TheNewsGuru

Tag: Ibori

  • NDDC contracts: Ibori replies Akpabio over alleged involvement

    NDDC contracts: Ibori replies Akpabio over alleged involvement

    A former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori on Monday reacted to claims by Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, that he received multi-million naira contracts from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    The former governor said the minister’s allegations against him was ridiculous.

    TheNewsGuru.com TNG reports that Akpabio also a former senator and governor (Akwa Ibom) named former Governors Orji Kalu (Abia) and Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) as benefiting from the NDDC contracts running into millions.

    But Ibori in a statement signed by his Media Assistant, Tony Eluemunor, denied the allegation, saying he had never collected contracts from the commission.

    Ibori, who was governor of Delta between 1999 to 2007, said he had never been a government contractor, and not even after leaving office.

    The statement said, “Chief James Onanefe Ibori, on hearing the news of the alleged Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) contract award to him this morning, from the former Governor of Akwa-Ibom state, Senator Godswill Akpabio, as published by Punch newspapers and other online publications, he did not want to join in the “dancing in the market square” going on in the NDDC right now.

    “He has decided to make this clarification for the records because friends and associates inundated him with phone calls this morning. So, he is stating categorically that he never solicited for, or was awarded, or indeed executed, any contract with NDDC or any government agency, at any time, for that matter.

    “And in all he has been through in and out of public office, he has never been accused of being a government contractor, let alone a failed one hence he did not want to dignify the allegation with a response because it is ridiculous.

    “So, Ibori is advising Akpabio, his brother, friend and member of the former Governors Forum, to please calm down and focus on the task at hand.”

    The former governor noted that NDDC came into being through the personal sacrifice of then governors and Niger Delta stakeholders, lamenting that what is happening to the commission was far from the reasons for the establishment of the agency.

    “Ibori said that the NDDC we have today is a product of his personal sacrifice as well as those of his Niger Delta colleagues (1999 -2007) who rose to the occasion to override the veto of President Olusegun Obasanjo who refused to assent to the NDDC Bill at the time.

    “If not for the exemplary courage some of us exhibited, there would have not been an NDDC to bicker about today.

    “Watching the level the NDDC has degenerated to, is a tragedy. We owe it a duty to the people of the Niger Delta to make NDDC work to ameliorate the sufferings of the people of the region and to realise the dream for which we fought for it to be set up. So, let everybody involved in the NDDC do their duties to the good people of the region.”

  • NDDC probe: Akpabio names Ibori, Uduaghan, Ararume, kalu as contractors

    NDDC probe: Akpabio names Ibori, Uduaghan, Ararume, kalu as contractors

    The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has linked two former governors of Delta State, Messrs James Ibori and Emmanuel Uduaghan, to the various contracts awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission.

    Others on the lists submitted to the Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on July 23 by Akpabio are the Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, and Senator Ifeanyi Ararume, among others.

    The letter, which was also copied to the office of the Attorney General of the Federation/Minister of Justice, was addressed to the Clerk to the House, Mr Patrick Giwa, with Reference Number MNDA/HM/04/IV/158.

    It was titled, ‘Some Niger Delta Development Commission Contracts Allegedly Given to Some Members of the National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives).’

    The emergency repairs projects linked to them, according to the document published in some media outlets, were awarded in 2018 at a cost that ranges from N400m and N560m each.

    One of the projects linked to Ibori, was the emergency repairs of Onoghove community road from Ajanesan to Western Delta University at a cost of N485.7m.

    Uduaghan was linked to the emergency repairs of Close B, Alhaji Estate & Environs, Rumuodomaya, Port Harcourt at a cost of N429m.

    Five projects were linked to Kalu, who was simply identified in the document as OUK-Kalu (the project source).

    The emergency repairs on roads projects linked to Kalu are in Abia State and the costs ranged from N517m to N560m.

    The details are Emergency repairs of Ezere-Acha-Ndiokoukwu Road (N517.9m) and repairs of Amaubiri-Eluama-Uru Ring Road, Lokpaukwu, Umuchieze (N560m).

  • 2023: Makinde, Ibori others move to unite Lagos PDP, warn APC of impending loss

    2023: Makinde, Ibori others move to unite Lagos PDP, warn APC of impending loss

    Prominent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains met in Lagos on Thurtsday for return of peace to the state chapter of the party.

