Response-to-tony-eluemunors-write-up-in-defense-of-james-ibori-published-in-page-35-vanguard-of-saturday-october-26-2019-a-gross-disgrace-of-an-article-by-a-paid-writer-in-defense-of-his-pay-master
September 7, 2020 | News
RESPONSE TO TONY ELUEMUNOR’S WRITE-UP IN DEFENSE OF JAMES IBORI, PUBLISHED IN PAGE 35, VANGUARD OF SATURDAY OCTOBER 26, 2019 – A GROSS DISGRACE OF AN ARTICLE BY A PAID-WRITER IN DEFENSE OF HIS PAY-MASTER
One of the basic things that separates every man from another, which is the only one thing that actually outlives one, is his integrity and personal moral code, from which every of that man’s action is derived/sprung from. It is not the size of his bank account, status or the number of properties he has been able to acquire in his life time – all of that are ephemeral. But once a man has lost, or has dented his integrity, by virtue of his actions and what he stands for, such a man can do almost anything just to make money. Even if it means going public to constantly ‘defend’ an internationally recognized ex-convict and an unrepentant public figure like James Ibori. As such, no right-thinking individual that is very much aware of what has been going on in Delta State politics and economy in the last two decades, would take such a man seriously, or consider anything he has to say. That is how best we can describe Tony Eluemunor, a supposed media consultant and obviously James Ibori’s paid-writer and public image launderer.
We would first appeal to the public-conscious readers to be patient, and calmly read through this lengthy response with an objective mind, while we critically look at the said Tony Eluemunor’s article: “Zik Gbemre on Ibori: less sense more nonsense”, as published in Vanguard newspaper of Saturday October 26, 2019. We are not surprised by Tony Eluemunor’s article because it is expected that James Ibori, who is like a leopard that will never change his spots, would definitely have at his beck and call - paid writers, whose primary job is to write to attack those who oppose Ibori, and also try their best to salvage and redeem his dented public image. Besides, Ibori obviously has Delta State’s wealth at his disposal. So, he can afford to constantly attack his critics. But what Ibori and his paid-writers/supporters fail to realize is that we write things and state the verifiable facts just the way they are, and the way we see them - no matter who and what is involved. And when I use the word ‘we’, I am referring to a ‘movement’, which comprises of a body of individuals that have the same mindset in exposing and addressing the societal ills that are adversely affecting the common man. As noted by Margaret Mead: “Never Doubt That A Small Group of Thoughtful, Committed Citizens Can Change The World.” This is something that Tony Eluemunor would never understand because that is not the reason why he is doing what he is doing. Otherwise, he would not be asking: “Who joined Gbmre in making up the “we”?
So, our write ups/articles could not have made sense to Ibori and his paid writer(s) – Tony Eluemunor, hence they referred to it as “less sense, more nonsense”. This is simply because the said piece is out of their league, and an expository of THE BITTER TRUTH which they would obviously find very hard to swallow and accept. In as much as everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion, but whether Tony Eluemunor likes it or not, he cannot erase history of the pathetic deeds of his pay-master Ibori. More so, it is not the act of writing that matters, but the CONTENT of the writeup. Speaking of the content of a writeup, let us take a critical look at the said Tony Eluemunor’s article.
Firstly, the said article Tony Emuemunor was babbling about: “James Ibori On The March Again”, which he said was published in the Urhobo Voice of September 21, 2019, was actually written as far back as September 2017, far before the build up to the 2019 General elections. So, we wonder how come, according to Tony Eluemunor, it was only published in September 21, 2019? It is even more surprising to note that the said article referred to by Tony Eluemunor, was not amongst the published articles in Urhobo Voice for the month of September 2019. In case you are wondering why all of this is so, it is simply because as a well-paid writer, Tony Eluemunor obviously glanced through all of our past write ups/articles about his pay-master James Ibori, and specifically chose that piece to try to puncture some of the valid points/issues we have raised concerning Ibori in our more recently well-circulated writeups which include: “JAMES IBORI REMAINS THE MAJOR POLITICAL NUISANCE AND OBSTACLE STAGNATING AND OBSTRUCTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF DELTA STATE – THOSE STILL RUNNING AFTER HIM ARE PART OF THE ENEMIES OF OUR STATE’S PROGRESS (written in October 2019); JAMES IBORI – AS THE ‘REAL’ OBSTACLE RESPONSIBLE FOR, AND DEPRIVING DELTA STATE FROM DEVELOPMENT WITH HIS EXTRAVAGANT LIFESTYLE AND INSATIABLE GREED FOR POLITICAL POWER/INFLUENCE (written in August 2019); ON URHOBO TO PRODUCE DELTA STATE GOVERNOR COME 2023 – IBORI CANNOT SPEAK FOR THE URHOBO NATION (written in September 2019); JAMES IBORI ON THE NEWS AGAIN, WITH HIS LOSS FOR AN APPEAL AGAINST HIS CONVICTION IN UK (written in October 2019); DELTANS, WE WILL NEVER DEVELOP WHEN WE STILL ACCORD HONOUR AND RESPECT TO UNREPENTANT EX AND SERVING PUBLIC OFFICE HOLDERS – JAMES IBORI AS A GOOD EXAMPLE (written in April 2018); HOW OKOWA BLEW N250M ON RECEPTION FOR EX-CONVICT FORMER GOVERNOR JAMES IBORI” - SAHARA REPORTERS (written in March 2018).”
