Iboris-rascality-and-lavish-lifestyle-responsible-for-and-depriving-delta-state-of-development

Ibori's mugshot after he was arrested by British Authorities in Dubai
 
IBORI’S RASCALITY AND LAVISH LIFESTYLE RESPONSIBLE FOR/AND DEPRIVING DELTA STATE OF DEVELOPMENT
This is to reecho that the former Governor of Delta State, and ex-convict, James Onanefe Ibori, has been the one responsible for, and depriving Delta State from attaining needed economic and infrastructural development since 1999 to date. Ibori has been the one who has been depriving Delta State from actualizing the needed basic development in the State – with his political rascality, lavish, flamboyant and extravagant lifestyle, which sadly, is being maintained/serviced with Delta State public funds.
Ibori, rather than repent, be sober and maintain a very low profile as a disgraced former governor and ex-convict, he has been “hopping” round the country with chartered private jets, which costs and maintenance is born with Delta State public funds by the Delta State Government under Ifeanyi Okowa. This is public money that ought to be used to build basic needed infrastructure that would benefit Deltans by the Delta State Government. That is what Governor Okowa has been using to offset Ibori’s private chattered jet cruising around the country, which of course includes cost of hotels bills. In other words, Ibori currently enjoys that privilege, as such, he does not hesitate hopping from place to another across Nigeria. After all, it is the Delta State Government that foots the bills for his extravagant lifestyle.
To give us an idea, as a reminder of the enormous fraud and economic atrocity Ibori had committed against the people of Delta State, recently, it was reported that Mr. Ellias Preko, a Ghanaian and former Goldman Sachs banker, who helped James Ibori to hide a fortune in offshore accounts, has been ordered by a UK court to pay back £7.3m (N3.2 billion) to the British treasury or face 10 years more in jail. Ellias Preko, 60, used his “gold-plated credentials” to launder at least £3 million that was plundered by Ibori, the former governor of Delta State. Preko, a Ghanaian national and Harvard graduate, used his “expertise and veneer of respectability” to flush the money out of Nigeria.
The order was slammed on Preko on Monday by Judge David Tomlison, following a confiscation hearing. Preko has three months to repay the money or he will return to jail. He was jailed for four and a half years back in 2013 for his role in the scheme. Ibori, now 60, had splashed out on a fleet of luxury motors and blew millions on property in Britain, South Africa and Houston, Texas. He was in the process of negotiating a purchase of a £12.5 million private jet when Scotland Yard detectives caught up with him. During his trial in the UK, Ibori admitted seven counts of fraud and money laundering, whereas his friend and partner in crime, Preko, denied the charges against him but was convicted of money laundering.
Now, imagine Ibori, having been disgraced internationally and having ripped Delta State off our collectively wealth, he still has the audacity and impetus to continue living large, and expect that the Delta State Government should foot his bills. The painful part is that Governor Okowa dares not refuse to fund Ibori private-jet trips and philandering with his entourage wherever he goes across the country. This is aside his “official benefits” as ex-governor of Delta State. Whereas. Governor Okowa is said to have never used a chattered private jet for his official movements, but rather, he enters as a Business Class passenger in airlines like Arik, Air peace and Aero Contractors. This is rather absurd!
Let us explain the enormity of the harm Ibori is causing on Delta State economic fortunes. Ibori hops from one city/town to another in Nigeria in a chattered private jet, and in the company of at least six persons, which includes his aides and perhaps a mistress. The cost for one passenger in such a chattered private jet for just a drop, is said to be $10,000 (Ten Thousand US Dollars). That means to and fro per movement costs $20,000 (Twenty Thousand US Dollars) for just one passenger. Multiply that by the number of passengers Ibori carries as his entourage for every merriment trip across the country, we can imagine the huge cost for 20 trips, as each drop is a trip and to and fro equals two trips. If the said chattered private jet is expected to wait for Ibori for instance, in every trip, it is expected that the jet be hired for the whole day, which obviously would cost far more. So, in most cases, they drop them off, and then go and pick them back. Then there is the cost of staying in Five Star Hotels by Ibori and his aides and mistress(es). And also, the cost of his retinue of vehicles that will take him and his entourage, first from the airport, and then around every movement. All of that costs are paid with our collective wealth by the Delta State Government. This is obviously a huge economic drain on Delta State’s money. Ibori is Okowa’s political godfather, so he dares not disobey his godfather’s orders.  But should we continue to remain imprisoned by James Onanefe Ibori?      
For eight years, Ibori systematically stole and looted Delta State funds to fund his lavish and exorbitant lifestyle of fast cars and luxury properties. Ibori, who could not be prosecuted in Nigeria, was eventually convicted by a UK Crown Court Southwark of money laundering and fraud worth £50 million. Ibori was said to have often deposited the stolen money in cash in UK Banks like Barcklays, where Ibori was said to have at least Six Accounts, as also his sister, his wife and mistress, which they used to launder millions of Delta State’s money.  It is important to note that Ibori’s thievery did not start today. In fact, his life has been a life of a criminally minded individual who is ready to do anything to maintain his lavish lifestyle. Ibori moved to the UK in the 1980s; was convicted of stealing from DIY Shop Wickes in 1991; Convicted of credit card fraud in 1992; allied himself to Nigeria's then military ruler Sani Abacha in 1993 to 1994; became Delta State Governor between 1999 to 2007, during which he committed the mother-of-all-thievery; in 2007, his UK assets worth $35m (Thirty – Five Million US Dollars) were frozen; Arrested in Nigeria on corruption charges in December 2007, but a Nigerian court suspiciously dismissed all the charges in 2009; and in April 2010, Ibori's supporters attacked police (EFCC) as they tried to arrest him in Oghara, his home town in Delta State. Ibori left Nigeria shortly afterwards. Ibori went to Dubai thereafter, where he was arrested in 2010 by the Government and transferred/extradited to the UK to face trial in May 2011; before he finally pleaded guilty to money-laundering in the said London court in 2012.
We had to recall this summary of Ibori’s escapades to sort of remind Deltans and Nigerians of the kind of man Ibori has been, and obviously will always be. When will Ibori learn to keep calm and stop wasting Delta State Government money for his personal and selfish gain? The same Delta State money he started wasting and laundering while he was in Government for 8 years, is what he has continued to put his fingers on (indirectly), even after he had left Government and out of prison.
Agreed that as an ex-governor, Ibori is entitled to some privileges, as reflected in the Nigerian Constitution. But that does not mean Delta State should be funding all his reckless activities and private businesses. That does not mean the Delta State Government should be funding Ibori’s hired/chattered private jets, which he uses to move around. He remains an ex-governor, and should be treated as such, and not like a sitting governor who determines how and where to spend the State’s money.
As we speak, Ibori is already planning ahead of 2023 to install his loyal boys at sensitive positions in and around Delta State Government House, to continue from where others would stop come 2023. The most annoying part is that our Urhobos leaders and elites are still praising and clapping for Ibori for wasting our collective wealth and resources, as they are still following him blindly. Are these Urhobo leaders not ashamed of themselves? Are they not ashamed that the Ibori they are running after, is a UK ex-convict who has no iota of integrity as a supposed politician? Shame on all Ibori followers and praise singers because posterity will not forgive them – whatever a man sows that he shall surely reap one way or the other. How can they continue following/supporting/praising a man that is without conscience, who brought untold hardship and suffering on the people of Delta State? This is clearly the height of ignorance and stupidity.
We ask again, should we all keep quiet, fold our hands and pretend that all is well? Should we all sit back, and allow an ex-convict who has reaped the State’s public funds to a bleeding point, to continue to hold Delta State to ransom and captivity? God forbids! An ex-convict cannot, and should not be allowed to come and obstruct the State’s development and progress. Ibori’s hold on Delta State should urgently be undone for Delta State to experience true democracy and development.
 
 
Zik Gbemre
 
 
 
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