Nigeria, A Nation That Celebrates Criminals; How James Ibori Would Have Wined & Dined With The Timber & Calibre In UK Instead Of Serving At Her Majesty's Prison! - Frank Uche Dibia

It is no longer news that the convicted fraudster former governor from one of the Niger Delta state in Nigeria who was released from UK prison after serving nearly half of his 13 years jail sentence has been returned to Nigeria by the British authorities.

Mr James Ononife Ibori touched down at Lagos airports today's evening to the rousing welcome of thousands of Nigerians waiting to receive him to the land of corruption.  What a country? A country where her citizens takes joy in celebrating those that stole their collective wealth and gives back peanut. A country where if you become rich over night, you will be welcomed without any hesitation or question asked, as how did it happen? A country where 90% of her millionaires and billionaires have no single productive business nor known source of income prior to the time they ventured into politics. 

Nigeria as you know is the only country in the world that has continually occupied the 136th position in the global corruption index for nearly 30 years without a shift. An indication that corruption seems to be a norm of the society, even after the so called anti-corruption headmaster (aka PMB) took over power two years ago.

Mr James Ibori, according to the United Kingdom media, was a former London DIY store cashier, who was jailed for fraud totalling nearly £50m in April 2012.

He evaded capture in Nigeria after a mob of supporters attacked police but was arrested in Dubai in 2010 and extradited to the UK - where he was prosecuted based on evidence from the Metropolitan Police. 

The conviction of James Ibori followed the UK government anti-corruption campaign led by the Department for International Development (DfID) 10 years ago.

The story of how James Ibori went from convicted thief in London in the 1990s, to become governor of a wealthy oil-producing Nigerian state and then to a British prison is a remarkable one.

It is the story of a wily political operator, backing the right political horses and shifting allegiances when expedient. Given slightly different circumstances, according to one observer, it could have seen Ibori in the presidential villa rather than a British jail cell.

Ibori's defence in the face of allegations had always been that he had a successful business career and had made money independent of government. But in 1991, he was working in a hardware store in the London suburb of Neasden.

The prosecution in this trial told a judge he was earning around £15,000 ($24,000) a year. He was caught by his employer allowing his wife to walk through the till he was manning without paying for goods.

They both pleaded guilty at Isleworth Crown Court and were fined. In 1992, he was convicted for possession of a stolen credit card, which had £1,000 spent on it, and was again fined in a UK court. Ibori then returned to Nigeria intending to become a political operator. The country was about to be tipped into a tumultuous period.

Even members of the Nigerian police were seen celebrating Mr Ibori's return

Military leader Ibrahim Babangida had scheduled elections to return Nigeria to democracy in June 1993. Ibori worked for the governorship campaign of a friend.

The experience gave him good connections with the parties that would eventually merge to form the People's Democratic Party, that went on to rule Nigeria for 16 years.

The 1993 elections were cancelled by Gen. Babangida. Later that year, Gen Sani Abacha staged his in-house coup, cementing the military's grip on power for another five years.

According to Antony Goldman, who worked as a journalist in Nigeria for many years and has followed Ibori's career closely, this is when Ibori made his first shift of political master, offering his services to Abacha.

"He had an unspecified role in security," Mr Goldman said. "That could be anything, it was a very murky business." Abacha was accused of murdering political opponents and ruthlessly crushing dissent and pro-democracy movements.

In the mid-1990s, Ibori was questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the US about how he came into the possession of millions of dollars that he transferred to accounts in the US.

The FBI suspected the money came from advance fee fraud, the infamous Nigerian 419 scam, but he was able to prove the money came from his work with Abacha, Mr Goldman said

Abacha died in 1998 and Ibori switched horses again, attaching himself to Atiku Abubakar, who went on to become vice-president.

In 1999, Ibori took out a mortgage on a property in Abbey Road, London. To do that, he got a new passport with a false birth date to mask his previous convictions.

The birth date he chose was in fact medically impossible as it was only a month after his sister's birthday, the prosecution told the court.

Ibori was installed as the governor of the oil-rich Delta State in the 1999 elections. In order to take office in Nigeria, he had to swear an affidavit that he had no convictions. To do this, he used the same birth date he had made up to acquire his mortgage.

According to the BBC, It was this evidence that would, in a London court 14 years later, spell the end for Ibori. Soon after he became governor, Ibori paid off the Abbey Road mortgage in cash.

He went on to buy three other properties in the UK. He paid £2.2 million in cash for a house in the plush London suburb of Hampstead.

In 2005 the Metropolitan Police began to take an interest in Ibori after they came across a purchase order for a private jet, made through his solicitor in London.

It was just after this that Ibori shifted horses again, switching his allegiance from Mr Abubakar to the then President Olusegun Obasanjo.

In 2006, President Obasanjo recruited Ibori to help him force through a change in the constitution to allow him to run for a third term as president. When that plan failed, Ibori promised his allegiance to Mr Obasanjo's anointed successor, Umaru Yar'Adua.

At the ruling party's pre-election convention in 2006, Ibori was on hand to lift up the northern governor's hands in a display of victory - hours before delegates from the People's Democratic Party (PDP) voted to select him as their candidate.

Ibori is then accused of bankrolling the 2007 Yar'Adua election campaign, although this has been denied. Mr Goldman says he understands Ibori was promised the vice-president's job, in return for his support.

But Mr Yar'Adua, who had been ill for many years, died in office. His Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan succeeded him and remains Nigeria's president.

In 2010, President Jonathan set the country's anti-corruption police, the Economic and Financial Crimes commission on him, but their officers were ambushed when they came to arrest him. Ibori left Nigeria shortly afterwards.

He went to Dubai, whose government arrested him and transferred him to the UK to face trial. Mr Goldman says had Yar'Adua lived, and made Ibori his vice-president, he would have had a clear run to become president.

Then Mr Ibori would have met Queen Elizabeth at the state house, Barack Obama, Mr David Cameron, etc, instead of serving at Her Majesty's prison.

It is very important here to note that Mr James Ibori again faced the case of an ex-reconvict during his days as Delta State governor, but due to the massive level of corruption in Nigeria judicial system, every evidence presented that should have led to Mr Ibori's dethronement as governor were swept under the carpet and James Ibori went on to complete a two term tenure of four years each. 

Today Mr James Ibori was returned back to Nigeria from the United kingdom to the rousing welcome of some prominent politicians from his home state of Delta Nigeria, among whom are; his former political adviser Chief Ighoyota Amori, who visited him in London soon after his release, Secretary to the Delta state government, Festus Agas, Honourable Alphonsus Ojo, Sheriff Oberovwori, Chief Pius Ovbije, Commissioner for Health, Dr. Nicholas Azinge, Chief Lovette Idisi, Austin Ayemidejor and Mrs. Philomena Oyarone.

Even the Director of the Nigerian Department of State Security (aka DSS), Lawal Duara was quoted as saying; ''he (James Ibori) met me on a short briefing session and way forward; also, to welcome him back to his fatherland. We are also meeting soon to discuss issues of interest affecting the Nation.''

Believe you me, you have not heard the last of Mr Ibori in Nigerian politics. 2019 is not too far from now, fingers crossed we will have to revisit this story by then.