    Emerging from the closed-door parley, Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde said the party’s leaders met to resolve some issues, and made some progresses in their assignment.

    The meeting, which was held on Lugard Street in Ikoyi with former Deputy National Chairman of PDP, Bode George, was also attended by former Delta State Governor James Ibori, former Lagos State Deputy Governor Kofoworola Buknor-Akerele, Dr. Remi Akitoye, Dr. Adegbola Dominic, among others.

    Makinde said the party would work towards attaining peace in Lagos PDP, adding that the state was crucial to the party.

    The governor expressed satisfaction with the outcome of its parley, saying it amounted to putting the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on notice of the surprises awaiting it in 2023.

    He added that reconciliation talks were in progress to bring in all factions of the party to forget their grouse.

    “We were able to resolve some issues. It is pertinent to say the party has made some progress,” Makinde said.

    “You don’t jump the gun. It is one step after the other; it is one step at a time. Why we’ve come here is to make our party work better. The PDP in Lagos State is sacrosanct. It is like we are putting APC on notice that they need to be informed of what is coming to them in Lagos State.”

    George expressed satisfaction with what the party accomplished at the meeting.

    The PDP chieftain said the party resolved to forget animosity, despite the differences among its stakeholders.

    According to him, the party chieftains spoke brilliantly and proffered solutions to the challenges they were facing in the state.

    He noted that the PDP leadership would need the kind of wisdom applied to the two women claiming ownership of same baby to resolve the matters on the ground.

    “We have the solution that we have all agreed on. Unless you want to deceive yourself, there will always be issues. But it will take the grace of the Almighty for you to be able to resolve whatever differences we have. And we spoke brilliantly; they spoke and we proffered solutions. We would come out and accept so that we can work together,” he said.

     

  • EXCLUSIVE: Ibori speaks on revocation of his land by Obaseki-led govt in Edo

    EXCLUSIVE: Ibori speaks on revocation of his land by Obaseki-led govt in Edo

    Former Delta Governor Chief James Ibori has reacted to the report on the revocation of the statutory right of occupancy granted him (Ibori) in respect to a property on plot 103A Aiguobasimwin Crescent, old GRA, Oredo local government.

    Recall TheNewsGuru had earlier published a report in which Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki said he revoked the property in the exercise of the power conferred on him by sections (28) 1 and 38 of the Land Use Degree of 1978 and by virtue of all other laws enabling him on that behalf.

    Obaseki, who signed the revocation order, said the property contained an area of approximately 1985.950 square metre, and no further reason was given for the revocation.

    However, when TNG contacted Ibori via phone, he disclosed that the decision was taken by the governor in his bid to tackle the challenge of flood in the state.

    Ibori explained that Obaseki had reached him five months before the revocation to intimate me that my property was on a flood plain, stressing that there is a need by the government to construct drainages to properly channel water and reduced the challenged of flood in GRA Benin.

    He added that the governor had promised to reallocate another land in compensation of the lost property; saying the land belongs to his daughter and it was used mainly for storage.

    TNG gathered that the move was taken by Obaseki-led administration in 2019 during the commencement of a N9billion drainage project to channel floodwater through the Giapiona-axis of GRA, Benin City.

    The project is expected to provide a lasting solution to flooding issues being experienced in the GRA-axis of Benin City

  • UK makes new move to frustrate return of Ibori’s loot to Nigeria

    A Fresh legal attempt has been launched on Thursday by British prosecutors to confiscate tens of millions of pounds stolen from Delta State by the then state governor, James Ibori.

    Ibori who was governor from 1999 to 2007 had pleaded guilty to 10-count charges of laundering of state funds in Britain and had received a 13-year jail sentence of which he served in pre- and post-trial detention.

    Although he was released from jail in December 2016 and is now back in Nigeria, it seems he might lose everything to the United Kingdom and the Nigerian government.

    According to Jonathan Kinnear, prosecution counsel at Southwark Crown Court who had listed assets that Britain seeks to confiscate from Ibori and return to Nigerian public funds, “only a portion of the 117 million pounds ($153 million) proceeds from his crime is likely to be recoverable.”

    Earlier in 2013, a first attempt was made in Britain to confiscate his assets, however, it was aborted weeks later due to unresolved legal disputes.

    As a governor in the oil-rich state, Ibori, 57 amassed a portfolio of luxury properties in Nigeria, London, Washington, Houston, and Johannesburg and traveled all over the world, staying in the most expensive hotels and spending lavishly in luxury stores.

