- As ECOWAS threatens Gambian President Jammeh with military action if he fails to quit
The pioneer Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has been listed as a key witness against a former Governor of Delta State, Mr. James Ibori, who the Federal Government is attempting to repatriate from the United Kingdom, Saturday PUNCH can confirm.
Ribadu had in an affidavit accused Ibori of giving him $15m in 2007 so that the EFCC boss would not initiate a case against him.
After receiving the cash, however, Ribadu entered it into evidence after which it was kept in the vault of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Ribadu had said, “Ibori approached me with $15m to stop his investigation. The money was brought in sacks. I called my people because the money was in big bags, which two people could not carry and we deposited it in the CBN as evidence against him.”
In July 2012, the EFCC approached a Federal High Court in Abuja, requesting for a final order forfeiting the $15m Ibori bribe which had been in the vaults of the CBN for more than five years to the Federal Government as unclaimed proceeds of crime.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole on October 25, 2013, awarded the Federal government ownership of the $15m Ibori bribe which is the subject of legal tussle between the EFCC and the Delta State Government.
Justice Kolawole said that in the final analysis, “the applicant’s application to make a final forfeiture order succeeds and the said sum of $15m is hereby forfeited to the first applicant, that is, the Federal Government who shall take steps to capture it in its earnings of the Federal Government of Nigeria in its 2012/2013 fiscal year and shall administer the funds to address specific needs that will be beneficial to a greater number of the citizenry.”
When asked to react to information available to Saturday PUNCH that the Attorney General of the Federation had listed him among the Federal Government’s list of witnesses against Ibori, Ribadu said, “I am not aware. But if I am asked to testify, I will. But like I told you, nobody has contacted me.”
In a related development, the EFCC is expected to amend the 170 charges brought against Ibori in 2008 in order to avoid a case of double jeopardy.
The charges will be attached to an application for mutual legal assistance which will be sent to the UK government
The ex-governor, who spent four years in a UK prison, was released on Wednesday. Some of his supporters had also kicked against attempts by the Federal Government to arraign him in Nigeria next year, insisting that it would be unjust for him to be tried twice for the same crime.
A source at the EFCC, however, said, “Ibori’s alleged crimes are many. He was convicted on 10 counts of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud.
“He can be charged with offering gratification to a public officer in order to refrain from acting in the exercise of his official duties regarding the investigation of the petition against him. This is not double jeopardy.”
In the meantime, President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia stands the risk of being forcefully removed from power should he carry out his threat to sit tight after losing the December 1election.
ECOWAS leaders warned yesterday that they would not hesitate to send troops to Banjul, if Jammeh, who lost the election to opposition candidate, Adama Barrow, fails to step down next month.
Senegal,which surrounds much of The Gambia, has been designated to lead the proposed military intervention, president of the Economic Community of West African States, Marcel de Souza, told reporters in Bamako,Mali.
“The deadline is January 19 when the mandate of Jammeh ends,” de Souza said.
“If he doesn’t go, we have a force that is already on alert, and this force will intervene to restore the will of the people.
“No one has the right to oppose the will of the people.”
Jammeh initially accepted defeat only to make a U-turn a week later that the election was marred by irregularities.
That was after Gambia’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) claimed that it had erred during vote counting, and Barrow’s margin of victory had narrowed from 9% to 4%.
Despite the changes, the commission said that the new tally leaves the outcome of the election unchanged with Barrow receiving 43.3% of the vote and Jammeh 39.6%.
Jammeh is contesting the vote at the Supreme Court due to what he says are “unacceptable abnormalities”.
The country’s apex court adjourned the case to 10 January.
Barrow is due to be sworn in on 19 January.
President Muhammed Buhari leading his counterparts from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ghana had met Jammeh and urged him to accept defeat.
The leaders left without managing to secure a deal.
Punch with additional report from Nation