ON BRITISH GOVERNMENT RESOLVE TO RETURN £4.2million IBORI LOOT TO NIGERIA – THE MONEY WAS STOLEN FROM DELTA STATE, AND SHOULD BE USED FOR INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN DELTA STATE, E.G – THE OSUBI-WARRI EXPANSION/UPGRADE TO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT PROJECT
March 9, 2021 | News
With recent reports that the British Government has resolved to return to Nigeria £4.2million, being part of the funds so far recovered from friends and family members of former Delta Governor, James Ibori, I consider this as a welcome development.
ON BRITISH GOVERNMENT RESOLVE TO RETURN £4.2million IBORI LOOT TO NIGERIA – THE MONEY WAS STOLEN FROM DELTA STATE, AND SHOULD BE USED FOR INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN DELTA STATE, E.G – THE OSUBI-WARRI EXPANSION/UPGRADE TO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT PROJECT
With recent reports that the British Government has resolved to return to Nigeria £4.2million, being part of the funds so far recovered from friends and family members of former Delta Governor, James Ibori, I consider this as a welcome development. However, with further disclosure that President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that the returned loots be deployed to the completion of the Second Niger Bridge, the Lagos to Ibadan express way and the Abuja to Kano express way projects; I consider this absolutely unfair and unjust by the President Buhari-led Federal Government.
Why would the President Buhari-led Federal Government decide to use recovered monies that were stolen from Delta State by James Ibori and his family and friends, for other infrastructural projects across the nation, and neglecting the State where the said funds were stolen from in the first place? What should we call that?
So, it will therefore be considered ‘robbery’ of what belongs to the people of Delta State, should the President Buhari-led Federal Government has now decided to channel the said recovered £4.2million from Ibori’s loot case, to address other projects outside Delta State. It simply does not make sense. The said £4.2million was part of Delta State funds, which Ibori and his family and friends had stolen, and which was meant for the development of the State and its people. It is that same stolen funds, which Ibori and his family and friends were sent to jail for in the UK, that the Federal Government are now wanting to use for other national projects.
According to the British High Commission to Nigeria, Ms. Catriona Laing, who disclosed the stated £4.2million to be returned, said this was the first tranche of such planned returns, and that what is currently being returned were retrieved from friends and family members of Ibori. That means, more funds, which clearly belongs to the people of Delta State, are expected to be repatriated from the said Ibori’s case.
IT IS AGAINST THIS BACKDROP THAT WE THEREFORE URGE, AND SUGGEST TO THE PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI-LED FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO USE THE SAID £4.2MILLION that is to be returned from the British Government as part of Ibori’s recovered loot case, FOR THE EXPANSION/UPGRADE OF THE OSUBI-WARRI AIRSTRIP TO A STANDARD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, AMONGST OTHER INFRASTRUCTURAL PROJECTS TO BE STRICTLY LOCATED IN DELTA STATE. And President Muhammadu Buhari should also direct that subsequently recovered/returned Ibori’s loots, be deployed to addressing other infrastructural needs of Delta State.
Truth be told, the said £4.2million was money stolen from Delta State, meant for the development of the State in the first place. Using it for any other project, will be very unfair and unjust to the people of Delta State.
Supposing such monies were stolen from the Government coffers of other States like Kano, Kaduna or even Abuja the nation’s capital, will the Federal Government re-channel the recovered loot to address some projects in the South-South or South-East? Let us be real and truthful with ourselves here because we all know the answer to that question!
The people of Delta State cannot remain enslaved and at the receiving end of all the atrocities often committed against them by their very own people in Government, especially in the area of having infrastructural projects that would make life a lot better for the common man in Delta State. Now that there appears to be a glimmer of hope and light, of having such infrastructural development in the State with the said tranches of recovered Ibori loot, the Federal Government of Nigeria should not make things worse by diverting the said recovered funds to address other infrastructural projects, and neglecting the people whose monies were stolen in the first place.
