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Tag: Ibori

  • ‘Take becomes beautiful bride as politicians jostle for Ibori’s attention

    Since the announcement of her father’s release from incarceration at a London prison, Hon. ‘Take Ibori has become the toast of Delta State’s social and political spheres. Of course, she has always been relevant in the scheme of things since she joined partisan politics. But the spotlight on the 36-year-old representative of Ethiope West Constituency in the Delta State House of Assembly has reached an unprecedented level of late as politicians and hangers-on in the state scramble to wiggle themselves in the good graces of Chief Ibori ahead of his return to the country.

    The beautiful woman, who chairs the juicy Finance and Appropriation Committee at the state’s House of Assembly, has been delirious with joy since her father regained his freedom. The development has, expectedly, quadrupled her influence as politicians in the state are now gravitating to her. Those who had jumped ship at the time of her father’s arrest have also started trooping back to camp, singing new songs of loyalty.

    Beyond politics, ‘Take Ibori is making her mark in other areas. She runs Starlite Hopes Initiative, an NGO that provides speedy ambulance services in her constituency.

  • Random thoughts from X-mas to Ibori’s home-coming

    CONGRATULATIONS, 2016 has gone away, 2017 is here, young and fresh and brimming with hope that it would burn off all the dross and ugliness of last year. As I settled behind my desk last Monday, Boxing Day, to write this column, I couldn’t pin my thoughts down to gather steam for what has almost become a routine every first week of January… Alternative Medicine products to watch out for in the New Year. I guess that will come later. Instead, I settled for random thoughts and experiences in the days which formed a bridge between 2016 and 2017, what some people may call the “cross-over” days. The first thought was about the Christmas 2016.

    A saner

    X-mas

    2016

    This Christmas must be about the most spoken about in the last decade or so because many people had no money to splash on revelry. The Asian businessmen, notably the Indians and the Chinese, who import children’s dresses and fire crackers for this season, must be an unsmiling lot now. By May and June every year, they stuff available warehouses with their wares and pay fabulous rent for warehousing, waiting for December to arrive. Stupidly, Nigerians burn hard-earned money firing tons and tonnes of fire crackers of all designs, irrespective of repetitive police warnings that fireworks had been banned since the 1960s. The ban was imposed during the political crises of the then Western Region (Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Osun, Edo, and Delta state) and has not been lifted. Irrespective of this, Asians find their ways around the customs and excise Department and around the police to make a mincemeat of the Nigerian economy every December. Every Christmas season, the police would repeat their warnings but would arrest or prosecute no one to make good the warnings. In this process, Nigeria was drained of foreign currencies, especially the Pound Sterling, the Euro and the U.S. Dollar. As the drain occurred, the value of the Naira against these currencies dropped significantly, fueling inflation and scarcities. The story changed in Christmas 2016. Recession had come to town. Every-one began to watch spending critically, eliminating unnecessary expenses. With one bag of 20 pieces of sachet (“pure”) water doubling in price to N150 at the shops, many people began to buy directly from the sales trucks at between N100 or N120 a bag. That meant bad business for the shops. I have taught many people how to add plantain or banana peel to rice or beans or rice and beans to increase bulk, provide enough food for every member of the family and save money on food. In Europe and in the United States, it has been discovered that banana peel, like plantain peel, is richer in some nutrients than the fruit it covers, and that, on it own, it is actually food. In fact, a campaign is going on in the United States to educate the public that these peels are not food wastes, so that, by 2035, no banana or plantain peel would be thrown away.

    The Recession change the face of Christmas 2016 in ways far too many to mention here. It provided a saner environment to observe a Christmas. A Christmas is a reminder of the High Nation of the Lord Jesus to this sinful earth to light up the darkness which had enveloped it, so that some of the inhabitants longing to get out of the rot and return to their home in paradise as perfected spiritual beings may find their way out of the suffocating embrace of Lucifer and his minions. It is a time for sober reflections in which Christians ought to put themselves on the scale and see if they had lived their lives so far the way their Lord came to tell them they should. It is a time for everyone to lock himself or herself up in his inner room. But it became a time for wandering about, almost aimlessly in revelry because the pocket were filled with easy money. The scale of wining and dining decreased last Christmas. Traffic was down on the highways, suggesting many people were indoor. Deafening fireworks were not to be heard in the streets, and the Indians and the Chinese must have gone home, Sullen. Goodbye Christmas  2016.

    Wonders

    Always

    Pop up

    ON this earth, wonders never end. On Christmas Day, I walked into my neighbour’s place in the evening to share with him the season’s greetings. He has a tradition of more than one decade behind him of welcoming his guests with meals and drinks. Beside me sat a gentleman who had been one of my acquaintances in the housing estate for many years. We often met at the relaxation centre. He had a huge appetite for Stout beer. He never stopped drinking despite a bad cough which yielded no ground to self-help pharmaceutical or herbal medicines. Even prescription drugs were of no use. Often, I would tell him I suspected his heart was enlarged and he could come down with congestive heart failure, and even die. I suggested he go to hospital and check with his doctors. But all the suggestions sounded to him like “Greek”. He said Stout beer made him sleep soundly. I said it made him sleep only because it depressed his brain. In any case, the drink could be overworking his liver and kidneys, and these organs may be hardening, resisting blood flow and causing the heart to enlarge in a bid to pack more force to pump harder. An enlarging heart will get weaker in the course of its enlargement, and it may become so weak that it may not be able to pump blood out of the lungs. Blood overstaying its tenure in the lungs would irritate these organs as unwanted guests. To free themselves of the irritation, the lungs would try to expel the blood through the mechanism of a particular cough. This cough hardly responds to popular cough medications.

