Constitutional lawyer, Mr. Fem Falana has said again that the £4.2 million (N2.2 billion) recovered by the British authorities from the former governor of Delta State, Mr. James Ibori belongs to the state despite that it (Delta) had once denied that Ibori looted its treasury.
In a statement ‘How FG frustrated Ibori’s trial in the UK’ Falana described as “irresponsible” the state government’s earlier stance on the matter but maintained that it is not a justification to cheat the state of the money being repatriated.
He contended that President Muhammadu Buhari had consistently argued that the former military head of state, Sani Abacha, never stole yet he (Falana) said the federal government uses Abacha’s recovered loot to implement projects
He therefore said it was funny that the same government could claim ownership of the over £4.2m (N2.2bn) Ibori loot.
“No doubt, the former Delta State Government was irresponsible to have denied that Chief Ibori looted the treasury of the state at the material time. But such denial cannot be a justification for the confiscation of the Ibori loot of over £100m that is expected to be repatriated to Nigeria by the British Government.
“After all, before his assumption of office as President in May 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari had repeatedly maintained that the late General Sani Abacha did not steal a dime from the account of the federal government.
“But the federal government, under the president’s watch, has continued to recover the remaining Abacha loot and no one has suggested that such recovered loot be paid to the account of the United Nations or African Union on moral grounds.”
He also said the federal government through the former attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa, also challenged the investigation of Ibori in the United Kingdom in 2009.
He said Aondoakaa said the UK’s decision to probe Ibori was an insult to Nigeria’s sovereignty.
“It is on record that the federal government openly opposed the trial of Chief Ibori in the United Kingdom. In fact, in utter breach of the provisions of the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between Nigeria and the United Kingdom, the then Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Michael Aondoakaa (SAN) rejected the request to make relevant documents available for the trial in the UK on the grounds of sovereignty.
“In particular, Chief Aondoakaa refused to entertain the request of the UK Metropolitan Police and made under bilateral mutual assistance to Nigeria on the grounds that the request was not made by the Home Office,” he said.
Falana said the court judgment being relied on by the federal government to cheat the Delta State Government of the Ibori loot was based on a different matter.
He said the case involved the £15m bribe offered to the then chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, adding that the Judge, Gabriel Kolawole, only stated that the £15m be forfeited to the federal government and not all future recovered loot.
