NIGERIA has freed an aide of late dictator Sani Abacha, held on suspicion of plotting with Libyan commandos to spring Abacha’s son from jail. Kaloma Ali, a former minister, was released on Saturday after two days in detention, the independent Sunday Concord said, quoting Ali’s lawyer Mustapha Bolama. Ali was arrested in the northern city of Kano after Tell magazine alleged a conspiracy to free Mohammed Abacha, who is on trial for the 1996 murder of the wife of late opposition leader Moshood Abiola. Abiola died in detention shortly after the sudden death of dictator Sani Abacha in 1998. Abacha’s death allowed for the return of democracy to Africa’s most populous country.