Ibori loot foundation: A fitting way to remember a criminal in perpetuity

When news broke last week that the Accountant General of the federation told members of the National Assembly that the £4.2 million returned Ibori loot has been paid to the Delta state government, news hungry journalists ran with that obvious lie.

Anyone who knows anything about the agreement signed between the Nigerian and UK government knows it is not possible to return the money to Delta state government because what the money will be used for has been agreed upon between the UK- which technically owns the money, being proceeds of crime – and the Nigerian government, which is receiving the money more in form of aid. Returning the money to Delta state under whatever guise would invalidate all the hard work done by the UK authorities in investigating, prosecuting and confiscating the funds as it would be tantamount to handing it back to Ibori, since he still controls all levers of power in the state. Besides, the Delta state government, like Justice Gabriel Kolawole avers in the case seeking the permanent forfeiture of the $15 million Ibori bribe to Ribadu, simply acquiesced or at best, is a collaborator in the looting of its own funds.

Neither does the federal government deserve the money because it has consistently failed to hold Ibori and other criminals within its ranks accountable. This is a government that sat idly as a thrice convicted criminal both in the UK and in Nigeria bulldozed his way to the Delta state government house and almost bulldozed his way to the presidency were it not for fate that stopped him. Even when his conviction history became public knowledge, all courts in the land – right up to the Supreme Court – could not muster the courage to declare him an ex-convict and therefore ineligible to occupy such high office in Nigeria. They used all kinds of asinine and shameful arguments to let him off the hook.

Or is it the prosecution authorities or the courts that corruptly allowed Ibori walk free from over 170 count corruption charges against him? Like his convict case that went right up to the Supreme Court, Ibori was discharged and acquitted in 2009 when the judge – Marcel Awokulehin – pronounced that there was “no clear evidence to support the charges.” Yet the same Ibori promptly pled guilty in the UK to avoid a trial and the lengthy prison term that will entail. He has served his time in jail and is now back in Delta parading himself as king.

The utter shamelessness of a government that harbours and celebrates criminals while begging to receive their confiscated loot from other countries shouldn’t be lost on us. Truth is, in Nigeria, the highly connected criminal is almost certain to escape justice and accountability even if his/her misdeeds were captured on video. The Nigerian state and judiciary is set up to ensure that.

The first instalment of £4.2 million recovered loot has been handed over to the federal government and there is nothing anyone can do about it now. But there is a much bigger one on the way. UK prosecutors are currently asking a court for a confiscation order against Ibori of £117.7 million ($163.8 million), a Bentley and a Bombardier Challenger jet. That is what the Nigerian civil society and conscientious objectors should be more concerned about.

We must impress it on the British government that there is a far better way Ibori’s loots could be spent that could transform the lives of hundreds and thousands of Delta state people whose resources have been and continues to be recklessly pillaged by their state government and its crook-in-chief, Ibori.

Instead of handing that money to an irresponsible government that aids and abets criminals, the UK government can set up an Ibori loot foundation. This money can be invested in perpetuity and the proceeds used to train teachers for Delta state schools, give scholarships to brilliant but indigent students of the states from primary to university levels within and outside the country. Both the federal and Delta state governments could be allowed to sit on the board of this foundation if they so desire. This will be a far better use of the recovered loot than subsidising a corrupt and irresponsible government and so-called infrastructure projects that are often over-inflated, riddled with corruption and of dubious quality.

What is more, this will be a legal and fitting way to remember Ibori in perpetuity. Since the Nigerian and the Delta state governments have permanently shirked their responsibilities of bringing Ibori to account and are rather collaborators in the looting of the resources of the state, such a move – which the UK government have both a legal and moral authority to do – will remain an eternal rebuke to Ibori and to the governments. It will also help to salvage 100s and 1000s of children in the state whose futures have been stolen and destroyed by the greed of Ibori and his collaborators.