    After a long debate which involved his children giving him an ultimatum,  our friend went to hospital where his condition was diagnosed as enlargement of the heart. He would prove stubborn still by saying his doctor permitted him to knockoff with this beer provided he did it in moderation.

    To cut a long story short as we say, his cough worsened, his energy began to sag and he could hardly walk. Last Sunday, I saw beside him not a bottle of Stout beer but a glass of water. “What happened?” I asked, shocked. He told me his doctors asked him to give up beer if he wanted to live longer. We joked about the human capacity to chase away killer old habits in the face of death. Then, I advised him the medications he was on would not necessarily reverse enlargement of his heart. They would only slow down the heart so it doesn’t kill itself with work overload thrust upon it by other misbehaving organs. He would have to heal his liver and kidneys of many years of needless punishment. These organs take a lot of bashing when we consume alcohol. Then, he would have to put more energy into his heart on a therapy of Ubiquinol, Hawthorn berries, Vitamin E, Vitamin B Complex, Essential fatty acids, Selenium, Magnesium, and the likes of them, including L-Arginine.

    Remembering this gentleman, reminded me of the book SUGAR BLUES in which the author narrates how he had to give up sugar and sugar foods after many point-of-death battles with unresolved hypoglycemia which masked itself in many other disease symptoms. When he got his health and life back, he would bump into sugar consumers unceremoniously, urge them to give up sugar and sugar foods, they would insult him, he would not give up at the risk of a fiasco and he would go home a sad man. Then, one day, an observer admonished him not to burn up his energy over recalcitrant people. One day, a thunderbolt would hit them. Only when the student is ready does the teacher emerge. Isn’t this the way it has been for many of us health repentant people?

    Holiday,

    Holiday,

    Holiday…

    In the last two weeks, Nigeria has granted workers six days public holidays. To worsen matters, the first work day in 2017, a Monday, (January 2) is a public holiday. The holiday on December 26, a Monday, was understandable. That was Boxing Day, traditionally a public holiday in many Christian countries when Christmas gift sent in boxes or in other packaging are unwrapped and acknowledged. Tuesday, December 27 need not have been a public holiday. But it was so declared to compensate Christians for the Christmas Day which fell on a Sunday, a work free day in the country. January 2, a Monday and a work day, was declared a public holiday for the same reason that New year’s Day fell on a Sunday, a work free day. The thinking has gained deep roots over many decades that if a holiday falls on a work free day, a compensation or a gift with a work day has a work-free day has to be made. This holiday, holiday, holiday mania is a disease of corporate Nigeria which, in many other ways, has eaten the nation deep into its marrows.

    Many people think the season of Change laced with the season of Recession would have swept away this unproductive habit of corporate Nigeria. How many people go on these types of holiday in the informal sector, anyway?

    A recession means backsliding or retrogression. To move from Recession to Ascension, the energy for upthrust or upward propulsion must first be generated. A car driven into a ditch isn’t gotten out of there without some work. Moving Nigeria out of recession cannot be easily achieved, if it will be attained at all, through pleasure seeking irresponsible holidays. If an investor who is to create jobs needs 60 days to repay, say, a N100million bank loan, robbing him of six days work in two weeks isn’t going to be fun to him. If he thinks he can make mincemeat out of the country and get by, his first option may be to inflate his price to make up for the holidays. In other words, some of the pangs of Change many people are complaining about may very well be the price they are paying for the irresponsible holidays they are enjoying. Irresponsible holidays are rare in Japan and China. Often, the Japanese and the Chinese have cultural links to their own holidays. In the Western world, holidays are not frivolous matters.

    That said, there is some sense on the other side of the road, or of the other side of the coin presented by a devil’s advocate. The informal sector, not the corporate sector, may have become the bedrock of the economy, the driver and stabiliser. Here, workers work their hearts out from sunrise to mid-night, taking no organised vacation except when the government declares a public holiday. But this isn’t a fool-proof argument? Do not many of us in this sector troop to work on public holidays which have no religious rings to them?

    There are many things in Nigeria crying for Change which haven’t changed. The culture of too many needless holiday is one of them.

     

    Ibori, a free man

    Former governor Ibori may surface in Nigeria to a tumultuous welcome, having completed his jail term for money laundering in England. His reception in England is an indicator in this regard. In the video, Ibori proudly boasts that, while he was in jail in England, he masterminded the election of some governors in Nigeria. What I can deduce from this is that he would be a major player or king maker in the 2019 Presidential election.

    Gone are the days when only success had many fathers and failure had none. The crowd which milled around Ibori at the reception suggested it is no longer taboo to be seen in public hobnobbing with a former prisoner.

    In the days long gone by, it would be appropriate to tell these people SHOW ME YOUR FRIEND AND I WILL TELL YOU WHO YOU ARE or BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER.