Of all of these writeups concerning Ibori, Tony Eluemunor, specifically picked the stated one we wrote since 2017: “James Ibori On The March Again”, which was more of an advise to Ibori, who was at that time trying to physically revive and redeem back his relevance in Delta State politics, having been away in UK prison – in view of the 2019 General elections. We wrote that piece to advise Ibori to show some sort of remorse, repentance from the atrocities he has committed against Delta State and its people, by adopting a low-profile and staying completely away from active politics in Delta State, and act as a statesman. This was why we referred to a similar advice that was given to Ibori by Abraham Ogbodo of The Guardian newspaper, in the said writeup. It is this same writeup that Tony Eluemunor is now terming to be senseless. While we would not bother ourselves to go into all the baseless, senseless, spurious, frivolous and almost stupid claims and statements made by Tony Eluemunor in his stated ‘article-crusade’ against me, Zik Gbemre, I find it appalling that a supposed “media consultant” would throw caution into the air, and without conscience, tried to defend a character like Ibori.
For absolute lack of what to say, Tony Eluemunor, in his obvious joblessness, went to the extent of counting every word in our said writeup on Ibori to arrive at a figure – 1212 words according to him. In his ‘blind-consciousness’, he repeatedly spelt the name ‘Gbemre’ wrongly throughout his article, from “Gbenre” to “Gbmre”, and was practically trying to ‘build castles in the air’ in his bid to make sense out of the nonsense he was defending. Tony Eluemunor made reference to the fact that he actually “took the title from his late boss, Dr. Stanley Macebuh’s article in Vanguard Newspaper of April 1st, 2001 newspaper.” And also noted that: “Anybody who read the cerebral Macebuh, Nigeria’s own Immanuel Kant, will remember that he was a gentleman to the core…and that gentle spirit pervaded all his written or spoken word.” But if the said late Dr. Stanley Macebuh was Tony Eluemunor’s boss as he puts it, this clearly leaves one in doubt because there is nothing “gentlemanly”, or having any resemblance, of Tony Eluemunor’s article/writeups (which are mostly in defense of James Ibori) when compared with Macebuh’s. Or was he using this to build credence/credibility to his character as a supposed paid-writer? A Google of some of Tony Eluemunor’s articles in this regard clearly justify this fact. However, this is not even an argument here.
We clearly understand the fact that every individual ‘interprets’ written or spoken words ‘differently’, hence the reason you would say one thing to a gathering for instance, and each of them could interpret that same message differently. Which is why we could excuse some readers for interpreting some of the things we might have written in a piece, differently from what we were trying to say. However, there are verifiable facts that everyone can relate to/with, regardless of how it was said/presented. It is only when the persons concerned, deliberately choses to interpret what was said differently, in their bid to make others to see things from their perverted view point/perspective, that we cannot excuse such persons. This is the primary motive of Tony Eluemunor in his said writeup, so as to drive home his self-driven agenda of laundering the image of his pay-master – Ibori. But I believe majority of our educated and well-enlightened fellow Nigerians, who are not afraid of exposing and standing for the Truth; already know better, and cannot be confused, or have their opinions about Ibori swayed/changed by the likes of Tony Eluemunor.
