity of nations. Subsequently, a revitalisation occurred under General Abubakar, who deviated from what had become the status quo, reinventing Nigeria’s external image and foreign policy position through his ‘restoration campaign.’ More so, following David Gray’s behavioural theory of foreign policy, this study examined how the behavioural patterns and aspirations of a minuscule cadre of decision-makers deeply affected Nigeria’s foreign policy formulation and implementation during the period under study. The findings of this study include national interest, the crux of any foreign policy, sometimes misaligned with domestic realities. In this regard, this study demonstrated how successive Nigerian governments replicated a ‘munificent’, ‘Santa Claus’ foreign policy which alienated key local developments such as economic hardship, and contributed to the tortuousness that the country’s foreign policy experienced during an era of military dictatorships in the late twentieth century. Through its findings, the study concluded by proffering recommendations to improve the country’s foreign policy, better advance her national interests– which ought to comprise the crux of her foreign policy objectives, – and help in eschewing a recurrence of past ineptitudes and errors. Key Words: Foreign policy, military rule, Nigeria, behavioural theory,

Abstract Many people wonder why Nigeria, with so many local languages and English as the official language, should bother about learning and speaking French language. The government of Sani Abacha saw the need for Nigeria to speak French when in 1996, he pronounced French as the second official language for Nigeria. Unfortunately, the pronouncement has remained on paper as the policy was never implemented. This neglect has neither helped the country nor its citizens. The role of language in every aspect of life in the society cannot be over-emphasized. Multilingualism has many benefits and Nigeria needs to key in especially as it relates to international languages. French language occupies a strategic position on the international scene today. It is a language of development, industry, trade and diplomacy. It can help promote sustainable economic growth and human development which will in turn, translate into a better quality of life for Nigerians. This paper intends to highlight the role French language can play in national development in Nigeria and the need for the country to become French literate in spite of the presence of English which has been there since the colonial days. These two major international languages can facilitate national development in Nigeria.

Nigeria, which is variously described by some people as ‘a geographical expression’, ‘a unique nation’, ‘the giant of Africa’, ‘the most populous black nation on earth’, among several others, had three distinct governments in the year 1993 alone. Against this background of political instability, numerous discourses which should be of interest and significance to linguists, political scientists, historians, social anthropologists and discourse analysts of various persuasions are examined in this work. Notable is the emergence of the metaphorical use of the word child in the farewell speech of the deposed Head-of-State, Chief Ernest Oladeinde Shonekan, when he spoke of the interim regime as ‘a child of circumstance’ and in the inaugural speech of the then new Head-of-State, General Sani Abacha, as ‘a child of necessity’. These expressions were used not only as part of the reasons for either taking up or rather seizing the mantle of leadership but also as descriptive signals both to the state of the nation and the kind of government that they purported to lead. Using articles in some national newspapers, I attempt in this paper a functional-semiotic discourse analysis of the relevant statements, responses and comments on these national, dramatic, political changes. This paper is therefore an analysis of aspects of the linguistic features of discourses engendered by the diverse problematic, economic, socio-cultural and political events within the Nigerian polity and the political implications for putting in place adequate democratic principles in a developing nation.

Metaphor is an important figure of speech copiously deployed in political discourse. In this study, we adopted the framework of Charteris-Black’s (2004) Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) which derives from Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA).This framework is interested in exploring the implicit intentions of language users, the ideological configurations and the hidden power relations within socio-political and cultural contexts. It captures the ideological and conceptual nature of metaphor, and transmits truth alive into the hearts of the people by passion. The thrust of this study is the identification, analysis and interpretation of the ideological and conceptual metaphors in the speeches we studied that create a particular linguistic style, conceptualize the speakers’ experiences and transmit their ideologies for rhetoric and argumentation purposes. The corpus of this study is limited to the political speeches of Brigadier Sani Abacha in 1984 and 1993, General Ibrahim Babangida in 1985 and 1993, M.K.O. Abiola in 1993 and 1994, and Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in 2013. The study reveals that the speakers use metaphors as tools to enact power and wield influence on their audience. There is further the use of metaphors for the purpose of argumentation thereby promoting self-ideologies and power asymmetric. Furthermore, the study shows that the speakers in the speeches we analysed use metaphors as a strategy to identify with the people so as to create a bond between them. Finally, our speakers use metaphors to manipulate their audience both mentally and conceptually, polarize between them and the conceived enemies, and dominate their audience; and conceal and conceptualize experience in order to reframe realities to suit their interests.

The relations between countries as always been defined and pursued by National Interest coupled by comparative advantage, meanwhile, globalization has fuelled interdependence, integration and technological connectivity amongst countries of the world. This situation has led to trade liberalization. The trade relations between Nigeria and China has always been of mutual benefits to the two countries, probably because the two countries are prominent member of the G77 group of developing countries within the United Nations. The era of General Sani Abacha made the relationship stronger as Nigeria shifted from the North to the South and engaged China more having been rejected by the Northern allies of developed capitalist nations. The paper interrogated the trade relation between Nigeria and China and assess the impact of mechanisms and measures such as One China Policy and Nigeria Naira – China Yuan Currency Swap on the Nigeria growth and development. It equally examined the perceptions of Nigeria entrepreneurs in pushing for balance of trade relations between Nigeria and China. The study employed the quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the trade relationship between Nigeria and China. Simple Random Sample (SRS) technique was used to select respondents from Federal Ministries of Finance, Trade, Industries and Investment, Small and Medium Scale Development Agency (SMEDAN) as well Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board for the conduction of interviews; while key informant interview were conducted with President, Nigeria Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NACCIMA); National President, Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN), and National President of Nigeria Union of Textile Workers (NUTW).A total of 100 questionnaires was distributed randomly to traders in six big markets which trade in both Nigeria and China product - Ariara Market in Aba, Sabo Market in Kano, Alaba Market in Lagos, Onitsha Market in Anambra, Central market in Kaduna, Nnewi market. The study found out that for Nigeria to get more gains from China, Nigeria traders, manufacturers and organised trade organisation must be carried in decision making and shun importation of already made goods that can be produced locally; support local industries to enhance their production capacity; more interaction between the businessmen of both countries, government official and politician; allowing independent functioning of institutions created to promote trade and investment without interference.

The abacus has been used for centuries in Asia and is still an essential part of education and commerce in many Asian countries. Abacus is a Latin word that comes from the Greek abax, meaning “table,” and possibly from the Hebrew abaq, which means “dust.” Long ago, calculations were done by writing in sand or dust sprinkled on a table or by manipulating stones on a table. A counting stone was called a calculus, from which the word calculate originates. The abacus as we know it today—a frame with beads that slide on rods—is a Chinese invention that dates to at least the thirteenth century. The Chinese term for the device is suan pan, which means “calculating board,” and the Japanese call it a soroban, also meaning “calculating board.”

