[size=14pt]Ribadu: Why I’m After Ibori[/size]


Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, yesterday replied former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori on the allegations he made against him on Friday. He said his position on the Ibori case is based on his conviction that those who stole Nigeria’s funds must be brought to justice.
Ibori had told journalists in Lagos that Ribadu and former President Olusegun Obasanjo were among those behind his prosecution for corruption charges in courts in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
Reacting to the accusation yesterday, Ribadu in a statement titled: “Why I am after the Iboris of Nigeria”, states: “Ordinarily, I will not like to dignify Mr. James Ibori, former governor of Delta State, with a response to the tissue of lies and cheap fabrications that he let loose in the press conference he held over the weekend. But it is important to set the records straight, particularly against one of those who perpetrated the worst heist against the treasury since Nigeria’s independence.
“That Ibori is finally finding his voice after two years since his prosecution both at home and abroad started is a testimony to his desperation as the cases, particularly the ones in the United Kingdom, move toward legal resolution.  I will address Ibori’s fabrications one by one.
“First, he lied that I solicited his assistance to become the Inspector General of Police. I had it on record, while in office as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that James Ibori was a double convict. First, as a police officer and also as an anti-corruption campaigner who was committed to doing his part to rid Nigeria of rogues, how could I have been seeking the assistance of a convicted felon for the highest police position in the country? If I wanted to be IG, he would be the last person I will consider to help me. “Ibori, just like the others we tried to bring to justice, is desperate and would do anything to escape justice as he has always done. Nothing emphasises Ibori’s capacity for falsehood and felony than his claim, at the press conference, that I “framed” him for attempting to bribe me with $15 million dollars. As he told the lie, and as I write this, the $15 million remain as an exhibit deposited with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
I must state however that I am used to these types of allegations and fabrications by those who are struggling under the present circumstances to find a way out of their advertised felonies and crimes against the people. It has now become fashionable for all sorts of morally-bankrupt people to try to use me to do one thing or the other.
“Any close observer of the events in Nigeria in the last decade would agree that what we were able to achieve as founders and operators of the EFCC was of a more fundamental nature, in the context of our urgent national crisis, than becoming IGP. But that is a matter for another day. People understand what we tried to do and recognise that the felons must be brought to justice so as to allow millions of our compatriots to enjoy their God-given resources.

“Ibori claimed that he could trace “the genesis of his ordeal to his staunch and uncompromising stance on a major electoral promise he made back in 1998 to the people of Delta State that he would champion the cause of redressing the injustice associated with resources derivable from their land.” I will only like to ask if it is in keeping with this “promise” that he became a billionaire overnight “on behalf” of the suffering masses of Delta State?

“As regards the allegation that Ibori made on the 2007 presidential election petition, let me state clearly that it is totally untrue. However, I am also aware that there is a whole industry of seeking favour from President Umaru Yar’Adua based on the legal tussle over the 2007 presidential election. Already, many fortune and favour-seekers have imagined many plots and many plotters in their attempt to deceive the man in power that I tried to scuttle the Appeal Court case on the election. Many got offices, positions, and others and even got me out of the EFCC telling this lie to Aso Rock Villa. They continue to use it. If Ibori claims that I sought his support to truncate Yar’Adua’s contested victory at the Appeal Court, is he claiming to have the power to influence the judges and pervert the course of justice?

“Finally, Ibori said he remained my “loyal friend”. I am also still open to his “friendship”, but that will never be at the expense of my loyalty to my fatherland and commitment to transparency and honesty in public office. I have a friendly advice for Ibori, though. Instead of wasting the money of Delta State people that he stole to pay lawyers all over the world, isn’t it better as a “Christian” that he claims to be to return his loot to the people of Delta State and have peace with his God?

If he fails to do so, at the appropriate time, no matter how much the Iboris of this world run from the law, they would one day be made to atone for their sundry crimes. If they are able to bribe their way through in Nigeria and get men and women of questionable character appointed into office to shield themselves from prosecution, they cannot do the same in the United Kingdom and before God. But even in Nigeria, the protection that they enjoy today is temporary. 

Wait, James, still on our friendship, since I couldn’t see you when I visited Lagos recently, why don’t you visit me in London to catch up with your other friends!,” Ribadu said.

Ibori had at last Friday’s press conference told newsmen that Ribadu’s assault on him followed his refusal to be recruited into a plan to have the president promote him to the office of Inspector-General of Police.
He also said former president Obasanjo was witch-hunting him because of his initial opposition to the second term bid by Obasanjo, spearheading the campaign for resource control and payment of the 13 percent revenue derivation fund to the oil producing states and his staunch support for Yar’Adua’s presidency in 2007.


http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=155578

''Operation Umaru Dikko'': International Dragnet targets James Ibori


Former Delta State Governor, James Ibori has unwittingly found himself in the middle of efforts by an international coalition to arrest and bring him to justice for orchestrating one of the most brazen and monumental cases of embezzlement and theft of public funds by any Nigerian State Chief Executive.