For instance, Tony Eluemunor would want to convince readers that when we advised Ibori that: It is better to leave the stage when the ovation is loudest, that we are suggesting that the “ovation is now ‘loud’ for Ibori—12 years after he ceased being State Governor…”, and that we are invariably contradicting ourselves since we often referred to Ibori as the worst failure in Delta State politics and a thief. Perhaps, Tony Eluemunor, who has obviously chosen this unworthy path, needs to be re-educated that, the phrase was used as a subtle way of telling Ibori to save face, preserve some levels of his self-dignity and self-worth, by maintaining a low profile and completely leave all elements of politicking in Delta State to the younger/upcoming politicians in the State. This is especially when we consider the fact that Ibori, who came back from UK prison for stealing public funds meant for Delta State’s development, was not showing any sign of remorse or repentance of his bad actions against the people of Delta State. Rather, he was practically all over the place, particularly during the build up towards the 2019 General elections (which was when the said writeup was written), trying to ‘influence’ the political landscape of the State to protect/project his self-centered Interest. This was the same advice given to Ibori during that same period, in Abraham Ogbodo’s piece, which we referred to. To borrow Ogbodo’s words: “This is the season for Ibori to eat and sleep and maybe swallow few tots of brandy in-between and avoid like plague, nocturnal political meetings designed to re-arrange the variables ahead 2019. The Good God have delivered the man from permanent incapacitation or evil. That said, Ibori has a bigger responsibility to pray even harder not to be led into temptation ahead…”
In other words, the phrase, as used in our writeup on Ibori, was never intended to suggest all that Tony Eluemunor in his perverted response, is trying to convince readers to believe. And like we said, the stated writeup was written and circulated way back in 2017, so we could not be referring to Ibori’s political meandering and clandestine activities in 2019, as Tony Eluemunor is trying to convince others to believe. Tony Eluemunor’s comparison of Ibori’s experiences, taste of power, wealth, incarceration and comeback, with that of the experiences of Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari, is even more laughable and ridiculous. While we are not here to defend this two, but the fact that Tony Eluemunor used them for his analysis in this regard, clearly shows how desperate he was, in trying to justify his pay-master’s confidence and pay-cheque, by trying to make sense out of the nonsense he wrote. Agreed that these two, Obasanjo and Buhari had tasted high-profile power and all of that, and are still very influential in the nation’s current political landscape, but the big question is, and which separates them, is what were the reasons for their incarceration experiences? To put it more bluntly, why was Ibori sent to prison in the UK? We all know the answer to that question. The reference to Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, which we had advised Ibori to also learn from back then, was also because the writeup was in 2017, a long time before Uduaghan indicated interest to go for the seat of Senate. So, we can see that Tony Eluemunor is more interested in earning his pay-cheque, that he completely went blind to proper investigative-analysis of what one should present as believable facts in any well researched work of writing/journalism.
In Tony Eluemunor’s final words of the said response: “Ibori is not contesting for any elective post (we never said he was). All that is happening is that the Delta Central Senatorial District, peopled by the Urhobo nation is preparing to take over the Governorship baton in Delta State. And some people are afraid of the stout unity of the Peoples Democratic Party family under Ibori’s leadership”, best describes our major bone of contention with James Ibori. And that is the fact that Ibori, does not have the integrity, capacity and authority to speak for, an on behalf of the Urhobo people in Delta Central, as regards the direction of the State’s Governorship quest come 2023. We made all of this clear, with substantial reasons, in some of our above stated writeups.
That being said, and regardless of Tony Eluemunor’s baseless response to one of our writeups on Ibori, we maintain and reiterate our stance on Ibori. And the fact that, no sane person in his or her rightful mind and thinking faculty, would want to have anything to do with James Onanefe Ibori, the supposed former Governor of Delta State, who ascended to that position in the first place on deception, and whose character, personality, orientation about public service, past and present actions in and out of office, have never been, and will never be; in the overall interest of the people of Delta State. James Ibori remains the POLITICAL NUISANCE AND ‘VIRUS’ that has continued to eat deep and deaden everything good in Delta State, which ought to bring about rapid transformation in the State, right from the moment he stepped into Delta State politics from 1999 till date. Anyone, who is still supporting Ibori, drumming support for him in any way, or saying/writing anything good about him, especially as it concerns Delta State’s politics and economy; such an individual is not only a bird of the same feather with Ibori, but he/she should be seen and regarded as the true enemy of the State’s developmental strides and progress.
We are also not the only ones who see Ibori from this light. There are countless of articles/writeups and documentaries on Ibori in this light, both by countless Nigerians and foreigners, including foreign organizations. Even BBC Africa once had a story titled: James Ibori: How a thief almost became Nigeria's president, By Andrew Walker (Nigeria analyst), in February 2012, part of which reads: “The story of how James Ibori went from convicted thief in London in the 1990s, to become governor of a wealthy oil-producing Nigerian state and then to a British prison is a remarkable one.” So, we are not the only ones who have been writing about Ibori and all of his sins against those Ibori reverently call “the good people of Delta state.” Everything Ibori was, and still is, he brought them upon himself with his own hands – in his quest for power, fame, wealth, and relevance. We did not send Ibori to jail in the UK. He was not only jailed in the UK for financial crimes and money laundry commited against Delta State, he also got his wife, his sister, his mistress and his lawyer all jailed as well. A man jailed by a British court for financial crime has no name all over the world. Is that the kind of man any sane person should allow to decide for them and their future? Obviously not! This is what we have been writing about on Ibori, in all our writeups.
