James Ibori: UK returned to Nigeria £4.2m stolen by ex-governor

James Ibori: UK returned to Nigeria £4.2m stolen by ex-goverThe news has been trending on the return of £4.2m from the UK to Nigeria. The repatriated £4.2m is part of Chief Ibori’s humongous loot while in office as Governor of Delta State from 1999 to 2007. It was estimated that he stole over £150m which he squirrelled away in various bank accounts in the UK and other places.

Even after doing time in prison in the UK for stealing Delta State funds, Chief Ibori is still the undisputed leader of a cabal that has successfully underdeveloped Delta State by stealing it dry. This informs why Delta is the least developed of all the major oil-bearing States. He, it was rumored, installed the sitting governor of Delta State from his prison cell in the UK. He did the same for Senators, members of the House of Representatives, House of Assembly members, etc.

When he left office in 2007, he left visible trails of corruption that even the blind could see. EFCC wasted no time in arraigning him, first, in Kaduna where he was remanded in jail. Thereafter, because of him, a Federal High Court Division was created in Asaba. It would be recalled that on December 17, 2009, Justice Awokulehin, in his ruling that dumbfounded all, quashed all the 170-count criminal charges filed against Chief Ibori by the EFCC. It was obvious, even to the unwary, that he did Ibori’s bidding. Following investigations for other sleazes he committed while in office, Nigeria became too hot for him and he fled to Dubai from where he was later extradited to the U.K. He was convicted and jailed for 13 years for the same offences Justice Awokulehin set him free in Nigeria! So much for Nigerian judicial system.

Delta State Government was an obstacle in the prosecution of Ibori. The State Government did everything, in and out of the books, to frustrate the Federal Government’s efforts in investigating and bringing Ibori to book, and even went to court in 2009 to challenge the EFCC. The State Government sued EFCC to the effect that Ibori never stole from the coffers of Delta State. Justice Gabriel Kolawole ruled that money recovered from Ibori must be paid into the Federation Account and not the Delta state coffers because “the state government has not shown any seriousness in helping to recover Ibori’s loot”. If Ibori did not steal money from Delta State, why is the same State Government jostling for the repatriated loot? You can’t eat your cake and have it! This axiom hasn’t changed.

When Ibori was released in 2016, after doing time in a British prison, the Delta State Government threw caution to the wind and shamelessly issued a statement that celebrated the release of a convicted criminal that stole from the common till. This gesture embarrassed right-thinking Deltans to know end. The Attorney General of the State, Mr. Peter Mrakpor, who is still serving in that position, celebrated Ibori’s release and even called on the Federal Government to pardon him. Because of the open support of the State Government for a convicted thief who stole Delta State blind and thus underdeveloped her, traditional rulers, bishops and pastors all trooped to Oghara for a carnival in honor of Ibori for a job well done for stealing humongous amounts of money from the State!

Ibori is still in power by proxy in Delta State because his influence on the State Government is still overbearing, so much so that if the repatriated funds are returned to the State, they will either be frittered away again or handed over to Ibori. The cabal and dramatis personae who, since 1999, stole, assisted or defended Ibori in his heists, are still in charge in Delta State. Therefore, it would be illogical to pay the repatriated funds to the State Government. Rather, the Federal Government should use the repatriated funds to finance federal infrastructure in Delta State including the construction of the completely collapsed Benin-Warri and Benin-Asaba Highways, a spur of the Warri-Itakpe rail line to Ughelli-Oleh-Ozoro, the new Federal Polytechnic, Orogun or the Warri Deep Sea Port, or any other.