    One of my friends reminds me that, in human history, only the FORM ever changes, the CONTENT never changes. The FORM is we human actors or the circumstance in which we act. The CONTENT is what we like to do. Over 2,000 years ago, we sang Hossanah after Jesus Christ on a Friday and shouted CRUCIFY HIM on a Sunday. Pontius Pilate was warned by his wife to protect Jesus. She had been warned in her dreams Jesus was blameless and she should guide her husband to let Him go. The mob threatened Pilate, colonial Roman governor of Judea, he would be reported to the Emperor, Herod, as an enemy of the emperor if he did that, claiming Jesus was seditious in acclaiming Himself as KING OF THE JEWS. Pilate feared that Herod may sack him or even imprison him. He lacked courage, thought of Self and let go. On the part of the mob they preferred that the life of a common criminal be spared while a blameless person should be murdered simply because the leaders of Jewish religion thought His influence over the people would rob them of power and influence.

    Today, we worship criminalism and other vices in this country as the Jewish synagogue leadership and mob. Like Pilate who lack courage to confront evil, we, too, lack courage to confront evil and crime, and this is why our land is filled with criminals and nothing that is right seems to work in it. The officers who man and run our public institutions lack courage, noble human character and candour. Who, today, in this country, can look the king straight in the eyes and say his mother is a witch? who can tell Ibori and people like him to take a bow from the public theatre and retreat to the back stage, nay, the shadows? Once he was appointed a Public Prosecutor irrespect of the Monica Lewinsky affair, Mr Ken Starr pounded President Bill Clinton in the dock as if the President were an ordinary strict man. Who, today, can face a Governor, let alone a President in Nigeria? In my days as a University student in the 1970s, students would have become so irritated about the huge sums of money being recovered from corrupt Nigerian leaders of yesterday that they would have surrounded the homes of this people and the National Assembly in support of the government. Such students of those days are no longer anywhere to be found today. The system may have absorbed them. And so we may discover that President Muhammadu Buhari as a lone tree, may not make a forest in 2019, and Ibori and Co. may call the shots.

  • In defence of Ibori and Niger Delta

    James Ibori, celebrated at home by his people but haunted into prison by his Nigerian and foreign detractors, is unarguably a Niger Delta hero. Jailed by Southwark Crown court  on April 17, 2012 for 13 years after he ‘pleaded guilty to 10 counts of money laundering and stealing $50m from the Delta State treasury’, he was released from prison last week. For turning out in their thousands across Niger Delta region to celebrate his release, the good people of Niger Delta have gone through severe stress and strain.  Professional mourners who weep louder than the bereaved have continued to libel, malign and vilify Ibori’s Niger Delta compatriots. Critics have not been restrained by the Delta State government official statement that acknowledged Ibori as the political leader of the people of Niger Delta. Speaking on behalf of the government, the Commissioner for Information, Patrick Ukah, stated unequivocally, “We are all very happy that our son, our brother, former governor has been released. … As a state, we don’t have issues with our former governor.”  “Ibori remains our political messiah”, added Chief Robert Eyaufe, One of Ibori’s classmates in secondary school,

    Neither have they been restrained by the intervention of Senator Peter Nwabaoshi (PDP, Delta North) who flew to London to pass a vote of confidence on James Ibori as ‘a good man’. According to him, “There may never be a governor in Nigeria who will sit in the cell or prison and make a governor; make a senator, support the Senate President, and make his daughter a member of the House of Assembly… and make a Speaker (of the House of Representatives).

    Rather than be humbled by this level of support, what we got was a cheeky remark by Debo Adeniran, the executive chairman, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, that “Ibori has become a king in a community of thieves”, adding that   “demonstration and celebration of Ibori’s release  is a demonstration that crime is a cultural act in that community”. He was joined by Olanrewaju Suraj of Civil Society Network against Corruption, who also says that ‘Ibori’s conviction cannot be said to be politically motivated because it was not carried out by Nigerian courts but by courts of international jurisdiction.’ If you ask me, I will say such statement is in itself politically motivated. Who but the victim is in a better position to determine a politically motivated conviction? Suraj instead of stopping at that went on to add that ‘the majority of the people there (Niger Delta) don’t see their so-called own people as the enemies of the progress of the region”. The verdict of those who voted for him twice and declared him ‘political leader and a messiah’ after serving prison term for the theft of their funds should in my view carry more weight.

    I think what can be said of the Niger Delta region is that it is a land of two extremes where the poor and disadvantaged suffer persecution complex while the privileged who Ken Saro-Wiwa christened “vultures”, that live on the blood of their poor”, suffer from entitlement complex. To the former, outsiders are the villains while those live by swearing in their names, are the heroes. This perhaps explains why Ibori’s other Niger Delta leaders were no less loved.