    Reuters also reported that Ibori had been previously convicted of theft after he was caught trying to steal from chain Wickes in London as a shop assistant during his younger years.

    The new case is expected to last about four weeks.

  • Delta 2023: Power rotation agreement sacrosanct – Ibori

    Former Delta State Governor James Ibori has said power rotation among the north, south and central senatorial districts remains ‘sacrosanct’ for future polls.

    Ibori spoke during a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders’ meeting in Oghara, Ethiope West Local Government, at the weekend.

    According to him, complying with the established pattern of power rotation, which started in 1999, would ensure fairness to every ethnic nationality in the state.

    He was confident that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa would hand over to an elected Delta Central indigene in 2023, as promised during his campaign.

    Ibori, who noted that time was still far away, wondered why some PDP politicians outside the district were agitating for the ticket.

    He said: “Governor Okowa, during his campaign, promised to hand over to Delta Central; and as a gentleman and promise keeper, we have no doubt he will do everything within his God-given powers to keep his promise.

    “We expect all genuine members of our great party, PDP, to comply with the power rotation agreement. It is for the good of all; majority and minority, the weak and the strong, for a balanced society.

    “Equity, justice and good conscience are some of the major pillars of constitutional democracy, hence, PDP in Delta State encourages power rotation to enable the majority and minority groups, and or ethnic nationalities, via senatorial districts and power arrangements, to produce governor; and the agreement remains sacrosanct.

    “Let me also state clearly that 2023 is still far ahead, and it’s not time yet for political campaigns, but we shall begin primary arrangements and wide consultations in the near future. We must remain united and avoid unnecessary division and attacks on personalities within and outside Delta Central as we make steady progress towards the historic inauguration of the next Urhobo governor in 2023…”

  • PDP, Tambuwal, Ihedioha, Ibori, others felicitate with Gov. Okowa at 60

    PDP, Tambuwal, Ihedioha, Ibori, others felicitate with Gov. Okowa at 60

    …celebrates birthday with physically challenged persons
    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and some governors elected on its platform; Govs. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto, Emeka Ihedioha of Imo and Godwin Obaseki of Edo were among dignitaries that joined Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta on Monday, as he marked his 60th birthday in Asaba.
    The party’s National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus was also present to felicitate with Okowa.
    Okowa, to mark the day, had decided to celebrate with the physically-challenged persons in the state.
    The governors and other dignitaries who came to felicitate with Okowa, poured encomiums on him, describing him as unique, humble, focused and patient.
    Tambuwal said, ” Okowa will remain the humble servant of the people, a good husband and a father, a gentleman, very honest and unassuming.
    “I congratulate the people of Delta for having him as Governor for a second term.
    “His decision to celebrate the birthday with people with disabilities is in his character of giving hope to the hopeless.”
    On his part, Ihedioha said: “Gov. Okowa is calm to a fault, but you can only underestimate him to your own peril.
    ”He is also a very humble man and we commend him for celebrating his birthday with people with disabilities.”
    Obaseki said that Okowa’s achievements date back to his days as a student of the Edo College, Benin City.
    Mr James Ibori, a former Delta governor, described Okowa as a prayerful personality who believed that he could not record success without God.
    “I congratulate you Okowa; I thank God for your life; I thank God for your humility and we pray God will continue to uplift you because, I do know that you do everything with a clear conscience,” Ibori said.
    Responding, Okowa thanked the dignitaries for making it a pleasant surprise.
    He said that his intention was to celebrate the birthday solely with people living with disabilities
    “I want to thank God for keeping me alive; my mother died at 43 and growing up to attain 60, I thank God,” the governor said.
    While thanking his wife, Dame Edith and his children, he said that the decision to celebrate his 60th birthday with people with disabilities was to reassure them of his administration’s resolve to continue to pay special attention to their affairs.

  • Ibori appeals conviction, takes UK to European Court

    Former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, has taken the United Kingdom to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, in a bid to quash his conviction by a London court. In one of the grounds of the appeal, the former governor alleged that identified corrupt British Police Officers were responsible for the conduct of the case against him.

