The issue of a certain $15million
bribe money allegedly given by former Delta
State Governor, Chief James
Ibori, to former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to compromise Ribadu and his team, has recently
generated a lot of controversies.
The matter first came to public
knowledge when Ibori was charged to court in 2007 by the EFCC for various
offences. One of the counts in the charge was in relation to offering that
money as bribe to Ribadu. But in an affidavit in support of his application for
bail, Ibori denied any knowledge of the money. However, according to the EFCC,
after taking custody of the money through Ibrahim Lamorde, who was then the
Director of Operations of the Commission, the money was taken to the Central
Bank of Nigeria and kept there.
QUESTIONS: WHY DEPOSIT THE PROCEEDS OF A
CRIME, WHICH IS ALREADY AN EXHIBIT TO BE TENDERED IN COURT, IN THE CENTRAL BANK
OF NIGERIA? IS THE CBN A STORE FOR EXHIBITS? DOES THE EFCC NOT HAVE FACILITIES
TO KEEP EXHIBITS?
In any case, the 170-count charge
against Ibori, which included a count of giving the $15 million bribe, was
struck out by the Federal High Court sitting in Asaba. The EFCC appealed
against that decision and various parts of that appeal are presently before the
Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
In the meantime, James Ibori, has
been extradited to the United Kingdom, tried and convicted of some other
offences, which do not include giving the $15million bribe or laundering that
sum. In other words, if the appeal of the EFCC against Ibori succeeds at the
Supreme Court, Ibori can still be tried in Nigeria for laundering the sum of
$15million and giving it as bribe, since he was never tried for those offences
in United Kingdom. For instance, if a person kills Mr. Peter and Paul and he is
tried only for killing Mr. Peter and convicted, he can later be tried for
killing Mr. Paul also. It will not amount to double jeopardy.
It is with this state of affairs
that the Federal Government, through the office of the Attorney-General of the
Federation, sparked off controversy recently when it applied to court that the
said money be forfeited to the Federal Government. The Delta State Government
has also come forward to lay claim to the money. And a certain businessman named
Chibuike Achigbu and Dr. Andy Uba, the former Special Assistant on Special
Duties and Domestic Affairs to President Olusegun Obasanjo, have also claimed
in court that they were the proxies through whom the money was given to Ribadu,
but that it was for a different purpose other than bribe.
QUESTIONS: WHY WERE THE DUO OF ANDY UBA
AND CHIBUIKE ACHIGBU NOT ARRESTED AT THAT TIME (SINCE
THEY ENJOYED NO IMMUNITY LIKE CHIEF JAMES IBORI) AND CHARGED TO COURT FOR
CONSPIRACY AND BRIBERY? WHY HAVE THEY NOT BEEN ARRESTED UP TILL THIS MINUTE AND
CHARGED TO COURT? OR IS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TELLING NIGERIANS THAT NUHU
RIBADU WAS LYING ABOUT THE BRIBE MONEY?
WHAT KIND OF COUNTRY WILL WANT TO
RECOVER EXHIBITS THAT ARE THE PROCEEDS OF CRIME, WITHOUT FIRST ARRESTING THE
CULPRITS, INVESTIGATING THEM, TRACING THE ORIGIN OF THE MONEY, CHARGING THEM TO
COURT AND SECURING CONVICTION?
It is in the light of the above
that the attempt by the Federal Government to recover the alleged $15miilion
bribe money deposited in the CBN surreptitiously through the court is nothing
but a shameful and disgraceful attempt at covering up a crime, abdicating its
statutory responsibility to prosecute criminals, and reneging on its pledge to
the people to fight the cancer of corruption to its roots, no matter whose ox
is gored.
The Federal Government should
immediately withdraw that case from court and the Delta State Government and
all other parties should back off from this national embarrassment we are
witnessing. Consequently, the Federal Government should do the following:
(1) Await the decision of the Court of
Appeal or Supreme Court over the appeal against the discharge of Ibori on the
170-Count charge. If the Supreme Court rules that Ibori was wrongly discharged
and orders a retrial (just as happened recently in the case of Kenny Martins
when a retrial was ordered by the Court of Appeal over stealing of police
funds), the $15 million is one of the exhibits that will be tendered when the
case is retried.
(2) Await the verdict of that retrial, (if
it is ordered) which retrial will determine once and for all whether the money
was actually given by Ibori or not as bribe to Ribadu.
(3) Arrest immediately the duo of Andy Uba
and Chibuike Achigbu, interrogate them, trace the origin of the $15million, and
if it has no origin, charge them with money laundering and/or conspiracy and
bribery.
ALTERNATIVELY
(4) Arrest Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, interrogate
him and charge him to court, if necessary, for conspiracy to pervert the course
of justice and perjury as regards the proceedings in Asaba when he swore on
oath or procured another to swear that he was given a bribe. This is because,
it is either Ribadu on the one hand is lying that he was offered $15million as
bribe or Andy Uba, Ibori and Chibuike Achigbu on the other hand are all lying
that it was not bribe. Both versions cannot be correct and any version that is
false amounts to a crime under our laws.
Either way, we cannot fold our arms and watch
helplessly and hopelessly as some persons with dubious intentions regarding
that money which is public funds play on our collective intelligence in this
matter.
This is a very serious matter that is turning
into a comedy of sort. It is the embarrassing failure of the Federal Government
to follow due process and the rule of law to the letter regarding that bribe
money that is the foundation for the present absurdity we are witnessing where
those who should actually be in jail and institutions that failed in performing
their duties are fighting themselves publicly to claim money that is purely the
proceeds of crime.
It is important to mention that apart for my
well-known commitment to the campaign against corruption in public office, my
particular motivation in this case is the fact that the funds in question have
some kind of connection to my State (Delta State) which has suffered from
series of maladministration. I am an Urhobo man, born, bred and raised in
Ughelli, while I hail from Effurun in Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta
State, near Warri. I am pained to see that whilst social amenities and
infrastructure are lacking in most parts of Delta State, a hefty sum of
$15million WHICH MAY HAVE come from the State was allegedly given in one fell
swoop as bribe to cover up crimes committed, perhaps, against the people of
Delta State.
Consequently, if in the next few days, the
Federal Government fails, refuses and/or neglects to take appropriate steps to
terminate the case in court and properly investigate all the suspects in this
matter, whether the principals or proxies who participated in laundering and
offering this money as bribe or otherwise, I will be left with no other option
than to proceed to court to bring the suspects to justice.
FESTUS KEYAMO, ESQ.
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