With the declaration of former military ruler, General Olusegun Obasanjo, as the president-elect, the long process of choosing Nigeria’s next civilian leadership finally brought to an end what had been a veritable “transition without end.” Although the elections have been successfully concluded, serious doubts remain concerning the survival and stability of the incoming civil order. It is one thing to hold elections, but establishing an enduring democratic order is a totally different and more challenging task.On at least two grounds, the ongoing transition differed from earlier attempts. First, unlike General Ibrahim Babangida’s model of “guided transition”—in which the government formed the two political parties, wrote their manifestos, provided their funding, and appointed their officials—the current political parties were formed entirely by the political elite through the coalescence and structuring of the different political tendencies that survived General Sani Abacha’s reign of terror.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to estimate the ultimate bearing capacity of the E-shaped footing resting on two layered sand using finite element method. The solution was implemented using ABACUS software. Design/methodology/approach: The numerical study of the ultimate bearing capacity of the E-shaped footing resting on layered sand and subjected to vertical load was carried out using finite element analysis. The layered sand was having an upper layer of loose sand of thickness H and lower layer was considered as dense sand of infinite depth. The various parameters varied were the friction angle of the upper (30° to 34°) and lower (42° to 46°) layer of sand as well as the thickness (0.5B, 2B and 4B) of the upper sand layer. Findings: The results reveal that the dimensionless ultimate bearing capacity was found to decrease with the increased in the H/B ratio for all combinations of parameters. The dimensionless ultimate bearing capacity was maximum for the upper loose sand friction angle of 34° and lower dense sand friction angle of 46°. The results further reveal that the dimensionless bearing capacity of the E-shaped footing was higher in comparison to the dimensionless bearing capacity of the square footing on layered sand (loose over dense). The improvement in the ultimate bearing capacity for the E-shaped footing was observed in the range of 109.35% to 152.24%, 0.44% to 7.63% and 0.63% to 18.97% corresponding to H/B ratio of 0.5, 2 and 4 respectively. The lowest percentage improvement in the dimensionless bearing capacity for the E-shaped footing on layered sand was 0.44 % at a H/B = 2 whereas the highest improvement was 152.24 % at a H/B = 0.5. Change of footing shape from square to E-shaped, the failure mechanism changes from general shear to local shear failure. Research limitations/implications: The results presented in this paper were based on the numerical study conducted on E-shaped footing made out of a square footing of size 1.5 m x 1.5 m. However, further validation of the results presented in this paper, is recommended using experimental study conducted on similar size E-shaped footing. Practical implications: The proposed numerical study can be useful for the architects designing similar types of super structures requiring similar shaped footings. Originality/value: No numerical study on E-shaped footing resting on layered sand (loose over dense) were conducted so far. Hence, an attempt was made in this article to estimate the bearing capacity of these footings.

Objetivo: describir los elementos de vulnerabilidad del niño menor de dos años relacionados con disfuncionesnutricionales, identificados por los enfermeros de atención primaria. Materiales y métodos: estudio cualitativo-descriptivo realizado en una ciudad al sur de Brasil, con seis enfermeras de servicio de unidad de salud básica y también del modelo Estrategia Salud de la Familia. La recolección de datos fue por grupos focales, de enero a febrero del 2015. Se adoptó el análisis de contenido de categorías temáticas de Bardin y para la organización y procesamiento de datos se utilizó el programa informático Iramuteq®.Resultados: el análisis de datos textuales empleados fue la clasificación jerárquica descendente, este software procesó y organizó los datos en seis textos, distribuidos en 106segmentos, de los cuales 81 (76,4 %) fueron aprovechados. El análisis de los datos expresó las siguientes categorías:Ambiente desfavorable para la alimentación infantil sana y Prácticas y responsabilidades compartidas en el manejo de la lactancia. Mostraron que el ambiente abarca déficitssocioeconómicos familiares, cognitivos y de la salud materna, mala red social y familiar como también fuerte impacto del marketing y débil supervisión de las políticas públicas.Conclusión: la comprensión de los elementos de vulnerabilidad puede permitir un diálogo estrecho entre losdistintos segmentos intersectoriales y profesionales, cuyo objetivo común es el entendimiento de que la enfermedady la discapacidad están influenciadas por aspectos políticos, sociales y económicos.

For the management and sustainable use of natural bio-resources it is necessary to quantify and valorize this heritage. In the case of the floristic diversity of Acacia tortilis, the only natural woody stand in Bechar-Algeria, scanty studies have been undertaken. Hence in this study, the general overview of the flora diversity state in the 58 plots of 9 stations was made by the analysis of various indexes: Shannon, Simpson, species evenness, floristic richness, disturbance index, biological and biogeographically spectra. We listed 103 species belonging to 37 families and 85 genus, the important plants belonged to the Asteraceae and Brassicaceae. The most important species are: Pulicaria crispa, Asteriscus graveolens, Launea arborescens, Matricaria pubescens, Moricandia arvensis, Farsetia aegyptiaca, Zilla macroptera. The biological spectrum indicated a dominance of the Chamaephytes and the predominance of the Therophytes; the phytogeographic spectrum showed an important endemism (44%) in which 36% species belong to the SaharoArabian element; The Shannon, Simpson, and Evenness diversity indices, were relatively high, thereby indicating a diversity variation between the stations, witch increased South towards North. It was prominent in Zouzfana, Taghit, and Abadla stations, and the higher values of disturbance Index reflected the greater level of anthropization in these courses. The future accumulation of this regression, many risk loss of the last naturally wall of desertification, biodiversity, national economy and sand advancement. Therefore, it is recommended to apply pastures protection, pastoral charge control, and elaborate an environmental value of this species.

Two glasshouse experiments were conducted to evaluate the genotypic variation amongst cereal genotypes in phosphorus uptake from relatively insoluble iron phosphate. Optimum rates of iron phosphate were established by growing 3 wheat and 1 triticale genotype on an infertile sand amended with iron phosphate. Shoot dry weight of all genotypes showed a classic Mitcherlich response with 95% maximum growth achieved with 174�mg P/kg soil. Two rates of FePO4 were selected representing a deficient and sufficient supply (26 and 339 mg P/kg soil, respectively). These rates were used to screen 99 wheat, 8 triticale, and 4 cereal rye genotypes for phosphorus-use efficiency. Phosphorus efficiency was rated by 4 criteria: shoot dry weight at deficient P supply, shoot weight at deficient supply relative to shoot weight at sufficient P supply, P uptake efficiency (amount of P taken up per unit of P supplied), and P utilisation efficiency (shoot weight per unit P in plant). No genotypes were rated as efficient under all 4 criteria. Only 2 genotypes were rated efficient (rye Bevy, rye PC00361) and one inefficient (Machete) under 3 criteria. Seven genotypes were rated as efficient on 2 indices (wheat Chinese 80-55, Westonia, and Wawht 2147; triticale Treat, AT48-94, and TX93-78-1; rye Bulgarian Pento), whereas 7 genotypes were rated as inefficient on 2 indices (Boricuta, Cadoux, Cunderdin, Insignia, Kalingri, Perenjori, and triticale Abacus). Significant genotypic variation was identified in cereals in the ability to take up and utilise P from poorly soluble Fe-P, although all genotypes were able to utilise this source of phosphorus to some degree.