    He submitted that prosecution evidence which would have prevented any guilty pleas being entered was deliberately withheld. He further alleged that the prosecution failed to follow the legally required Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) procedure as stipulated in British Law. The attestation papers, which were received by the European Court on 16th April, 2019, indicated that the appeal rests on the fact that Britain disobeyed its own laws in its bid to get the former governor convicted. In the court papers, Ibori’s lawyers argued that:

    “The application concerns an unusual provision of United Kingdom law: Section 17 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA). “It prohibits any reference, in any proceedings, to an intercepted communication or its contents – e.g. an intercepted phone call – in circumstances in which its origin as an intercepted communication is disclosed or could be inferred.

    The United Kingdom is virtually unique in having such a provision: intercepted communications are used routinely as evidence in court proceedings throughout Europe and the rest of the world.” The lawyers alleged that the operation of Section 17 of RIPA, as applied in the highly unusual circumstances of his case, resulted in a violation of his client’s rights pursuant to Article 6 of ECHR. It was further argued that Britain’s failure to obey its own laws has rendered every other thing that followed, including Ibori’s guilty plea later, defective.

    The former governor’s appeal was also said to have been predicated on the disclosure of new material after he had pleaded guilty to criminal offences. “At one of the court’s sittings, “Ms Sasha Wass QC (‘SWQC’), who had previously been instructed to prosecute the Applicant (Ibori), sent a note to the Court of Appeal (‘the Wass Note’). “It was a highly unusual note because it provided information, which could easily identify the source of the new material on which the applicant’s appeal was based. However, in a reverse twist, such disclosure is prohibited in all court proceedings by Section 17 of RIPA. “In response to the Wass Note, and in an effort to attempt to comply with Section 17 of RIPA for the remainder of the hearing, the Court of Appeal imposed ‘Ground Rules’ on the parties. This limited what the applicant’s counsel could refer to in his submissions.

    “The applicant submitted to the Court of Appeal – and submits in this application – that Section 17 of RIPA, combined with the ‘Ground Rules’, prevented him from properly developing his submissions before the Court of Appeal. As a result his appeal hearing was unfair. “The above is the crux of the matter. It is the major plank on which Ibori’s case rests. Ibori appealed to the EU Court of Appeal because a London Appeal Court refused to interrogate this submission and actually ruled that the issue of what is now known as “the Wass Note” was a no-go area. “This made Ibori to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights because Britain denied him his rights to fair trial – which is recognised everywhere in the free world,” the lawyers added.

  • James Ibori mourns Anenih, calls him master political strategist

    James Ibori mourns Anenih, calls him master political strategist

    Chief James Onanefe Ibori has described the death of Chief Anthony Akhakon Anenih as the end of a remarkable era in Nigerian politics. He said the late Chief Tony Anenih was in a class of his own as he was almost unsurpassed in political strategy for four decades.
    In a statement signed by Tony Eluemunor, his Media Assistant, Ibori said that Chief Anenih was depository of political wisdom, a library of contemporary Nigerian political history and the nation’s foremost political tactician for decades.
    Ibori said that Anenih’s life should be studied like a book by anyone who wants to go far not just in Nigerian politics, but in life generally, because he drew himself up by his own boot straps and remained almost unequalled as a political leader and pathfinder since the 1970s till his retirement after the last general elections. He said: “Anenih was a self-made man who did not have the benefit of attending a secondary school but studied at home for his West African School Certificate while he was already in the Police Force. With that certificate in his pockets, the sky was his limit as he attended the Police College in Ikeja, and merited to be selected for further training in the Bramshill Police College, Basingstoke, England in 1966 and the International Police Academy, Washington DC in 1970.
    “Perhaps as a sign of what was to come, he served as a Police Orderly to the first Governor-General of Nigeria, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. He retired as a Commissioner of Police in 1975.
    Ibori said that Anenih first served notice that he was a master political tactician while State Chairman of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) from 1981 to 1983, he spearheaded the late Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia’s election as civilian Governor of Bendel State.
    When democracy returned, he was National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1992 and 1993, and masterminded the election of Chief M. K. O. Abiola as President. Yet, it was in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that he was nationally recognised as “Mr. Fix It”, a tag the Daily Independent newspaper actually gave him. From 1999 until his retirement in 2015, he played great roles in the party as Minister of Works, National Leader, Chairman of BoT, etc, helping to decide the political direction of Nigeria. There is no doubt that very few Nigerians have played the masterly roles that Anenih routinely played.
    Ibori said: “I was lucky to have been very close to Chief Anenih as he took me under his wings. I learnt a lot from him. Even in my darkest moments, he believed in me. His memory will ever remain green in my heart. May God grant him eternal rest and grant his family the fortitude to bear this massive loss.

  • Ibori drags UK to EU Court of Human Rights

    Chief James Onanefe Ibori has instructed his lawyers to drag the United Kingdom to the Court of Appeal at the European Court of Human Rights.
    In a press statement signed by his Media Assistant, Tony Eluemunor, Ibori said: “At 11: AM today, judgment of the Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, was handed down. Once again the British Courts have unjustifiably denied me justice. The injustice contrived against me continued at the Court of Appeal. By this denial, I have been prevented from challenging my conviction even though the Crown Prosecution accepts the fact that there was a proven case of Police corruption.
    “The Court of Appeal declined my application for leave to appeal my conviction based on Crown Prosecution (CPS) and Police disclosure failures compounded by police corruption unearthed way before I even arrived in the UK. The allegation of Police corruption, at least of Mr. John Macdonald, the Investigating Police Officer in my case, started on or about 10th of September 2007 while I was still in Nigeria. This issue of police corruption was raised by a different agency of the UK government working on an entirely different case at the time
    “This material fact should have been disclosed to my legal team on my arrival in the UK but it was not disclosed because the Crown Prosecution Service and the London Metropolitan Police knew the devastating and fatal impact that would have had on the case against me. The UK authorities chose deliberately to cover it up even though my legal team asked that all-important question in open court.
    “This continued cover-up, which is inimical to justice delivery, has been displayed again today by the Court of Appeal when it denied me the opportunity to appeal my conviction at the Appeal Court and possibly the Supreme Court of England and Wales. This is international conspiracy carried too far to the detriment of the integrity of the British Judicial System. ”Numerous people have asked me to discontinue the appeal adding: ‘But what do they care. It’s a matter that has to do with a bunch of “corrupt” Nigerians. They can throw judicial decency to the dogs’.
    “I say to the members of the public who have shown personal concern for my predicament that I will strive with every breath of energy in me to pursue the cause of justice not only for my sake but because it is the right thing to do to make the world a better place and to defend the rights of the down-trodden.
    “So, I have put my legal team on notice to explore every legal avenue to expose this massive cover-up – including applying to the European Court of Human Rights to ensure that this assault on my fundamental rights does not stand.
    “As I said in an earlier statement, “The British judiciary is supposed to rest on a strong foundation of openness, transparency and the rule of law. My legal team have done their best to draw attention to the issue of disclosure and the protocol associated with materials obtained through interception. It is a short and simple case that does not require the length of time it has taken to adjudicate. It’s either my application for permission to appeal is granted, based on the fatal nature of the disclosure-failure, or a brutal assault on the integrity of British Justice would be committed.
    The Crown Prosecution Service, the Metropolitan Police and the Department for Professional Standards deliberately spat on the law when they wilfully disregarded the stipulations of the law governing the use of disclosures. This flaw is unpardonable in the British legal system even in serious cases like terrorism much less fraud and money laundering of which prison terms have been served and expired”. Well, today, a brutal assault was committed against the delivery of justice in the UK.
    “Unfortunately, I am the victim of this assault on the delivery of justice and this ruling further exposes the failing of the British legal system. Evidence exists which confirms the police corruption in my case, the Court is of aware of it, the prosecution is aware of it, and even though it was withheld from my legal team, they have now become aware of it.
    “The Court of Appeal did not permit my legal team to even refer to this evidence let alone advance it as part of our case. Even now, I am not permitted to disclose the nature of this evidence for fear of committing an offence. In these circumstances, my legal team argued that there were only two options available. One; the prosecution should concede the appeal, or the Court should halt proceedings as an abuse of process because a fair hearing was no longer possible.
    “Disappointingly, both the prosecution and the court took the view that saving face was more important than dispensing justice. Yet, I am fully resolved to challenge the ruling of the Court of Appeal at the European Court of Human Rights. Let the days be gone when British legal luminaries come to give seminars in Africa boasting about having the best legal system in the world.
    “I thank my legal team for a great job. They have fought gallantly to save the British justice delivery from those undermining it. I have no doubt in my mind that justice will come my way – eventually and no matter how long it takes.
    Signed: Mr. Tony Eluemunor.
    Media Assistant to Chief James Onanefe Ibori.