Ibori’s Pyrrhic Victory in Asaba is Without Prejudice to the Case against Him and His Associates in London

The report of the infamous judgement of Justice Marcel Awokulehin (dismissing the 170-count indictment of James Ibori purportedly for lack of evidence) by the Associated Press on Thursday December 17, 2009 rightly condemned the complicity of the Nigerian government in high level corruption. According to the report, which was carried by many international news media, “Ibori represented an opportunity for Nigeria to hold to account government officials long criticized for lining their own pockets instead of helping the poor, especially in the restive Niger Delta. As an associate of Yar'Adua, he also stood as a test of the president's vow to crack down on corruption”.
“That widespread corruption led U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to lump Nigeria with Cuba this week as governments ‘able but unwilling to make the changes their citizens deserve’”, it concludes. Therefore, come 2010, which will be the 50th anniversary of Nigeria’s Independence from Britain, long suffering Nigerians, failed by their own government, will be looking up to the old colonial master for justice in this matter when the trials of Ibori’s wife Theresa Ibori, his mistress Udoamaka Okoronkwo, his sister Christine Ibori-Ibie, his former personal assistant Adebimpe Pogoson and his London-based solicitor Bhadresh Gohil for conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering restart at the Southwark Crown Court. Ibori’s conviction in Asaba would not have harmed the Crown’s case against his associates in London, which perhaps explains why the first set of trials was adjourned twice to allow the dithering Justice Awokulehin to deliver his judgment, but such a conviction is not required to prove the case against him and his associates. In his ruling in 2008 on the preparatory hearing on the admissibility of the evidence provided to the prosecution by the EFCC during Ribadu’s tenure, Judge Rivlin QC summarised the money laundering charges as follows:

Angola arms traffickers convicted

The son of ex-French President Francois Mitterrand and an ex-government minister have been convicted for their roles in illegal arms sales to Angola.
Jean-Christophe Mitterrand was given a two-year suspended sentence, and ex-Interior Minister Charles Pasqua was jailed for one year by the Paris court.
They were convicted of accepting bribes to facilitate arms deals to Angola in 1993-98, in breach of French law.
Two key figures were sentenced to six years each in their absence.
Prosecutors accused Israeli-Russian billionaire Arkady Gaydamak and French magnate Pierre Falcone of being the key figures in the arms trafficking worth $790m (£485m).
Gaydamak and Falcone were accused of buying tanks, helicopters and artillery pieces and then selling them to Angola during its civil war, through a French-based firm and its subsidiary in Eastern Europe.
Falcone was arrested and imprisoned as soon as the sentence was passed. Gaydamak is living in Russia, Associated Press reported.

Bode George goes to Jail along with his Cohorts

The Lagos High Court under Justice Joseph Olubunmi Oyewole has found Peoples Democratic Party chieftain, Olabode George, guilty of fraud concerning his tenure as the chairperson of the board of the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA). Chief George and five of his cohorts were found guilty on 40 counts of fraud.
They were sentenced to two and a half years in prison without an option of fine. The PDP party chieftain is on his way to prison.People’s Democratic Party Chieftain, Chief Bode George and five other persons accused along with him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over allegation of N85 billion fraud at the Nigeria Ports Authority, NPA, have been sentenced to 28 years imprisonment without an option of fine.He was convicted by Justice Olubunmi Oyewole of the Ikeja High Court this afternoon.George was specifically convicted on 35 out of the 68-count charge which border on contract splitting, inflation, abuse of office and disobedience to lawful order.Justice Oyewole sentenced all the six accused persons to two years each on seven counts of abuse of office and another six months for 28 charges bordering on disobedience of lawful order.