Ibori will be retried in Nigeria after his jail term in London – EFCC Report

Ibori is serving a 13-year imprisonment a London court sentenced him to in April 2012 after he pleaded guilty to money laundering charges. Earlier, in December 2009, a Federal High Court in Asaba, Delta State headed by Justice Marcel Awokulehin had freed Ibori of corruption charges, quashing all 170 charges of corruption the EFCC levelled […]

Ibori is serving a 13-year imprisonment a London court sentenced him to in April 2012 after he pleaded guilty to money laundering charges. Earlier, in December 2009, a Federal High Court in Asaba, Delta State headed by Justice Marcel Awokulehin had freed Ibori of corruption charges, quashing all 170 charges of corruption the EFCC levelled against him. The judgment drew widespread condemnation.
The Court of Appeal in Benin, in May last year, however, ruled that Awokulehin erred in the ruling and ordered that the matter be reassigned. This, the EFCC report explains, invariably means that Ibori will be tried in Nigeria upon completion of his jail term in the United Kingdom.
The EFCC report, now before the National Assembly, says the Commission has been recording more convictions, with 126 in 2014, an improvement on the 117 figure it recorded in 2013.
The EFCC, under the leadership of Ibrahim Lamorde, has often been criticised as seemingly inactive on the prosecution of many cases, especially the high-profile ones, and unable to secure judgments on them. Late last year, the Sunday Trust listed over 15 high profile cases that are still pending in court, with no judgment in sight.
But saying that the EFCC was often unduly criticised for inaction, the report states that the Commission rather deserves applause for the “healthy progression” it claims to have made on prosecution and convictions. It particularly mentions the case of Aminu, a son of the incumbent Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, who “was arrested in the process of moving bulk cash out of the country without declaring them to the Nigeria Customs Service and was prosecuted and convicted.”
The report further debunks the belief in many quarters that it is not doing enough in concluding trial of some former state governors and top politicians. It maintains that top cases involving top political figures like Saminu Turaki, ex-governor of Jigawa state; Chimaroke Nnamani, former governor of Enugu State; Rashidi Ladoja, former governor of Oyo State; Alao Akala, former governor of Oyo State; Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia state; Athahiru Bafarawa, former governor of Sokoto State; Akwe Doma, former governor of Nasarawa State; Gbenga Daniel, former governor of Oguns State; Joshua Dariye, former governor of Plateau State; Abdullahi Adamu, former governor of Nasarawa state; Danjuma Goje, former governor of Gombe state; Timipre Sylva, former governor of Bayelsa State and Abubakar Audu, former governor of Kogi State, most of which the Sunday Trust feature listed as uncertain in their prosecution nature, “are on-going in courts across the country.”
The EFCC document as well clears the air on the current status of corruption charges against convicted former governor of Edo State, Lucky Igbinedion, whose plea-bargain terms with the EFCC and conviction sentence in December 2008 attracted flaks. The EFCC had initially arraigned Igbinedion in court on a 191-count charge of corruption, money laundering and embezzlement of public fund.
But the Commission later dropped the charges and filed an amended 24-count charge against Igbinedion and Kiva Corporation. Igbinedion was eventually arraigned on a one-count charge.
Many Nigerians were amazed when the trial judge, Justice Abdullahi Kafarati of the Federal High Court in Enugu, fined Igbinedion only N3.5 million, while KIVA Corporation, the second accused arraigned on 23 charges, was ordered to pay a N500 million fine and forfeit its landed properties (three houses) annexed to the charge sheet.
But the     EFCC re-arraigned Igbinedion before a Federal High Court, Benin on a fresh 66-count, N25 billion scam. The EFCC annual report discloses that trial has reached the stage of final addresses by counsel. The document states that the Commission has already taken steps to seize some of the former governor’s “alleged proceeds of crime”, as ordered by Justice A. R Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja on December 28, 2012
Assets belonging to the former governor against which the order was sought and granted included those at No. 3, River Niger Street (Plot 3192) Cadastral Zone AO Maitama District Abuja; 8, Niamey Street, Wuse Zone 2; Plot 262, Cadastral Zone AO2 Wuse Abuja; 5, Oguta Street (Plot 906) Cadastral Zone Wuse 2 Abuja.
Others were 8, Mistrata Street (Plot 232) Cadastral Zone Wuse 2 Abuja; Plot No 1070 Dakibiyu District Cadastral Zone B10 Abuja; Plot 1271 Nike Street Cadastral zone AO5 Maitama District Abuja; Phase 1 Unit No 1 (Villa 1) Palm Springs Gold Estate, Cachez Turkey Projects Limited, Mpape, Abuja; Plot 1181 Thaba Tseka Crescent, off IBB Way, British Village, Wuse 2 Abuja and 1 Mubi Close Plot 766 Cadastral Zone AO1 Garki 1, Abuja. The EFCC has also investigated and is prosecuting “other politically exposed persons,”
The Commission also sheds light on another controversial court judgment, this one on pension administration scam which the Commission claims it is now successfully curbing. The last is not heard, the 2014 report says, of the widely criticised wrist-slap judgment that Justice Mohammed Talba of the Federal High Court, Gudu, Abuja handed to John Yakubu Yusufu who the EFCC had charged in April 2012, with five others, to court on a 16-count charge of alleged N32.8 billion.
The judge convicted Yusufu and sentenced him to two and half years imprisonment with an option of a N750,000 fine even after he pleaded guilty to an amended charge. He has, however, been re-arraigned on a fresh charge. Others on trial with him are Esai Dangabar, Atiku Abubakar Kigo, Ahmed Inuwa Wada, Mrs. Veronica Ulonma Onyegbula and Sani Habila Zira. Kigo was the director of the Police Pension Office, before he was made permanent secretary.
Other pension accused like Dr Shuaibu Sani Teidi, a former director of pension account in the Pension office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation;  Omoefe Eric Uduesegbe, Aliyu Bello and Abdullahi Omeiza are also still facing prosecution. The EFCC says it has already moved to seize numerous properties worth billions of naira belonging to the accused officials.