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.