It is no news that ex-governor
James Ibori of Delta State has been sentenced to prison terms by a London court. However, a
lawmaker in the Lagos State House of Assembly from Epe Constituency 2, Hon. Olusegun
Olulade has said that the conviction of Ogidigodo of Nigeria, as Ibori is
called, is not an indication that all Nigerian politicians are corrupt,
maintaining that there is corruption in every sector in Nigeria even in homes.
Olulade called for the merging of
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt
Practices and other Related Crimes Commission (ICPC), which he said have become
a political tool of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to deal with
oppositions.
He commended Ibori for admitting
guilt in the London
court and exonerates the Nigerian judiciary over the way it handled the case as
he said the court acted on the evidences made available to it. He speaks
extensively on the matter in this interview.
How would you describe the conviction of ex-governor James Ibori of Delta State
by a London
court in view of the fact the he was set free by a Nigerian court sometime ago
Well, it is very good that a
thing like this is happening in Nigeria .
It would serve as a lesson to others if they want to learn. People are mixing
up the case. For me, the Nigerian judiciary should not be condemned over the
way it handled the matter, when the case was brought to the Nigerian court. If
someone comes to a court and says he is not guilty, then you need to come up
with facts against him, it is a different ball game if he admits guilt in
another court. If he has not admitted what he has done, and there are no
evidences to nail him, we cannot condemn the Nigerian judiciary on that. We
should know that James Ibori was a governor of Delta
State , and he was charged to court in Nigeria with a
lot of technical faults. The issue of fraud and money laundering were brought
against him and if the court says he is not guilty, it is because of the facts
and figures available to them or the proof they have.
In any court, you must have
proofs beyond reasonable doubt and if you don't have such proofs, the
prosecutor would be left with no option, he would not be able to do the
prosecution. In the case of the trial in the United Kingdom , Ibori himself
admitted guilt over the offences leveled against him. In that case, he was
sentenced to 13 years in prison and I am saying that it is good for our system;
it is good that a thing is happening now. People should know that the matters
are of different kinds, though the same case, it came up under different
environment and positions. If you admit guilt in a court, it makes the work
easier. The court there has proofs and in that case, it was easy for the judge
in the U.K to pass judgment. It shows that the PDP government must know that
they should stop hide and seek game with such cases. There were so many
cover-ups here, which could not allow good judgment in the case in our court. I
even commend Ibori for pleading guilty and face the music early. I think the
money should now go back to the people of Delta State ;
they should be able to enjoy the stolen wealth, which has been recovered.
What would you say about the anti-graft agencies in Nigeria , the
EFCC, ICPC; it seems they have lost their integrity, especially with what
happened over James Ibori case here in the court
It's unfortunate that the EFCC
and ICPC have lost their integrity, the credibility is no more there and that
has affected their standing as anti-corruption agencies. For me, like I have
told some people, EFCC and ICPC should be merged. They should look at the laws
that established them, they are not as independent as they claim to be, they
are being used for vendetta against opposition parties and they cover up for
the PDP. They have lost their integrity; they are not serving the people as
expected. I subscribe to the fact that they should be probed. There are so many
bad eggs in the EFCC and ICPC, and you cannot use them to victimize people. Until
they are transparent and independent of the influence of the PDP, we are going
to have such problems in the country. I pray this panel that came up with the
suggestion that EFCC and ICPC should be scrapped changes their minds; I would
have loved them to be strengthened or merged and separated from the police
force. I know there is an anti-fraud unit in the police force, but the police
is more corrupt. We need an independent organization like these that would be
free from the police force.
Don't you see the conviction of James Ibori as an indictment of
politicians? Ibori came to power shortly after military regime, and we have had
many other convictions like that of Bode George, Alamaseigha and others serving
as a proof that the politicians may be worse than the military
It is too bad the way people are
seeing it. There is no sector that can claim not to be corrupt. Go to the
medical profession, security agencies, banking industry, oil industry, even in
the family there is corruption everywhere. Go to churches, go to mosques,
corruption is everywhere, so you cannot say it is only the political class that
is corrupt. Politicians did not come from heaven, they are trained in the same
environment with all of us. It is not about politicians, it is not about public
offices. While we are saying there is corruption everywhere, we should also
know there are people who have their integrity and cannot be corrupted. We
cannot just exonerate a particular sector and accuse only the politicians. It
is because we are in the public glare, people tend to say a lot about us just
like the people in the entertainment industry; they are in the public glare.
When you see divorce cases in the society nobody cares, but when it happens to
a celebrity it becomes news, but those things are going on everyday in every
city, town and family. Corruption is everywhere, we cannot say because there is
corruption in a sector, then everybody there is corrupt. That is why we want an
agency that is free, that is transparent, that would do the work, not on
sentiment or media crucifixion. A lot of things are going on in our society.
Journalists must help this nation in telling the world the real issue rather
than blackmailing. If you are close to the EFCC, you can just write a petition
and before the person talks, we pronounce him guilty. If EFCC should do their
work, they should do it purely, not on sentiment or political affiliation,
religious background or ethnicity, they should treat cases on merits. Not just coming to the public and saying this
person has stolen N35 billion, N300 billion and at the end of the day, they are
causing a lot of problems for the system. If for one reason or the other, EFCC
wants to say somebody has defrauded a sector, they must have their proofs, not
condemning people before they investigate them, they are already in the press
and people are already condemning the man or woman. If EFCC receives a petition
on somebody, they should investigate and get their facts rather than saying
they got a petition that somebody has stolen N300 Billion and they put it on
paper that somebody has stolen so much, this is media crucifixion and this is
not too good for us.
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