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Ibori Vows To Appeal Latest UK Forfeiture Judgement

Published

10 months ago

July 22, 2023

Editor

Former governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori has vowed to appeal the latest United Kingdom (UK) forfeiture judgement against him saying that he was being persecuted by the British Judge.

The United Kingdom authorities had reportedly launched proceedings to seize more than £101.5 million from Ibori, who had pled guilty to money laundering charges and served a sentence.

Those knowledgeable about the case say that Ibori’s lawyers had advised him to plead guilty in possible exchange for a lesser sentence.

David Tomlinson, a judge at Southwark Crown Court said he has made “factual findings” about the funds and made a formal order on Friday to compel Ibori to refund a further £ 101.5 million.

Jonathan Kinnear, the senior prosecutor, told the court on Thursday that the total amount of money that should be confiscated from Ibori was £101.5 million.

The lawyer further informed the court that Ibori risks a fresh five to 10 years prison sentence should he fail to pay the money.

The judgement comes seven years after the former governor returned to Nigeria upon serving his time, has since maintained a low profile until his recent political resurgence following his old time friend, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s emergence as President of Nigeria.

His political foes, especially in his home state, Delta, have been reportedly shaken by his reemergence on the political stage, and are alleged to have sponsored a rash of negative media commentaries about him.

Reacting to the latest UK order, Ibori said Judge Tomilson’s ruling was difficult to understand and even harder to accept having believed that justice and fairness would triumph, hearing after hearing, through the years.

He said since 2005 the British Prosecutors had investigated his assets worldwide, have had a restraint order in place on most of those assets and they are well aware that the total monetary value of those assets is nowhere close to the sums that were the subject of the recent Court Order.

This is notwithstanding the fact that many of the assets are not and have never been owned by him, he said and cried foul against the judgement.

Said Ibori: “Albert Einstein is quoted as saying that the “definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”.

“If that is true then I must be going mad because in over a decade since the British Courts have been persecuting myself and those close to me, I kept believing that justice and fairness would eventually triumph.

“In hearing after hearing through the years, despite some of the most logic defying rulings against me- I still believed. Despite clear evidence of police corruption against the main officer in my case (evidence so strong that it caused the lead prosecutor to resign from my case), I still believed.

“Despite a clear victory in my 2013 confiscation hearing which left the Judge unable to make an order against me, only to have him rule that the prosecution should start the trial afresh some years later – I still believed.

“However, today’s ruling from Judge Tomlinson is difficult to comprehend and even harder to accept. I have to move past the fact that the British Courts found themselves competent to sit in Judgment over contracts awarded in Delta State; contracts that were legitimately awarded and completed. I have come to accept my fate despite the inability of the British prosecutors to show any evidence whatsoever of monies defrauded or indeed missing from Delta State.

“Since 2005, the British Prosecutors have investigated my assets worldwide; they have had a restraint order in place on most of those assets and they are well aware that the total monetary value of those assets is nowhere close to the sums that were the subject of today’s Order.

“Not withstanding the fact that many of the assets are not and have never been owned by me – it seems that if you are my friend and you allowed me to spend some holiday time in your house, then by this order I now own your home and must ask you to sell it to satisfy the Order.

“The Order made today was to be paid immediately, this was made in the full knowledge that it could take many months to actually realise the sale of many of these assets.

“There is an eight year default sentence, which means that if I do not co-operate and pay nothing at all, then the prosecution can apply for the imposition of the default sentence. However as the prosecution already has a Restraint Order over the assets – the situation of my not co-operating or paying should not arise.

“However, an issue arises if my Restrained Assets are sold, and the total realised from the sale does not equal the amount in the Order, then the Prosecution can still apply for part of the default sentence to be applied, but they could only ask for a sliding scale reduction of the eight years default sentence based on the amounts that remain outstanding.

“If such an application were to be made it would be vigorously contested. In the normal course of events, any talk of a default sentence would normally be stayed until any outstanding Appeal has been concluded.

“The Judge, in this case, has appeared to have cast aside any pretence of impartiality and has made an Order which is both wholly unrealistic and unrealisable. He has completely disregarded any arguments, evidence or expert witnesses in my favour. It was apparent during these last two days that he has forgotten many of the important elements of the case which is unsurprising as it almost 2 years since the case concluded.

“It has taken him two years to write this Judgment and in the interim he has presided over hundreds of cases, but I refuse to make excuses for him.

“At this point in time words fail me and so the question for me as I take my case to the Court of Appeal, is, if I continue to believe that I may finally get some Justice, is this the definition of madness?

“I know one thing for sure, that if I do not go to the Court of Appeal to contest this outrageous Order the people will definitely say that I am a madman!”

News

JUST IN: Tinubu Appoints Governing Board Members For 111 Tertiary Institutions

Published

1 hour ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointments of at least 555 persons to serve as Pro-chancellors/Chairmen and members of Governing Boards of 111 federal universities, polytechnics and Colleges of Education.

This followed Tinubu’s assent to a list of nominees selected by the Ministry of Education.

An advertorial by the Education Ministry sighted by The PUNCH showed the appointment of a chairperson and four members for each of the institutions.

It was signed by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack.

“The inauguration and retreat for the Governing Councils will take place on Thursday, May 30 and Friday, May 31, 2024, at the National Universities Commission, 26 Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja. Both events will commence at 9:00am daily,” said Walson-Jack.

When contacted for confirmation, the Presidency said the list emanated from the Ministry of Education.

“This is from the Federal Ministry of Education…they make the nominations and forward them to the President to sign. But they are at liberty to release it from their end,” the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, told The PUNCH on Sunday.

