EX-CONVICT JAMES ONANEFE IBORI IS NOT WORTH DYING FOR! OGHARA YOUTHS, BEWARE!

Two-term Governor of Delta State, James Onanefe Ibori, (1999-2007), was only 48 years old when he assumed leadership position as the helmsman of the fresh democratic experiment in that enclave of one of the oil-rich states of the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. He was youthful, energetic, ebullient, intelligent, resourceful, charismatic, debonair and sagacious! His emergence and tenure were not without litigation at the law courts, but he was ingenious to manoeuvre all of the obstacles, the most prominent of which had to do with an alleged past criminal record, which if proven, would have robbed him of the wonderful opportunity to serve his native people and by extension, his country, Nigeria, the most populous country in Black Africa, although the debacle characterized most part of his first tenure in office!
James Onanefe Ibori who was a dexterous businessman delved into politics in 1991 but chose the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), to contest the 1999 General Election, having enjoyed close association and relationship with the late and inglorious military ruler, General Sanni Abacha, won the election and took over from the Military Administrator of Delta State, retired Navy Commander Walter Feghabo, on 20th May, 1999.
His two-term tenure was characterized by several allegations of embezzlement of State funds from the various constituencies which led the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to arrest and arraigned him to court between 2007-2010, on a 170-count charge of offences ranging from fraud to money laundering both in Nigeria and overseas. Interestingly James Ibori, in spite of his dented image in leadership qualities/skills, still had a large command of followership among the Delta youths - mostly freeloaders, who had neither education nor any form of visible employment other than to serve as his thugs/bouncers/ bodyguards/errand boys etc. throughout his eight years tenure as governor and he neither encouraged them to have formal education nor engaged them in gainful vocations!
The integrity and transparency of the JUDICIARY came into question during Ibori's trials when the trial judge quashed all the 170 charges against the accused person and set him free on all counts as the allegations, according to him, "lacked merit"! This development gave him the "lee way" to abscond to London in order to avoid a re-arrest by EFCC - through the tacit connivance of his ARMED OGHARA YOUTHS, who prevented operatives from gaining entry into his residence in Oghara, Delta State!

IBORI'S SORDID BIOGRAPHY!
According to his profile on Naij.com, “James Onanefe Ibori is a former Governor of Delta State in Nigeria (29May 1999 - 29 May, 2007. He is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). James Ibori was born on August 4, 1958, in Oghara clan, Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State. Ibori attended Baptist High School, Oghareki (now Oghareki Grammar School). Then he graduated from the University of Benin with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Statistics. In the 1980s, James Ibori moved to London, England where he met and married his wife Theresa. He used to work as a cashier at Wickes DIY Store in Ruislip, Middlesex. In 1990, the couple were arrested for theft from the store, and fined £300 (N84.000). In 1991, he was convicted of handling a stolen credit card, and fined £190 (N28.000). After he returned to Nigeria, Ibori served as a consultant to the Federal Government of General Sani Abacha, in the areas of public policy formulation and implementation. On January 9, 1999, he won the governorship election and became the governor of Delta State. To hide his previous convictions in the UK, Ibori obtained a false birth certificate and then passport, medically incorrect as it was dated a month after his younger sister's birthdate. In 2003, he was re-elected as governor for another four year term. In 2007, the Metropolitan Police raided the London offices of lawyer Bhadresh Gohil where they found computer hard drives containing details of a myriad of off-shore companies run for Ibori by Gohil. In August 2007, Ibori's assets valued at about £17million (N4.7billion), were frozen in the United Kingdom.
In November 2007, his wife was arrested at Heathrow Airport in London in connection with the probe of the assets of her husband, particularly in the United Kingdom. However, she was released after being questioned. In December 2007, Ibori was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), at the Kwara State Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja, over theft of public funds, abuse of office, and money laundering. Nuhu Ribadu who brought these charges against Ibori additionally alleged that Ibori attempted to bribe him to drop the charges with a cash gift of $15 million (N2.6billion), which Ribadu immediately lodged in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The cash remains in the CBN as an exhibit. In December 2009, a Federal High Court sitting in Asaba, Delta State discharged and acquitted Ibori of all the 170 charges of corruption brought against him by EFCC. In April 2010, after Goodluck Jonathan took over the government, Ibori's case was re-opened. A new allegation that he embezzled N40 billion ($266 million), was pressed against him. Later he fled Nigeria, prompting the EFCC to request the assistance of Interpol. He was subsequently extradited from Dubai, United Arab Emirate (UAE), where he sought refuge to London to answer to charges of money laundering. On1st and 2nd of June, 2010, UK Juries found James Ibori's sister Christine Ibie-Ibori and his associate, Udoamaka Okoronkwo, guilty on counts of money laundering and sentenced them to 5 years each in prison on 7th June, 2010. James Ibori who was also convicted in 2012, to 13 years in prison, spent only six years before his release in December 2016.
In several years of his incarceration in the London Prison, the same youths whom he used and dumped metamorphosed into the Niger Delta Avengers and several others terrorist groups who have claimed responsibility for crude oil pipe lines vandalization which ripple effects have culminated into the depletion of foreign reserves and a forced economic recession on the country!