    Navy Commander Alfred Diette Spiff, governor of River from May 1967 to 1975, who could not pay River State teachers’ salaries as at when due was found to be cruising on the high seas in his private ship on the night of Murtala Muhammed’s coup against Gowon in 1975. Following the probe of Gowon’s military administrators, Diette Spiff lost a rank, his ship and some 16 properties in choice areas of Port Harcourt. His people’s faith in his leadership remained unshaken. They went on to crown him the ‘Amanyanabo Twon’ of Brass in Bayelsa. Peter Odili was governor of Rivers 1999-2007. He was accused by EFCC of diverting N100b states fund for personal use at the end of his tenure. He however secured Justice Ibrahim Buba’s perpetual injunction against trial, an injunction recently described by Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption (PACAC) that has gone on to recommend his retrial by EFCC, as ’odious, perverted and irresponsible’. Odili, highly respected by the dreadful Niger Delta militants was the kingmaker of all his successor governors including Wike who recently acknowledged his contribution during a church thanksgiving service to his emergence as governor of Rivers. We had the late Diepreye Almieyeseigha, governor of Bayelsa 199-2007. He was first arrested in London in 2005 for stealing the resources of his people to buy four houses worth about 10 million pounds in London and for keeping one million pounds cash at his London home and about two million pounds in his bank account. After jumping bail to escape to Nigeria, he was accused by EFCC of spending his people’s funds to buy $401,913 house in Massachusetts and another $600,000 house in Rockville Maryland USA. EFCC got him indicted through the courts but received presidential amnesty from President Jonathan, another illustrious son of Niger Delta in 2013. Lucky Igbinedion was governor of Edo 1999-2007. He was found guilty of embezzling $24m and was ordered by Justice Abdulahi Kafarati of Federal High Court Enugu to pay a fine of N3m. His indictment had little effect on his popularity among his people. Despite the decay and collapse infrastructure he left behind at the end of his tenure, the candidate he openly supported and promoted in the recent governorship election in Edo State scored about 250,000 votes to the 290,000 of Obaseki, the candidate of Oshiomhole generally praised for his outstanding performance compared only to the Ogbemudia magic era of the 70s.  And finally was Ibori for whom the drums are being rolled out after successfully serving a prison term for stealing $50m from the Delta state treasury.

    Add to the above the declaration of President Jonathan the most successful Niger Delta politician of this century that ‘stealing is not corruption’; we begin to see a trend. It is not an accident that women from Niger Delta along with some 23 different groups from the area have been demonstrating in Lagos and Abuja in solidarity with Mrs. Patience Jonathan who without shame belatedly laid claim to some fictitious accounts to which EFCC had traced some of the ‘Dazukigate’ slush funds.

    And finally, we cannot vilify groups within a federal set up, if they choose to celebrate their culture without apologies. The British we have blamed for our woes for 50 years warned us that as a multi-ethnic society where different groups are at different levels of cultural development, the federating units must run a government based on the culture and creativity of their forebears. Our ill-equipped military for selfish reasons turned our country into a ‘unitary federalism’ creating in the process more divisions. What is going on in the Niger Delta region is not different from what obtains in even advanced cultures of the Western societies where the privileged elite exploit the underprivileged. The difference is only in paradigm change from the law of nature which is the survival of the fittest.

    With a federal arrangement based on consensus of federating ethnic groups, political elite that choose to retain the strategy deployed by the Fulani invaders of the Hausa states after 1804 and those who believe it is in their enlightened self-interest to advance to the one Awo and his new emergent political elite adopted to transform their agrarian Yoruba society between 1952 and 1959 will be at liberty to do so.

  • All set in Oghara for Ibori’s return

    Residents of Oghara in Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State are in high spirits as they await the return of their beloved son and former Delta State governor, James Ibori. Ibori was set free on Wednesday by a court in London where he was in jail for about four years following his conviction for money laundering offences.

    Major roads and street corners in the town are awash with posters welcoming the ex-governor back home. What is more, key locations in Oghara have been given a facelift while the town is beautified and cleaned up.

    Unlike other politicians who ignore their ancestral communities while piling up riches in Abuja and elsewhere, Chief James Onanefe Ibori a.k.a. Odidigborigbo of Africa, did a lot for the Oghara kingdom, building a lot of infrastructure there during his tenure as Delta governor between 1999 and 2007. That is why his kinsmen are pulling all the strings to ensure he is treated to a  royal reception upon his return.

    Popular spots in Oghara like the Market Roundabout, Ibori Roundabout and the entrance to Oghara, are full of congratulatory messages and posters proclaiming the people’s joy and ecstasy at his return.

  • Ibori: Awaiting return of the godfather

    Ibori: Awaiting return of the godfather

    A London court has  released former Delta State Governor James Ibori from prison, after serving his  sentence. Though he is not expected back home soon, the news of his release has set the state, particularly his Oghara hometown aglow. Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI examines what his impending return portends.

    With the release of former Delta State Governor James Ibori from a London prison, after serving his 13-year sentence, the buzzword on the social media is “Ibori”. He regained his freedom on Tuesday after a court rejected the  Home Office’s last minute bid to block his release on the ground that his assets confiscation hearing was inconclusive. In her ruling on Wednesday, the presiding Judge, Mrs. Justice May, who heard an emergency appeal filed by Ibori to enforce his rights, refused the Home Office’s request to further hold him in prison and ordered his immediate release without conditions.