Amid the persistent feet-dragging by the Yar’adua administration which has continued to shield Ibori from the long arms of the law, and in what seems like an intent to insult and mock the collective sensibilities of law-abiding citizens the world over, the coalition involving anti-graft campaigners in Britain and the United States has resolved to arrest Ibori and transfer him to any jurisdiction across the western hemisphere, most likely, Britain, where he will be tried for corruption and money laundering.


Huhuonline.com has learnt from sources in the coalition that special operations units are now combing the streets of Nigerian cities with instructions to kidnap Ibori and transfer him to Britain or the United States. The dragnet, sources told Huhuonline.com has also been widen to China; the only country where Ibori now travels since any attempt to step foot in the western hemisphere spells doom for the former governor, who, of late has launched a massive media campaign to rehabilitate his hugely tarnished image; taking Nuhu Ribadu head-on in a bruising tit-for-tat media spat.


The uncharacteristic enterprise dubbed; “Operation Umaru Dikko,” after the audacious attempt by Israeli agents to kidnap and smuggle Umaru Dikko; former Nigerian Transport Minister out of London, is said to be masterminded by some past and present barons of the ruling PDP who feel relegated to the background after losing out in the power struggle that heralded Yar’adua’s ascent to the Presidency.


Huhuonline.com understands that James Ibori has become the most powerful and influential men in Nigeria today, having generously oiled the wheels of Yar’adua’s 2007 presidential campaign machinery. “Ibori is the kingmaker; all the noise about the so-called Kaduna and Katsina mafia is now history…Ibori is the boss,” a presidential source told Huhuonline.com, adding: “his tentacles stretch from the corridors of Aso Rock to the creeks in the Niger Delta. He is Yar’adua’s political Godfather and no Nigerian government official dare cross his path. The man is an untouchable.”


Sources have told Huhuonline.com that as soon as Yar’adua came into office, James Ibori put pressure on the President to remove Ribadu as EFCC boss. Ibori’s strategy was to buy time from prosecution by orchestrating the removal of Ribadu. The story was that Ribadu had messed up and lost respect among Nigerians for allowing former President Obasanjo to use him for political battles. If Yar’adua had to be taken seriously about fighting corruption, then Ribadu would have to go, Ibori reportedly told the President. Ibori had his way and Ribadu was not only fired and humiliated, but is now on self-imposed exile.


Many believe Ibori has an ally in Michael Aondoakaa, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. Aondoakaa’s attitude towards the fight against corruption is, perhaps, better understood against the background of his battle with the EFCC as one of the Counsel to the Benue State government in its action against the EFCC. The state government asked the court to declare the EFCC illegal body and that it had no right to investigate corruption cases against any Benue state official. That case was decided in favour of the EFCC.


To secure a second term, President Yar’adua must persuade state governors to stick together and back the ruling PDP again. That may be harder in 2011 than it was in the last two elections and it thus will amount to political suicide for Yar’adua to turn against Ibori in the countdown to 2011.


Huhuonline.com has learnt from impeccable presidential sources that the international anti-graft coalition has been mounting pressure on Yar’adua to make good his rule of law mantra by ending his protection of Ibori. Another important test of Yar’adua’s reform commitment loom: his willingness to sack the widely reviled AG Michael Aondoakaa in the coming reshuffle. That would remove one of James Ibori’s greatest cheerleaders in the government. Last month, three of Ibori’s female associates faced trial in London for laundering of funds stolen from the Delta State treasury. The outcome of this case will shape the future of Yar’adua’s presidency.


The accusations against Ibori are, indeed, grave and it would be a waste of time to catalogue the many crimes of James Ibori; rather it would be comforting to note that the noose is tightening around his neck as pressure continues to mount on Yar’adua to bring the former Delta State Governor to justice. Ibori is facing 103 counts of money laundering and corruption but the case is unlikely to ever go to trial let alone be resolved. Similar charges against him in the England brought by the London Metropolitan Police were dismissed after the Nigerian Attorney General; Michael Aondoakaa filed a petition that they be dropped.


James Ibori wields enormous influence and epitomizes everything that is wrong with the Nigerian character. James Ibori is no doubt fighting the battle of his life. Depending on how his luck holds, the next few months will determine whether he will remain the main power broker in the Yar’adua government as his enemies and detractors close up on him. Ibori is having sleepless nights, not only with the ongoing fight with Nuhu Ribadu, but he can no longer step foot outside the shores of Nigeria(Europe & America). But beyond all this, Ibori continues to play a game of survival by using his understanding of Nigeria’s political system to escape the law. Will he survive, will he sink? This is the question agitating the minds of political observers in and outside the corridors of power.


http://www.huhuonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=513:operation-umaru-dikko-international-dragnet-targets-james-ibori&catid=91:elibrary&Itemid=286