Who or what are these youths avenging? Could it be, the massive fraud perpetrated by their own kith and kin, like James Ibori, Lucky Igbinedion, late Alamieyeseighagha and a host of other elders who are still walking free? Have they forgotten so soon that they supported the culprits, shared in their heinous crimes of diversion of public funds into private pockets and also shielded them from prosecution in Nigeria only for them to be picked up in foreign lands in respect of the same offences and summarily prosecuted and jailed?
Now that Mr. Ibori has returned to Nigeria on Saturday, 4th January, 2017 to a tumultuous welcome both at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, and in Osubi Airport, Delta State, having served only six of his 13-year jail term in London, how does he feel about the role being played by his boys in the subtle destruction of Nigeria's economy and of the moral decadence among the people whom he, through his greed and avarice had impoverished by continuous cover up of subsequent administrations of Uduaghan and the incumbent Okowa who never probed Ibori's fraudulent tenure in office! The Delta State Government is among the indebted States that could not pay workers salaries and meet other social obligations to the people/workers till date, because of Ibori's dirty deals as pioneer governor of a new dispensation from 1999-2007!

While Nigerians celebrated the virtual defeat of Boko Haram from the precincts of the dreaded Sambisa Forest in the North East, Ibori Boys kept up the destruction of pipe lines in Delta State and immediately his release was effected in London in December 2016, those boys flooded the streets of Asaba and other major cities, drank, jubilated, felicitated and disrupted public life for hours on end without restriction by the law enforcement agents or even by the incumbent Governor Ifeanyi Okowa. The social media is awash with news and pictures of several personalities both in private and public institutions who welcomed him with candour and approval that jail term and prison life was a normal way of life! Also on hand were numerous politicians, live musical bands /performing artistes who occupied strategic locations where billboards with "WELCOME HOME" inscriptions were erected across the State. Ibori's Political Adviser, who visited him in London, following his release, and Secretary to the Delta State Government were at the head of the delegation of "honourable" members of the State House of Assembly, that waited at the airport for his arrival! Oghara fanatical youths have vowed to die for James Ibori if need be!

MORAL DECADENCE AMONG THE YOUTHS!
To every GODLESS Nigerian Youth, crime and criminality (in all ramification), is a normal way of life since the "unrighteous mammon" (the illicit wealth of the end- time world), stands out as their acceptable doctrine of prosperity. They would flock to anyone, contractor or institution that would engage them as "mercenaries", to protest against any government policy - good or bad - as long as some "dough" (money/cash), would come out of such deals. Recently in Abuja, some protesting youths were interviewed by journalists for their "bone of contention" and their reply was spontaneous, "dem hire us to protest and carry placards, we no know the kind problem de ground"! Nigerian youths should learn from Ibori's fall from grace to grass and mend their ways before it is too late. Reading through Ibori's profile, it is very glaring that he had the opportunity to repent and live a God-fearing life after returning to Nigeria after his first sets of criminal sentences in London, but instead, he saw another opportunity to get rich through military god-fatherism and grabbed it with both hands. Nigerian youths should avoid Ibori's path and pitfalls. He has brought untold shame and reproach to his family, to his kith and kin and fellow Nigerians! Ibori could still be arraigned in Nigeria to face fresh charges of embezzlement of N40 billion naira! Ibori should repent, ask for God’s forgiveness, Nigerians forgiveness and forget about politics permanently. According to the Word of God: " There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Proverbs 14:12).


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066 g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

Just as the British government, if the Buhari led govt is not able to procecute those acuse of looting our treasury, then he should consider himself a failure and a frauster.

yorubaman, i'm sure drug lord Thiefnuubu is the one worth dying for.

No one is worth dying for. Atleast not in Nigeria.

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