Don't Miss


Home   >   Opinion - Analysis   >   Columnists   >   Uduaghan Comes Clean on Ibori’s Sins

Uduaghan Comes Clean on Ibori’s Sins

By on August 8, 2012

Delta State Largesse

The present Governor of Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan, has made a veiled admission to the fact the former Governor of Delta State and his blood relation, James Ibori was a serial looter.

Although Uduaghan did not state this plainly, judging by his moves in the $15 million EFCC bribe forfeiture case, it can be deduced that he has full knowledge of the former Governor’s erring ways.

Whilst James Ibori held sway as the Governor of Delta, he was under investigation by the Nuhu Ibrahim led-EFCC. In order to stop the barrage of emerging indictments against his tenure, he offered a $15 million cash bribe to Nuhu Ibrahim.

Nuhu Ibrahim, in turn, handed the money over as evidence to the Federal Government and the money has been kept in a vault in the Central Bank of Nigeria since 2007.

The EFCC filed an exparte motion to move the money into Federal Government coffers, and the Federal High Court granted the request on July 25th, 2012.

Justice Gabriel Kolawole  ordered that the money be forfeited to Federal government, on the condition that if nobody steps forward to claim the money within 14 days, it would be finally forfeited to the Federal Government.

Mr. Timipa Okponipere, a lawyer, has filed a suit challenging the forfeiture order granted the EFCC, and has asked the court to declare that the $15m is property belonging to Government of Delta State and its people.