    But it was not clear whether he will immediately return home, because legal proceedings concerning the confiscation of his assets worth tens of millions of dollars are still unresolved. The legal tussle is supposed to have been resolved years ago, but had to be halted on the grounds of the allegations of police corruption, which gives Ibori the prospect of taking his case to the Court of Appeal. Indeed, a London court was told last Friday that the former governor would appeal against his conviction on the grounds that British police and lawyers involved in the case were themselves corrupt. Thus, for now, Ibori will remain at his residence in St. John’s Wood in the British capital. Both parties will return to court in January, the judge ordered.

    A Southwark Crown court had on April 17, 2012, sentenced Ibori to 13 years in prison after the ex-governor pleaded guilty to 10 counts of money laundering and stealing $250million from the treasury.

    Despite the current legal entanglements over his assets, occasioned by allegations of police corruption, which has paved the way for Ibori to take his case to the Court of Appeal, the mood among his kinsmen and politicians in Delta State, where he still commands a lot of respect, influence and following within the political arena, the feeling among his followers is that he should return home to take charge of affairs, especially within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

    The development brings to a close a chapter in the huge drama, which saw the Odidigbodigbo of Oghara, Delta State, escaping Nigeria to Dubai, in 2010, following an onslaught from agents of government under former President Goodluck Jonathan. There, he was held under house arrest until he was finally departed to London, the following year, to begin the process that led to a 13-year jail term, after pleading guilty to charges of money laundering.

    The question now is, how are the Nigerian authorities going to react to the return of the former Delta State governor? Ibori’s case is a controversial one. It has created a sharp division amongst those following it; with one side seeing what happened to him in the UK as well deserved, because he was believed to have engaged in massive corruption and stripping his oil-rich state to the bones, while another group sees him as a victim of high-wire politics, starting with his disagreement with former President Olusegun Obasanjo to Jonathan who later set him up and compelled him to flee the country.

    The controversy surrounding Ibori’s case has been compounded by the discovery that some of the London policemen that investigated his case had themselves been corrupt and that the legal team that prosecuted him is equally heavily tainted and bespattered by the paintbrush of corruption. Authorities are currently reviewing the case, to ascertain whether his conviction was in order and that he had not been unfairly treated.

    Even in the UK, the presiding Judge that set him free on Tuesday was sympathetic to his plight. Thus, while the Home Office is talking of confiscation trial to ensure that he loses his properties in London, the Ibori camp is weighing the option of going to the Court of Appeal, to set the records straight. If it is proved that he was jailed unlawfully, he stands to receive huge compensation for the manner he was treated and given a bad name.

    Throughout the period Ibori was in jail, he was still controlling affairs in Delta State, by proxy. The former governor, who had put together a formidable political structure in the state from where all the governors and virtually all other political offices have been chosen, is said to have held the keys to this door of opportunities quite firmly, even with his four-year travails, such that knotty issues are referred to him to decide from behind prison walls.

    This was the case when some perceived deviants had attempted to dislocate this formidable arrangement to deny the present Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, one of the followers of the former governor, the opportunity of benefiting from the well-known succession plan that had existed and known to all even whilst Ibori was still in Nigeria.

    It was his intervention prior to the 2015 governorship election that reportedly saved the day for Okowa, as some deviants had threatened to deny the Igbo-speaking part of Delta, otherwise known as Delta North, the opportunity to produce a governor.

    The prospects of Ibori’s return to Nigeria at the time of President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption war have heightened the controversy the man.  This is considering the fact that the former governor still has an unfinished business with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Thus, there are prospects that the EFCC might attempt to re-arrest him and commence a fresh corruption trial against him.

    However, some legal opinions insist that it is unlikely since that would amount to overkill; considering the ordeal of the former governor in the last six years and the fact that he had already been amply punished in the UK. Besides, there are scores of cases involving former governors that have not been reopened. So, the prospect of the EFCC moving against Ibori does not appear feasible.

    It is also instructive to note that Buhari’s anti-corruption war is at the crossroads at the moment. Observers believe the anti-corruption war is on trial, because of the growing number of people in the President’s kitchen cabinet that are facing accusations of corruption. In the past few months, allegations of massive corruption, have beset the Buhari government, with some officials accused of either dipping their hands directly into the public till or engaging in one form of corrupt practice or the other.

    Besides, the EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, is himself currently facing accusations of impropriety, which might have dealt a strong blow to his ego. This might affect the way he would approach his job in future, because this may cause him to lose some credibility in the eyes of the public.

    Last week, the Senate refused to confirm him for the job, on which he has been in acting capacity since his appointment last year. The Senate position is based on a damning report from the Department of State Services (DSS), which indicted him of corruption and other official malfeasances.

    Thus, chances are that he may return quietly to his Oghara base and lie low for some time, to contemplate his political future. Certainly, he would continue to remain relevant in Delta State.

    Meanwhile, the news of the possible return of Ibori to Nigeria has set Delta State, particularly his hometown in Ethiope West Local Government Area, on fire. This is understandable. The 59-year old Ibori, who ruled the state from 1999 to 2007, was one of the most influential governors during his time and he established a political dynasty that produced his successor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan and the incumbent Governor Okowa.

    According to reports, reconstruction work is underway in his country home in Oghara, in anticipation of his return. A statement attributed to one of the engineers supervising the renovation works suggests that the reconstruction work has been on for some time. He said: “We have been working here for the past two months, though intense works commenced last month, our work here is almost completed, including the guest house which has received a new touch of life.”