Purpose – The paper aims to examine the jeopardy of the bank in performing its varied functions to customers, the public and regulatory authorities. The bank’s overriding mandate is accepting deposits from its customer and to make payments as and when requested. However, banks also perform investment undertakings and other related functions. Banks have been applauded for facilitating the fight against crimes such as money laundering and financing of terrorism but they are times when they have also been vilified for not doing enough to prevent the foregoing crimes. There is evidence that banks have sometimes been exploited to facilitate commission of crimes either wilfully or recklessly. In this regard, banks which do not do enough to prevent commission of crimes have been perceived as either delinquents or villains for allowing themselves to be exploited for those inclined at committing money laundering and its predicate offences. The paper explores the varied situations in which banks have been caught up in both of these foregoing situations. They have done a plausible job in safeguarding the public and prevention of money laundering and terrorism offences. They have also been perceived as villains by allowing themselves to be exploited by criminals in perpetuating the foregoing offences. In both of the foregoing extremes, public opinion has been divided – there are those who support that banks do a good job and those who brand banks as villains. Those empathising with banks argue that by requiring banks to report suspected money laundering activities creates unfriendly business environment and hostilities in a particular bank. Apparently, this school of thought posits that over-regulation of banks potentially generates a hostile business environment and scares off potential business clients not to mention generating an anti-business climate in a particular bank. To them, banks should do just banking without being encumbered to provide overarching oversight responsibilities such as fighting money laundering and terrorism. The work of preventing crimes should be responsibility of oversight institutions and authorities, and banks should not be involved in executing of the foregoing responsibilities. As such, banks have been reduced to act as policemen. However, one wonders whether the foregoing thesis suggests that banks should just sit back and be exploited for criminal purposes or accept to acquiesce wrong doing or lawlessness simply for business expediency? This paper explores the jeopardy of the bank in delivering its mandate and to evaluate where the balance between its competing obligations needs to be drawn. Banks perform duties to the customer (emanating from their contractual relationship) and its responsibility to the regulatory authorities to safeguard the public. The paper provides an exposition of the modern business regulatory landscape within which banks operate in performing their competing duties towards the customer and the public. In the modern elusive global market environment, banks are in a jeopardy because people they would least expect to be involved in money laundering could be chief instigators of money laundering (ML) and predicate crimes. This includes presidents (e.g. Sana Abacha of Nigeria), minsters, judges and other elevated government figures could be the ones instigating the commission of money laundering offences in their countries. The jeopardy of the bank is that some of the foregoing political officials could be untouchable political figures on whose its survival depends. Banks need to remain fully alert bearing in mind that with globalised business environment in which they operate, circumstances can change very rapidly. It would also be overly unnecessary to blame banks for failures in the regulatory system beyond their control such as the global crisis – which they could not have foreseen or prevented. Finally, this paper articulates the fluid environment in which the modern bank operates and its attendant challenges. Design/methodology/approach – The paper was written by the analysis of both primary and secondary data sources focusing on vulnerability of banks in executing their mandate as financial institutions. The paper has also utilised case law on misfeasance of banks where courts have found banks for misfeasance and literally not doing enough in execution of their obligations to prevent financial crimes. This paper has also utilised some of the data utilised by the author in writing his PhD dissertation but done so in a distinctive manner to foster the objective of this paper. The author has harnessed and evaluated the foregoing data sources and adapted them in different contexts to address pertinent issues this paper was written on. Findings – The findings are not clear cut of whether banks qualify to be branded villains or heroes. The findings have demonstrated that the majority of banks are doing a plausible job to prevent money laundering and prevention of terrorism. There are also discerning situations where banks have been less valiant in prevention of crimes and in doing so they have put themselves in a negative spotlight. The paper has utilised different data sources generated on the role of banks in providing frontline services to the public and their failure to execute the foregoing mandate diligently. Research limitations/implications – The limitation of the paper is that it would have been better to evaluate the secondary data sources used in writing it by carrying out interviews on some issues it hinges. Due to some practicalities, it was not possible to carry out interviews or to send out questionnaires to banks and other financial institutions. As such, some of the data sources used could have been biased. Practical implications – This paper is of significant importance for banks, regulatory authorities, governments and those with a stake in the way banks are regulated and governed. I presume the foregoing stakeholder constituencies will find it a worth read and interesting. The paper also demonstrates that some the information written on banks in newspapers is not always true and urges caution in utilising newspapers as a source of generating data. It also underscores the need for banks to be more vigilant in execution of their mandate towards different stakeholder constituencies, so that they are not inadvertently exploited for criminal purposes. Social implications – The paper has far reaching implications for banks to be utilised in prevention of crimes in executing their mandate cautiously. It is important that much as financial institutions should be utilised in the foregoing respect, they should not be constrained by over-regulation, as this also means that they would pay dearly in compliance costs. Originality/value – The originality of the paper is manifested that while it has relied heavily on secondary and primary data sources, it was written in a distinctive way to foster the objectives of writing it. The paper was also evaluated in the context of empirical evidence where banks have used the influence to prevent crimes or where they have been less vigilant in doing so and they have been exposed to criminal exploitation. The foregoing experiences were evaluated carefully using reliable data sources such as case law and recent legislation.