Ibori and his loyal goons
James Ibori is an intriguing personality and has continued to fascinate me. He appears both charismatic and roguish at the same time. But by far the most intriguing thing about him is the ability to keep his legions of goons and supporters happy and permanently on his side even in the face of adversity. That is no common feat. The norm in Nigeria’s clintelistic and patronage politics is for your clients, ‘boys’ and the people that had once sang your praises to desert you once you run into troubled waters.
But not so with Ibori. In April 2010, when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission set out to arrest Ibori again, his Urhobo kinsmen quickly rallied round him in support. In fact, he escaped to his hometown in Oghara, where youths barricaded the community and successfully prevented the EFCC from having access to the community to arrest the embattled former governor. The same Urhobo people organised his escape to Dubai in the United Arabs Emirate, where he was subsequently arrested and extradited to the United Kingdom and was convicted and jailed for money laundering and fraud. One would have thought that with Obori in jail, his popularity in Nigeria and his widespread support will wane, but that has not been the case. Ibori has not only continued to dictate and determine the political fortunes of Delta state from prison in the UK, but has also been alleged to have a hand in determining those occupying sensitive national positions today like the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Then came his release late last year from prison and his goons went into a media blitz to rewrite history, twist facts and present Ibori as a victim of both national and international conspiracy. They do this for a reason. They know Nigeria and Nigerians are particularly bad with history. We neither remember no learn from history. They know if they do their work well, it will only be a matter of time before Ibori’s image is refurbished and he can go ahead and play the kind of role he always wanted to play in Nigeria’s politics – that of the kingmaker or even the king itself.
To be sure, I do not think Ibori should be demonised further. He sure committed great crimes against the people of Delta state and against Nigeria. He sought to use his ill-gotten wealth to influence politics and appointments in Nigeria. He also successfully navigated the problematic – and some would say – corrupt Nigerian judiciary and was discharged and acquitted by the courts. But he has had his day in the British court and has served his time in jail. I am of the view that the threat by the EFCC to seek his extradition so as to try him for money laundering and corruption is unnecessary. There are many corrupt people in Nigeria, like Ibori, who continue to use their ill-gotten wealth to determine the political future of the country. The EFCC can redirect its efforts towards those Nigerians and ensure they have their days in court and in jail rather than over flogging the Ibori case.
But that said, Ibori’s goons should stop insulting the collective intelligence of Nigerians by suggesting that he was innocent of the crimes he was convicted and jailed for or that he was a victim of national and international conspiracies. That was the picture Magnus Onyibe – a former commissioner in Ibori’s government – tried to paint in his unusually long and boring piece “Ibori and the obnoxious British legal system: What manner of Justice”? and published in many reputable media houses in the country. Mr Onyibe sought to present Ibori as a victim of Obasanjo’s vindictiveness and DFID’s long winding campaign of calumny. Funny enough, Mr Onyibe presents as evidence that Ibori did not steal any money the fact thatat the Delta state government has not complained of losing any money to fraud. How puerile?
He admitted that Ibori lived a life of crime in the UK in the early 1990s when he was twice convicted for credit card fraud and stealing from a shop at a time he resided in London as a poor immigrant who lived in a subsidised council flat. Onyibe’s rationalised those crimes as “minor infractions” that are not uncommon in the UK and justified his reasoning by citing “worse crimes” committed in the top echelon of the British and Nigerian government.
But in the UK, Ibori acted promptly to avoid open trial. Hoping to avoid a full blown trail that will shade light on his numerous crimes and so as to avoid the maximum sentence for his crimes, he pleaded guilty to 10 offences relating to conspiracy to launder funds from the state, substantive counts of money laundering and one count of obtaining money transfer by deception and fraud. Before then, his wife, sister, and mistress have all been convicted of money-laundering in the UK and sentenced to various terms in prisons. As a loyal protégée, Onyibe rationalised Ibori’s actions by saying that “he did so because he was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. His only sister, Christine, his wife Nkoyo and his mistress, Udoamaka as well as his lawyer Bhadresh had been jailed in the UK arising from the crime allegedly committed by lbori. Under such circumstances of encirclement, entrapment, and psychological warfare, especially when his liberties had been removed via long incarceration in Dubai, as a human being, lbori capitulated. If for nothing else, because he could not go on fighting to escape being jailed after four people very close to him had been jailed on account of his alleged crime.”
The rest of the piece was dedicated to thrashing the British police, judiciary and politicians for hypocrisy and an unjust crusade against Ibori. At one time he accuses Her Majesty’s judiciary of bias and vindictiveness, but at another, he praises UK’s court system and its judges as being forthright and capable of delivering justice to all and sundry.
Mr Onyibe and other Ibori goons have sure benefited from Ibori and are demonstrating their loyalty to him. But they must not do that by insulting our collective intelligence and trying to rewrite history. Their actions further show the difficulty of fighting corruption in Nigeria. God help us!
Christopher Akor