The carnival-like reception accorded disgraced former Delta State governor, James Ibori, who returned to the country the other day, after serving his 13-year jail term in a London prison, is another blight on the toga of Nigeria’s international image as a country of villain worshippers, bereft of moral values where an ex-convict and a man of Ibori’s status and character can be so celebrated and treated to a hero’s welcome. Certainly, Ibori’s case has thrown up a challenge to Delta governor Ifeanyi Okowa and to Nigeria as a country, because in a most bizarre and ridiculous manner, the Nigerian judiciary tried and exonerated him of all criminal charges after he left office. What manner of judiciary does Nigeria have? For Ibori, life is not at its end. Having returned from prison and, hopefully, having learnt some useful lessons, he will do well to take this fall from grace and the continued affection of his people as an opportunity to preach the values of probity and accountability in government. He should accept full responsibility for his mistakes, embark on acts of redemption and make restitution. With the time he still has on his hands, Gov. Okowa should compel him to champion efforts to recover some of the money he misappropriated. If Ibori cannot do so willingly, he should be arrested and obliged!
Ibori escaped justice in Nigeria but met his match when the long-arm of the law caught up with him in Dubai, from where he was extradited to Britain, where he pled guilty to money-laundering and corruption charges, including a $15 million bribe which has become an unclaimed property, and illegal proceed and forfeited to the federal government. If for no other reason, Delta State, through its Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, should arrest and arraign Ibori and get him help the State recover the $15 million bribe he confessed paying to erstwhile EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu that is in the custody of the CBN. That will obviously be in the overriding public interest for a State whose governor has earned the unflattering sobriquet as “Delta State is broke.”
Ibori, two-time governor of oil-rich state between 1999 and 2007, was convicted for embezzling and laundering huge sums of money from Delta state coffers. It is a matter of public record that Ibori has not retracted his guilty plea in the Southwark Crown Court in London, where Ribadu testified in Ibori’s asset confiscation trial; telling the court that Ibori stole at least $500 million, representing 50% of revenue allocation that accrued to Delta state during his two terms in office. In his emotional testimony, Ribadu detailed how Ibori offered him the $15 million bribe in large sacks of cash at the Abuja home of Andy Uba; and told the UK court that he took possession of the cash, and then deposited it at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) where it has been held in custody since April 2007.
During his trial in Nigeria, Ibori denied ever giving the $15 million to Ribadu. When Delta State, through its Commissioner of Justice, Charles Ajuyah (SAN), filed an affidavit claiming the $15 million, belongs to the Delta people, Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja in a bizarre and controversial ruling held that: “the claimant (Delta State) has not sufficiently proved that the money belongs to them; they failed to establish that they are entitled to the money…In the light of Ibori’s denial that he gave $15 million to anyone, the money becomes an unclaimed property. It has become an illegal proceed and is hereby forfeited to the federal government.
Justice Kolawole also argued that Delta State as claimants need to do more to prove that the money belongs to them. “The claim must be proved beyond Ibori’s denial that he ever gave any money as bribe to anyone…The Delta State Government has to show that an audit of the state account was carried (out) after Ibori’s tenure from 1999 to 2007 and found that the money was missing from the state’s account. It did not do any investigation by way of audit and come to a conclusion that the money was missing… The claimant should have produced the asset declaration form of Ibori from 1999 to 2007 when he functioned as governor of the state. It is not enough to claim that no one is more connected to the money than Delta State.”
Now that Ibori is back, and in spite of the moral stain of a prison stay, is still so popular among the same people, whose commonwealth he was convicted for appropriating to himself; is it not just logical for Governor Okowa and his administration to at least make a concerted effort to get Ibori help the State to recover the $15 million confiscated by the Nigerian government? $15 million is by any stretch, a lot of money, so would it not be wise for Ibori to collaborate with the Okowa administration to recover the money as an act of penance for his crimes against the people of Delta state?
Ibori’s confession which was corroborated by Ribadu’s testimony are the relevant statements of fact in his plea bargain; and consistent with other facts which have been ascertained. Against this background, it can be honestly contended that there is enough corroborative evidence of the facts that the money was stolen from Delta State Therefore, it stands to reason that Ibori should be compelled to champion renewed efforts to recover the money. It is true that Ibori has paid a price for his crimes by going to jail, but his cooperation to recover at least the $15 million will be an act of atonement that would allow him live a quiet life both in shame and open penance for his criminal acts.
The people of Delta may be excused for the celebration of Ibori on account of their belief that Ibori touched their lives in whatever way. But it is important to note that those admirers and supporters did Ibori no favors. What they fail to realize however, is how much more Ibori could have done for the people had he managed their resources more prudently. And that is the tragedy. Public office, especially that of a state governor is a trust that ought not to be betrayed. Having examined the level of development Delta state witnessed during his reign and how much more poorly his successors, including Gov. Okowa have performed, Ibori may have become a hero on that scale of comparability, but that does not remove from the fact that he betrayed the sacred trust of the Delta people, going by his conviction. He now has an opportunity to make up for some of his crimes against the people of Delta state even for the simple reason that: no man however great ever won judgment against his own people; and even if you do; your people will still say you betrayed them.