    Indeed, Oghara generally is wearing new look with banners bearing pictures of the ex-governor, strategically displayed at different roundabouts within the town. Associates and loyalists are also catching up on the event to pledge their loyalty to the former governor as they adorn the banners with their pictures side by side the former governor.

    Former DESOPADEC Commissioner representing Ethiope West, Sapele and Okpe, Henry Ofa, said: “Without trying to be immodest, the world knows that Oghara is expecting him any moment from now, so the expectation is very high, especially observing that since he left, there has been a lot of misgivings, backwardness in the area to the hope that when he arrives, so many things would change positively.

    “Development that has been off the land will begin to come back again in the system and in the state. So many things will change from the local government to the national level.

    “We are prepared to follow him and we are convinced that he is going to lead us to the Promised Land depending on what and how God is directing him because we also have the belief that what he is passing through is what God has put in place for him to make him strong to accept a higher offer. I have the belief that there is a plan for him by God.”

    A commercial motor cycle operator, Nicholas Imonuenu, who also commented on the frenzy in the community over Ibori’s return, said: “Ibori is like a demigod here in Oghara; we know that it was out of oppression that he was incinerated in United Kingdom. As a law-abiding citizen, he has finished serving his time, and we are eagerly looking forward to his return home.”

    A roadside food vendor, Patience Ewhere, equally asserted: “As you can see from the banners around town (Oghara), it is going to be a carnival-like celebration the day Ibori would step feet into Oghara town. This is because as governor of Delta State, he spearheaded the development of Oghara kingdom and till date, Oghara is still a town to reckon with, compared to other metropolitan towns in Delta State in terms of infrastructural development.

    A student of Otefe Polytechnic, Oghara, Ighoavodha Ochuko, who is an indigene of the community, said: “This is like schooling at my backyard and is made possible as a result of the foresightedness of Chief James Ibori. From what I have gathered as regards the preparations here for his return, there is going to be a carnival celebration in his honour. Personally speaking, I can’t wait for that day.”

    A member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Oghara branch, Emma Udele, is also of the opinion that Ibori was a victim of an intricately wired political game. His words: “We all know that Ibori was a victim of circumstances and this was what led him to prison in faraway United Kingdom. But God doesn’t sleep hence, there is always light at the end of every tunnel. He has finished his prison term and would be coming home before Christmas.”

    Ogheneochuko Mamuruoke, another commercial motorcyclist, is excited about the prospects of Ibori setting foot on Oghara soil again. He said: “My brother, I will not lie to you; Ibori’s return would be the greatest and best thing to have ever happened to Oghara and Urhobo nation, amidst the leadership challenge facing Urhobo. We are optimistic and very ready to receive and welcome our son back home.”

     

  • London court frees James Ibori as deportation hearing begins in Jan.

    London court frees James Ibori as deportation hearing begins in Jan.

    Convicted former Delta State Governor James Ibori has been released from jail despite attempts by the British Home Secretary to detain him further.

    Ibori was due for release on Tuesday, having agreed to be deported after serving half of his 13-year sentence.

    But it became evident that Home Secretary Amber Rudd did not intend to deport Ibori to Nigeria until he handed over £18m of “proceeds of crime”.

    But Justice May said attempts to detain him were “quite extraordinary”, according to a BBC report.

    Ordering Ibori to be immediately freed from prison, Mrs Justice May said: “You don’t hold someone just because it is convenient to do so and without plans to deport them.”

    A Home Office application that Ibori be electronically tagged and subject to strict curfew conditions was also rejected after the judge accepted arguments that the home secretary was attempting to misuse her immigration and deportation powers.

    Ibori, a former London DIY store cashier, was jailed for fraud totalling nearly £50m in April 2012.

    He evaded capture in Nigeria after a mob of supporters attacked police but was arrested in Dubai in 2010 and extradited to the United Kingdom (UK) – where he was prosecuted based on evidence from the Metropolitan Police.

    Yesterday, the Home Office’s barrister said the government was concerned that Ibori might “frustrate confiscation proceedings” and wanted him kept in jail or subject to strict controls on his movement.

    But it emerged in court that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which is pursuing the confiscation proceedings, was “neutral” about Ibori’s release and possible deportation.

    Ian MacDonald QC, representing Ibori, said: “The Secretary of State has taken it upon herself. There is no objection from (the CPS) for release.”

    “This is extraordinary,” Mrs Justice May said. “They (the CPS) don’t care.”

    “Why doesn’t the Secretary of State just send him back?” she asked. “He wants to go. She wants him to go.”

    Ibori’s conviction followed a UK government anti-corruption campaign led by the Department for International Development (DfID) 10 years ago.

    But earlier this year, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders, demanded a review of the evidence following allegations that police took bribes and prosecutors covered it up.

    “The review team found material to support the assertion that a police officer received payment in return for information,” the CPS admitted in September.

     Ibori’s lawyer, Ivan Krolic, explained yesterday in court how another defendant in the fraud case had appealed against conviction on the grounds that “police officers in the investigations had been corrupt”.

