A former Deputy Director-general of the Nigerian Law School, Prof. Ernest Ojukwu (SAN) has joined his voice in the debate of who has the jurisdiction to receive the loot of £4.2million stashed by the former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, in a foreign account. Ibori was paraded, tried, prosecuted and convicted by the United Kingdom (UK) government on charges of money laundering in 2012.
The legal luminary pointed out that from the first place people should take note that the money according to the UK court was forfeited to the UK government not the Nigerian Government from the first place. Therefore, Ojukwu argued that: “There is no court order from the UK making Nigeria or Delta State the beneficiary of that fund.
He pointed out that “neither Nigeria nor Delta state government prosecutedIbori in that case. Following diplomatic agreements, the UK government agreed to hand over the fund to Nigeria with a mandate to spend it on specially-agreed projects in Nigeria.
The senior lawyer said, therefore, considering these facts, the money can only be regarded as a mere income to Nigeria or better described as income of donor status. If the money is considered as mere income to Nigeria, then it means, the Federal Government and the Delta State Government cannot claim the money for its appropriation, Ojukwu added.
According to him, the money could only legitimately be paid into the federation account for sharing by federal, state, and local governments.
However, he added “more correctly and because of the special agreement reached with the UK government, the fund is an income from donation to the federal government. It cannot be anything else. Ojukwu said that fund can be utilised based on the donor instructions otherwise the beneficiary would risk the chance of receiving a future donation from the donor, saying that at the point of agreement, the £4.2million was UK money not Nigerian or Delta state money.
He explained that “Remember that it was forfeited to the UK government by court order. Nothing can change the status of the fund. The source right now is a UK fund donated to Nigeria with specific agreements on its use. That use happens to be to fund part of the budget of the Federal Government on some ongoing infrastructure development. Delta State cannot by any means claim a right over the fund.”
However, a group, Niger Delta Democratic Union (NDDU) has approached hat court claiming they are the sole owner of the said fund. In a statement, NDDU said, “Our action has been filed at the Federal High Court, Asaba to challenge this unprovoked onslaught and unrestrained belligerence against our constitution and the People of Delta State.”
Dr Akpo Mudiaga Odje, the counsel to the group in a statement described the action of the federal government as financial terrorism and gluttony. The statement partly reads, “We are appalled by the Federal Government’s unilateral decision to sequestrate and/or declare sole ownership of £4.2million by deciding how the same is to be put into use. The said usage is regrettably for developing areas outside Delta State, which is actually the real owner of the returned fund.”
