James Ibori in court. Photo: Compass newspaper
Well, probably not, if your name is James Onanefe Ibori, the well connected former governor of oil-rich Delta State. There are two or three possibilities of what happened:
- The prosecutor (the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)) did a lousy job building a case against the accused. The court said there was no clear evidence against James Ibori.
- The presiding Judge got a massive load of money in bribe.
- A combination of the above.
Given the anecdotal and other available evidence, I tend to go with the third option.
Back in 2007 while Ibori was a governor, a UK court froze assets allegedly belonging to him worth $35m (£21m). His annual salary was less than $25,000, the BBC reported.
Ibori played “the more u look the less” on us! The gist now is that he may be getting ready for the presidency. Only in Nigeria!
December 18, 2009 at 5:24 pm
This is the deepest and unkindest cut of all! Jame Ibori is a criminal and he will surely face judgment!
December 19, 2009 at 12:23 am
Ibori will one day account for his sins – If not to man, surely to God.
December 19, 2009 at 8:11 am
Ibori … Nigeria na wa O. God dey. But every day for the thief, one day for the owner and this shall be so.
For love of money they kill innocent souls in Nigeria and believe they are winners. The blood of the innocent shall haunt them to their damm graves.
Happenings like this is one of the reasons why idiots could turn round and tell us that Yaradua could rule Nigeria from a near death bed! Lol!
December 21, 2009 at 9:13 am