    “The court of appeal rejected that after counsel for the Crown indicated that there was nothing to support the allegation,” Mr Krolic explained.

    “And then it turned out there was,” Mrs Justice May interjected. “Yes”, Mr Krolic replied.

    Ordering Ibori’s release, Mrs Justice May said: “The Secretary of State appears to have taken it upon herself that Mr Ibori does remain in this country, in apparent contradiction of the order served earlier this year to deport him.

    “The position of the Secretary of State, as very candidly set out by Mr Birdling (representing the home secretary), is that she accepts that there is an argument that she has no power to detain him.

    “I have decided that the balance of convenience falls heavily in favour of his immediate release.

    “I am not prepared to impose conditions involving tagging or curfews.”

    The judge said the matter of Ibori’s deportation should be heard before the end of January.

  • Ibori won’t celebrate Christmas at home, say kinsmen

    Ibori won’t celebrate Christmas at home, say kinsmen

    Hopes that former Delta State Governor James Ibori will celebrate this year’s Christmas with his kinsmen at Oghara in Ethiope West Local Government Area may have been dashed.
    There have been frantic preparations in anticipation of his return, leading to several repairs and clearing at Oghara in the last few days.
    But it was learnt last night, that the former governor had shelved his return.
    Ibori is expected to regain his freedom this month after a 13-year term in a British prison.
    A source told our reporter in Warri that the former governor would leave the British jail at 11 p.m Nigerian time yesterday.
    But a close associate of his, who was also the Commissioner for Transportation in the last administration, Ben Igbakpa, said Ibori had said he would not celebrate Christmas at home.
    Igbakpa said: “He has issued a statement to the fact that he’s not coming for Christmas. His media aide, Mr Tony Eluemunor, issued a statement to that effect, since Tuesday, that he’s not coming home for Christmas. He’s been away and everybody is enthusiastic to receive him back. But he’s not going to be around for Christmas as he has said.”
    Also, in anticipation of Ibori’s return, his kinsmen have begun preparations and celebration of arguably their most illustrious son.
    While the state government and Ethiope West Local Government Area have started series of repairs in Oghara, family and associates of the former governor are said to be cleaning his home.
    Hopes were high that Ibori would return to his home town yesterday.
    But some sources said this was not realisable because he was still in London.

  • Former Delta Gov Ibori leaves UK prison in December

    Former Delta Gov Ibori leaves UK prison in December

    Former governor of Delta State, James Onanefe Ibori, is due to  become a free man in December, after spending half of his jail term in United Kingdom prisons, according to a report from London.

    Ibori was jailed for money laundering offences by Southwark Crown court in 2012.

    But it is unclear yet whether he will return to Nigeria immediately as legal proceedings concerning the confiscation of his assets worth tens of millions of dollars are yet to be resolved.

    The delay in resolving the issue stems from allegations of police corruption in the Ibori matter and the likelihood of the former governor taking his case to the Court of Appeal.

    His lawyer told the court on Friday that the former governor   would appeal against his conviction on the grounds that British police and lawyers involved in his case were themselves corrupt.

    Ibori, who governed Delta State from 1999 to 2007, is serving a 13-year sentence after pleading guilty in 2012 to 10 counts of fraud and money-laundering.

    While in office, Ibori acquired luxury properties in Britain, the United States, South Africa and Nigeria. He is the most senior Nigerian politician to have been held to account for the corruption that has blighted Africa’s most populous nation.

    His jailing in Britain, where he had laundered millions of pounds and sent his children to an expensive private school, was hailed as a high point in the international fight against graft and an important signal to other corrupt politicians.

    But his lawyer Ivan Krolick told Southwark Crown Court on Friday that Ibori was “95 percent certain” to challenge his conviction in the Court of Appeal based on documents that have only recently been disclosed to the defence by the prosecution.

    At the same hearing, Stephen Kamlish, a lawyer for Ibori associate and convicted money launderer Bhadresh Gohil, said the documents showed there had been widespread police corruption followed by a cover-up that was still going on now.

    The main allegation is that a police officer involved in the Ibori probe took payments for information in 2007 from a firm of private detectives working on Ibori’s behalf. At the time, Ibori had not been arrested and was still in Nigeria, but knew that British police were investigating his finances.

    Kamlish said prosecution lawyers had known there was evidence of police corruption but had failed to disclose it to defence lawyers. Krolick told Reuters on the sidelines of Friday’s court hearing that Ibori did not know about the payments at the time.

    The police have said that the allegation was thoroughly investigated and that no one was arrested or charged, and no misconduct identified. The officer against whom the allegations have been made is still in active service.

    The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), after a lengthy internal investigation, said in September it was confident that the convictions of Ibori and Gohil remained valid.

    The CPS has said it found “material to support the assertion that a police officer received payment in return for information.” It did not use the word “evidence”, suggesting it did not consider the material in question amounted to proof.

    But the CPS conceded in September that the material should have been disclosed to the defence, and handed over thousands of documents to defence lawyers. Those were the documents that Kamlish and Krolick were referring to in court on Friday.

    Gohil has already filed an appeal against his conviction. Krolick said Ibori was likely to do so once his legal team had finished going through all the newly disclosed documents.