The only thing we would appeal and ask the Federal Government to do, as the said funds are returned to be used for the benefit of Delta State; is that Federal Government should, by themselves, use the said recovered funds for the suggested expansion/upgrade of the Osubi-Warri Airstrip to a Standard International Airport, as well as other capital infrastructural projects that would solely benefit the common masses of Delta State. And that such spending of the said loot by the Federal Government to execute these infrastructural projects in Delta State, should be transparently done, without any involvement of the Delta State Government and its Officials, for the interest of the people of Delta State.
Zik Gbemre.
March 9, 2021
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
With recent reports that the British Government has resolved to return to Nigeria £4.2million, being part of the funds so far recovered from friends and family members of former Delta Governor, James Ibori, I consider this as a welcome development. However, with further disclosure that President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that the returned loots be deployed to the completion of the Second Niger Bridge, the Lagos to Ibadan express way and the Abuja to Kano express way projects; I consider this absolutely unfair and unjust by the President Buhari-led Federal Government.
Why would the President Buhari-led Federal Government decide to use recovered monies that were stolen from Delta State by James Ibori and his family and friends, for other infrastructural projects across the nation, and neglecting the State where the said funds were stolen from in the first place? What should we call that?
So, it will therefore be considered ‘robbery’ of what belongs to the people of Delta State, should the President Buhari-led Federal Government has now decided to channel the said recovered £4.2million from Ibori’s loot case, to address other projects outside Delta State. It simply does not make sense. The said £4.2million was part of Delta State funds, which Ibori and his family and friends had stolen, and which was meant for the development of the State and its people. It is that same stolen funds, which Ibori and his family and friends were sent to jail for in the UK, that the Federal Government are now wanting to use for other national projects.
According to the British High Commission to Nigeria, Ms. Catriona Laing, who disclosed the stated £4.2million to be returned, said this was the first tranche of such planned returns, and that what is currently being returned were retrieved from friends and family members of Ibori. That means, more funds, which clearly belongs to the people of Delta State, are expected to be repatriated from the said Ibori’s case.
IT IS AGAINST THIS BACKDROP THAT WE THEREFORE URGE, AND SUGGEST TO THE PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI-LED FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO USE THE SAID £4.2MILLION that is to be returned from the British Government as part of Ibori’s recovered loot case, FOR THE EXPANSION/UPGRADE OF THE OSUBI-WARRI AIRSTRIP TO A STANDARD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, AMONGST OTHER INFRASTRUCTURAL PROJECTS TO BE STRICTLY LOCATED IN DELTA STATE. And President Muhammadu Buhari should also direct that subsequently recovered/returned Ibori’s loots, be deployed to addressing other infrastructural needs of Delta State.
Truth be told, the said £4.2million was money stolen from Delta State, meant for the development of the State in the first place. Using it for any other project, will be very unfair and unjust to the people of Delta State.
Supposing such monies were stolen from the Government coffers of other States like Kano, Kaduna or even Abuja the nation’s capital, will the Federal Government re-channel the recovered loot to address some projects in the South-South or South-East? Let us be real and truthful with ourselves here because we all know the answer to that question!
The people of Delta State cannot remain enslaved and at the receiving end of all the atrocities often committed against them by their very own people in Government, especially in the area of having infrastructural projects that would make life a lot better for the common man in Delta State. Now that there appears to be a glimmer of hope and light, of having such infrastructural development in the State with the said tranches of recovered Ibori loot, the Federal Government of Nigeria should not make things worse by diverting the said recovered funds to address other infrastructural projects, and neglecting the people whose monies were stolen in the first place.
The only thing we would appeal and ask the Federal Government to do, as the said funds are returned to be used for the benefit of Delta State; is that Federal Government should, by themselves, use the said recovered funds for the suggested expansion/upgrade of the Osubi-Warri Airstrip to a Standard International Airport, as well as other capital infrastructural projects that would solely benefit the common masses of Delta State. And that such spending of the said loot by the Federal Government to execute these infrastructural projects in Delta State, should be transparently done, without any involvement of the Delta State Government and its Officials, for the interest of the people of Delta State.
Zik Gbemre.
March 9, 2021
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes