Ibori goes to court again

FORMER Delta State Governor, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, has vowed to challenge his British conviction for corruption, saying that the Metropolitan Police investigation was itself mired in corruption.

Ibori who was jailed for fraud totaling nearly £50 million in April 2012 and released in December after four years in British prison, insists police officers involved in the case took bribes.

The former Delta governor in an interview with BBC said he was unfairly treated.

“I have been unfairly treated, that’s all I can say,” Mr Ibori also told the BBC, he has plans to appeal against his conviction for money laundering.

“Yes, I am, of course. I have made that decision personally and I have instructed my solicitors.”

Recently, Ibori’s Media Assistant, Mr. Tony Eluemunor wrote a report which detailed the intrigues surrounding the conviction of Ibori.

In the report which was published by www.oonlive.com, Mr. Eluemunor said, “Unknown to Nigerians, Britain has an outfit whose tentacles reach into the commanding heights of Nigerian business, politics and social organisations. The Ibori London trial provides a case study of how Britain uses its powers to affect the direction of any Nigerian development, including elections.

“At the centre of this conspiracy is the British government’s aid agency – the Department for International Development (DfID). To the world, it provides British monetary support for humanitarian aid and projects in impoverished counties. Yet, as its role in the Ibori case shows, its agenda is however political.

In the Ibori case/s, the British government used these aid funds as a political tool against Ibori and to support its political agenda and undermine Nigerian sovereignty.”