The appointments come days after the Academic Staff Union of Universities had threatened to embark on another strike, potentially disrupting the academic calendar and causing further setbacks in the country’s higher education sector.

The union, on Tuesday, decried the failure of the Federal Government to appoint Governing Councils for federal universities.

The union also faulted what it described as the nonchalant attitude of the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government to matters about academics in federal universities.

The body of academics, during a briefing at the University of Abuja, also faulted the 35 per cent salary increment for professors and the 25 per cent salary increment for other academics in the university system.

News

HOMEF Applauds NASS On Decision To Investigate GMOs In Nigeria

Published

2 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

…says Nigeria needs to prioritise public health

Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and the GMO-Free Nigeria
Alliance have commended the House of Representatives on the resolution to comprehensively investigate the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into Nigeria and for a halt on approval of new products
pending the completion of that investigation.

This is as the House of Representatives also urged the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to ensure labelling of GM crops already in the country.

The House resolution to investigate the introduction of GMOs into Nigeria followed the adoption of a motion by Rep. Muktar Shagaya at a plenary session held on Thursday 16th May 2024.

In a statement made available to INFO DAILY Kome Odhomor, Media/Communication Lead, HOMEF, the Executive Director of the organisation, Dr Nnimmo Bassey, said ass the lawmaker rightly explained, the introduction of GMOs in Nigeria raises serious concerns about safety, regulatory oversight, and their potential impacts on the country’s biosafety.

He noted that the investigation which has been long “overdue is vital to save the country from the dangerous path to food colonialism, contamination of our genetic resources, loss of
biodiversity/nutritional diversity, soil degradation, and overall
disruption of our agriculture and food systems.”

Bassey continued: “This investigation must be unbiased and thorough. To ensure this, the National Assembly should engage independent researchers to avoid contamination of the process by GMO promoters.

“This investigation should consider Nigeria’s agricultural landscape and investigate the underlying
causes of hunger/food insecurity and as well establish definite measures to address those issues. This is the time to rescue Nigerians from being used for risky experimentations.”

The Executive Director also stressed the need for critical examination of the National Biosafety Management Agency Act for its fitness for purpose.

He further added: “That law needs to be completely reworked to close existing loopholes including the composition of its governing/decision making board by excluding GMO promoters such as the National Biotechnology Development Agency; the lack of provision on strict liability, inadequate public consultation measures, absolute decision-making powers of the agency, minimal reference to the precautionary principal and many others.

“This was the submission of Mariann Bassey-Orovwuje, Food Sovereignty Activist and Deputy Executive Director at Friends of the Earth Nigeria.”

Also reacting to the Green Chamber’s call on NAFDAC to label GMO crops in the country, HOMEF’s Director of Programmes and lead on Hunger Politics, Joyce Brown, noted that the agency will need to devise strategies to have foods sold in local markets in basins, by the road sides, and in processed forms like Ogi and Akara labelled to ensure informed decision-making by the majority of people who purchase food from these sources.

“This exercise will prove that GMOs do not fit our socio-economic context. Over the years, market shelf surveys conducted by HOMEF has revealed over 50 different processed/packaged foods labelled as produced using genetically modified ingredients,” she added.

Brown advised that permits for commercialisation of GMO products such as Bt Cowpea, Tela Maize, Bt Corn and all others be suspended pending the result of the investigation by the House Committee on Agriculture and others.

The statement reaffirmed the submission by Rep. Shagaya that there’s need to prioritise public health, biodiversity, increased support of small holder farmers in terms of extension service, provision of infrastructure (to curtail waste), access to credits, access to land and the growth of our local economy.

“Nigeria should adopt agroecological farming which aligns well with our socio economic and socio cultural
context. Agroecology delivers increased productivity and economic resilience, revises/nourishes ecosystems, strengthens local economies, mitigates climate change and promotes food sovereignty,” the statement concluded.

News

Mother Of Five Jailed For Forging Late Abba Kyari’s Signature

Published

10 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

A mother of five, Ramat Mba, has been sentenced to one-year imprisonment by a Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Gwagwalada, Abuja, for her involvement in an employment scam.

Ramat who was also found guilty of forging the signature of the late Abba Kyari, the Chief of Staff to the former President, Muhammadu Buhari, was arraigned before the court by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission on a 5-count bordering on cheating, fraud and forgery, contrary to Section 13 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 and Sections 320(b), 366 of the Penal Code Cap 89 laws of Northern Nigeria.

She reportedly committed the offence sometime in 2020 when she collected N4.5 million from several job seekers, promising to secure jobs for them with the ICPC and National Air Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA).

Also, the documentary evidence tendered showed that the convict fraudulently forged the letterhead of the Office of the Chief of Staff to former President Buhari and his signature. The letter, addressed to the ICPC Chairman, was a request for the recruitment of three individuals by the commission.

However, the late CoS, in a written correspondence that was also tendered in court as an exhibit, distanced himself or his office from authorising the letter.

Commenting on the sentencing, spokesperson for the ICPC, Demola Bakare said;

“The trial judge, Justice Muhammad, in his judgment on May 9, 2024, convicted the mother of five children on counts 1, 2, 3 and 5 that border on cheating and forgery, while she was discharged on count 4 which borders on felony.

“Justice Muhammad, during the sentencing on Thursday, pronounced a six-month jail term or N100,000 option of fine on counts 1, 2 and 3 on the convict.

“The presiding judge, who stressed the status of the convict as a first-time offender and a mother, also sentenced her to one-year imprisonment or N150,000 option on fine on count 5 which borders on forgery.”