News

Ibori Vows To Appeal Latest UK Forfeiture Judgement

Published

2 years 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

VIDEO: Jonathan Breaks Silence On Guinea-Bissau’s Military Takeover

Published

2 hours ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has broken silence following the recent military takeover in Guinea-Bissau, describing it as a conventional coup, insisting it was “maybe a ceremonial coup” given the strange manner in which it unfolded.

Jonathan, who spoke extensively in an interview with Symfoni posted on YouTube on Friday, said he felt compelled to address the media to thank Nigerians for their concern and to clarify what truly happened while he was in Bissau as head of the West African Elders Forum Election Observation Mission.

“You know, since I left office, I’ve always been scared of talking to the media,” he said. “But in this particular case, I decided to speak… first and foremost, to thank Nigerians for the show of empathy, the encouragement.”

Gunfire erupted around key government buildings in Bissau on Wednesday, with soldiers claiming they had “total control” of the country and followed by curfew, border closures and the detention of top government and security officials.

In another development, Tribune Online reports that ousted President, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, flew to Senegal after the intervention of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Reacting to the development, Jonathan however suggested the situation defied all known patterns of a coup.

“I wouldn’t call it a coup. It was not a coup. I would just say, for want of a better word, maybe it was a ceremonial coup,” he said. “For two things: It is the president, President Embaló, who announced the coup. Later, the military men came up to address the world that they were in charge of everywhere.”

He continued, “Then Embaló had already announced the coup, which is strange. Not only announcing the coup, but Embaló, while the coup took place, was using his phone and addressing media organisations across the world that he had been arrested.”

The former president, drawing from his experience as a Nigerian and a regional mediator, said the events were unlike anything he had seen.

“I’m a Nigerian close to 70, and I know how they keep heads of state when a coup takes place. Recently, I was a mediator in Mali, and within that period, we had a military coup. The military doesn’t take over governments, and the sitting president that they overthrew would be allowed to be addressing press conferences and announcing that he has been arrested. Why does this happen? Who is fooling whom?”

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Federal Government had earlier condemned the development as “a serious threat to democracy and regional stability,” and confirmed Jonathan’s safe evacuation by a special flight alongside his delegation.

Jonathan used the interview to call on ECOWAS and the African Union to promptly announce results of the election that was underway in Guinea-Bissau before the military disrupted the process.

“They have the results because AU and ECOWAS officials were in all the regions when the results were collated. They cannot change those results. They should tally all those results and announce them. They cannot force the military out. They must announce and let the world know who won that election.”

He stressed that the integrity of elections must be upheld in West Africa, recalling his experience overseeing Côte d’Ivoire’s contentious 2010 presidential poll.

“A similar thing happened in Côte d’Ivoire when I was the Chair of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS,” he said. He narrated how Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara went into a second round after neither met the 50% +1 requirement.

“In the second round, Ouattara then got more votes than Gbagbo. And Gbagbo said he was not going, that he won the election,” Jonathan recounted. “But all the observers in the international community said Ouattara won the election. And we in ECOWAS said, well, you are our colleague, but you have to go.”

According to him, his insistence on respecting the will of the people ensured a peaceful transfer of power at the time.

“I stood my ground, and Ouattara was sworn in,” he said.

Jonathan reiterated that Guinea-Bissau’s situation was “disturbing” to anyone who believes in democracy and insisted that respecting election results remains the only path to stability in the region.

Watch video here

News

(VIDEO) Obasanjo To Tinubu: Why Are We Negotiating With Bandits?

Published

2 hours ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

Former Nigeria’s President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has berated what he described as seeming failure of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration to wipe out bandits terrorising the country, questioning the rationale behind the government reportedly negotiating with armed groups.

The former President said this on Friday while speaking at the Plateau Unity Christmas and Praise Festival, ongoing at the Ten Commandments Prayer Altar, Dwei-Du, Jos South LGA of Plateau State.

According to him, Nigerians are at liberty to seek help from the international community if their own government fails in its core responsibility.

He noted that despite Nigerians, across regions and religions being killed, the Nigerian government seems incapable of protecting its citizens, describing the killings as “nonsensical.”

“We are part of the world community. If our government cannot do it, we have the right to call on the international community to do for us what our government cannot do for us. If we are being killed, it is the responsibility of government to do something about it.

“We should ask government to do what it has to do at all levels. We should ask our leaders to do what they have to do at all levels, in all walks of life,” he said.

Continuing, Obasanjo stated that the world is advanced enough for anyone to hide anywhere and go scot-free after committing a crime.

“In these days of technology, there should be nobody hiding anywhere after he has committed a crime that cannot be seen with the present day satellite,” he added.

Recalling his time as Nigeria’s President, Obasanjo said the opportunity of drones has now made it easy for anyone to be picked out from anywhere unlike his time.

“Before I left government, I knew we had the capacity to pick up anybody in Nigeria. The capacity we didn’t have then was that, after we had identified and located such a criminal, we didn’t have the capacity to pick him up without moving on land or by air. Now we have capacity with drones. You can take them out. Why are we not doing that?

“Why are we negotiating? And after government has paid these criminals, government denies!

“We should appeal to our government to do what needs to be done to stop Nigerians being killed.

“We are tired of being killed, and we want the killing of Nigerians, whether they are Christians or Muslims or pagans, they are Nigerians, and the life of every Nigerian matters. It should stop,” he stressed.

Watch video here

News

Why I Returned To Nigeria On Ivorian Jet — Jonathan

Published

11 hours ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

Jonathan has explained why he returned to Nigeria aboard an Ivorian aircraft following the recent political unrest in Guinea-Bissau, saying President Bola Tinubu had also prepared to dispatch a jet before Côte d’Ivoire secured an earlier landing permit.

Jonathan, who was in the country as head of the West African Elders Forum Election Observation Mission, spoke in an interview with Symfoni posted on YouTube on Friday, his first public comment since gunfire erupted around key government institutions in Bissau, prompting reports of a possible coup.

He said he felt compelled to speak “to thank Nigerians for the show of empathy and encouragement” after the incident, noting that he was aware of the national anxiety that followed the reports.

“While we were in Bissau and this so-called coup happened, the information we got was that the whole country was agitated, young and old, irrespective of religious or political divides,” he said.

According to him, both President Tinubu and Côte d’Ivoire’s President Alassane Ouattara made arrangements to evacuate him and his delegation from Bissau.

However, the Ivorian team secured landing clearance first due to what he described as stronger regional links.

“And I sincerely appreciate Nigerians, and I want them to hear directly from my mouth to appreciate their concern. And secondly, to thank my president, President Tinubu, and the Ivorian president, President Ouattara.

“Both presidents were to send aircraft to lift us, but somehow you know Côte d’Ivoire is closer to Guinea-Bissau, and there’s always some relationship between the Francophone countries and the Lusophones, who are among the Francophones.

“They were able to penetrate their system to get a a landing permit before Nigeria could do that. So the Ivorian aircraft was already on its way to pick us up,” he said.

He explained that Côte d’Ivoire’s aircraft was already en route when he was informed that the Nigerian jet had received approval to depart.

“So when we learnt that the Nigerian aircraft were about leaving, we asked them not to bother. That is why, if you see the pictures, I was brought by an Ivorian aircraft,” he said.

Jonathan thanked the two West African leaders “and indeed Nigerians, young and old” for their concern during the episode.

“So we thank the two presidents, President Wachara and President Tinubu, and indeed thank Nigerians, young and old, for that,” he said.