    As is normal under British procedures, Ibori is due to be released in December after serving half his sentence, taking into account pre-trial detention.

    Gohil, a British former lawyer, has already been released after serving half of a 10-year term for his role in laundering Ibori’s millions.

  • Ibori: Report shows corruption, abuse of court process

    Ibori: Report shows corruption, abuse of court process

    The British National Crime Agency (NCA) has confirmed that police officers working within the elite Department for International Development (DID) funded Police Unit at the heart of former Delta State Governor James Ibori’s investigation for alleged graft.

    The agency also said linked prosecutions were corrupt and withheld substantial material from the defence teams.

    A statement yesterday by the Head of Chief James Onanefe Ibori’s Media Office, Tony Eluemunor, said this was the import of last week’s statement from the NCA, which was misunderstood by Nigerian media.

    According to him, the Nigerian media screamed that Ibori’s conviction was upheld, as though an Appeal Court had ruled on the matter.

    Eluemunor said some TV networks – on Friday and Saturday – broadcast that a British court upheld Ibori’s conviction.

    “But the NCA report simply confirmed revelations of corruption and abuse of the British court process by the Prosecution Service, such as disclosure rules guiding British court procedures,” Eluemunor said.

    The media aide noted that the report was a damning indictment on the prosecution of the Ibori and linked cases.

    He said the report “strangely concluded that the police officers’ corruption in the case and their withholding of material from the defence do not undermine the safety of the convictions”.

    Eluemunor added: “This surprising finding is at odds with the primary findings and so will now be tested to its fullest in the British courts. The question was whether there were malicious cover-ups and if the courts were misled; and the reports said yes, there were such things.”

    The media aide said even the report did not exonerate Detective Sergeant John McDonald, the officer at the heart of the Ibori investigation, from corrupt payments allegations.

    He said the two fundamental developments in relation to corruption and the withholding of material represent a tremendous victory for Bhadresh Gohil, Ibori’s former lawyer, who has long maintained police corruption and misconduct at the heart of these prosecutions. Gohil has taken the matter before the Appeal Courts.

    The statement also said: “Legal experts have confirmed that the Crown Prosecution’s position is untenable and flies in the face of all known constitutional safeguards and undermines every sense of fair and open justice. Corrupt police officers and the withholding of key material do not permit for a fair trial. So, the English legal system justifiably frowns at such.”

    It added: “The case demonstrates the truly shocking behaviour of the British Crown Prosecution Service. Despite the overwhelming evidence of corruption by British anti-corruption officers, it continues to prosecute Ibori and others when it now has in its possession evidence of the source of his funds. It is believed that Ms. Saunders’s position is now untenable. As the director of Public Prosecutions, she has engineered a shocking cover-up.”

    Eluemunor recalled that the September 16 British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) report by its Home Editor Mark Easton, titled: New Evidence Supports Cover-up Claims in Ibori Case, was different from what appeared in the Nigerian media.

    Quoting the BBC report, Eluemunor said: “Claims that Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) covered up evidence of police corruption in a high-profile money-laundering case have been given new weight after the discovery of a substantial number of documents suggesting an officer did take bribes.”

    The media aide said the previously undisclosed material came to light after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Alison Saunders demanded a review of Ibori’s conviction.

    The internal investigation, he said, followed allegations by defence lawyers that prosecutors “wilfully misled” judges about the existence of evidence that could support corruption claims.

    “Now, defence solicitors are being sent previously unseen documents discovered during the review,” Eluemunor said.

    In a statement, he said the CPS reveals how “the review team found material to support the assertion that a police officer received payment in return for information”.

    Eluemunor added: “The review team has now concluded that this material should have been disclosed to the defence and the process of disclosure to relevant parties is under way.

    “Prosecutors had previously denied there was any undisclosed material to support the corruption allegations and the admission that considerable documentation exists and should have been handed over. This represents an embarrassing climb-down for the CPS.”

    The media aide said questions about the safety of the convictions emerged after a bundle of documents was sent to the authorities purporting to show that police had accepted bribes from private detectives hired by the former governor.

    “Ibori’s solicitor, Bhadresh Gohil, had sent the documents anonymously while he was in prison. He protests his innocence and claims he is a whistleblower exposing possible police corruption,” Eluemunor said.

    The media aide said it was alleged that the officer heading the DfID-funded unit, John McDonald, a Detective Sergeant (DS), received payments in return for providing information to Ibori about the case.

    The police officer has always denied any wrongdoing.

    The allegations were investigated by Scotland Yard’s Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS), which identified “no misconduct” and concluded the documents were forgeries, Eluemunor said.

  • Ibori’s influence intact behind bars

    Never underestimate the influence of the human spirit. A thousand soldiers cannot conquer a man whose spirit refuses to be put down. Little wonder James Onanefe Ibori commands respect despite being locked behind bars.

    Though the former Delta State governor is still serving his jail term in the UK, his influence among kinsmen remains indubitable. The once powerful man turned 58 recently. To celebrate him, the incumbent governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, put a paid advertorial in one of the national newspapers.

    Ibori bagged a jail sentence abroad for stealing at least $250 million of public funds while he served as governor of the oil-rich state. Strangely, however, he still manages to peddle his influence even from jail.