Ibori cannot be said to be worth being an ounce of a leader, in all ramifications. Ibori’s name alone, and one being associated with him, will bring condemnation and ill-luck to one, especially in the international scene where Ibori’s name and record reeks of fraud/thievery/deceit/criminality and what have you. No propaganda, paid-writing, galvanizing/rallying support can erase/disregard or make Deltans/Nigerians forget the fact that IBORI REMAINS AN EX-CONVICT, whose trade and stock in the last two decades and up till now, has been the pilfering and misappropriation of Delta State’s collective wealth to satisfy his insatiable extravagant lifestyle and thirst for power/control. So, those Delta elites and politicians who still call him their leader and who still look up to him, are not only criminals like Ibori but they have also become shameless ‘ROBOTS’ and ‘ZOMBIES’ who are following Ibori like fools to the slaughter.
To repeat our point in one of our recent writeups, while Ibori has the right to speak for himself, his family and the few greedy PDP members who have sold their birthrights over a plate of rice, as his flock of supporters, but the fact still remains that IBORI CANNOT SPEAK FOR THE URHOBO NATION OR CALL FOR ANY GATHERING OF ALL URHOBO LEADERS/POLITICIANS. Again, anyone who still praises/rallies support for Ibori, be it through the internet (online) platforms, or through paid writers, bloggers and what have you; such persons are birds of the same feathers with Ibori. I have never seen anywhere in the world, where a person who was convicted by the all-mighty UK that is a global power, for money laundering and fraud, and that person went to jail, but still comes out to become a supposed ‘HERO’ of his people. No normal human being in his/her right senses would want to have anything to do with such an individual. Especially when the said person concerned, has not shown any sort of remorse or repentance over the atrocities he has committed against his State and people. That is the story of Ibori in Delta State.
Rather than Ibori to repent and keep a low profile, he is already planning ahead of 2023 to install his loyal boys at sensitive positions in, and around Delta State Government, to continue from where others would stop come 2023. 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. The likes of Tony Eluemunor, know the truth, but he has simply chosen to dance to his pay-master’s song, which is rather unfortunate!
Zik Gbemre.
November 2, 2019
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
One of the basic things that separates every man from another, which is the only one thing that actually outlives one, is his integrity and personal moral code, from which every of that man’s action is derived/sprung from. It is not the size of his bank account, status or the number of properties he has been able to acquire in his life time – all of that are ephemeral. But once a man has lost, or has dented his integrity, by virtue of his actions and what he stands for, such a man can do almost anything just to make money. Even if it means going public to constantly ‘defend’ an internationally recognized ex-convict and an unrepentant public figure like James Ibori. As such, no right-thinking individual that is very much aware of what has been going on in Delta State politics and economy in the last two decades, would take such a man seriously, or consider anything he has to say. That is how best we can describe Tony Eluemunor, a supposed media consultant and obviously James Ibori’s paid-writer and public image launderer.
We would first appeal to the public-conscious readers to be patient, and calmly read through this lengthy response with an objective mind, while we critically look at the said Tony Eluemunor’s article: “Zik Gbemre on Ibori: less sense more nonsense”, as published in Vanguard newspaper of Saturday October 26, 2019. We are not surprised by Tony Eluemunor’s article because it is expected that James Ibori, who is like a leopard that will never change his spots, would definitely have at his beck and call - paid writers, whose primary job is to write to attack those who oppose Ibori, and also try their best to salvage and redeem his dented public image. Besides, Ibori obviously has Delta State’s wealth at his disposal. So, he can afford to constantly attack his critics. But what Ibori and his paid-writers/supporters fail to realize is that we write things and state the verifiable facts just the way they are, and the way we see them - no matter who and what is involved. And when I use the word ‘we’, I am referring to a ‘movement’, which comprises of a body of individuals that have the same mindset in exposing and addressing the societal ills that are adversely affecting the common man. As noted by Margaret Mead: “Never Doubt That A Small Group of Thoughtful, Committed Citizens Can Change The World.” This is something that Tony Eluemunor would never understand because that is not the reason why he is doing what he is doing. Otherwise, he would not be asking: “Who joined Gbmre in making up the “we”?
So, our write ups/articles could not have made sense to Ibori and his paid writer(s) – Tony Eluemunor, hence they referred to it as “less sense, more nonsense”. This is simply because the said piece is out of their league, and an expository of THE BITTER TRUTH which they would obviously find very hard to swallow and accept. In as much as everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion, but whether Tony Eluemunor likes it or not, he cannot erase history of the pathetic deeds of his pay-master Ibori. More so, it is not the act of writing that matters, but the CONTENT of the writeup. Speaking of the content of a writeup, let us take a critical look at the said Tony Eluemunor’s article.
Firstly, the said article Tony Emuemunor was babbling about: “James Ibori On The March Again”, which he said was published in the Urhobo Voice of September 21, 2019, was actually written as far back as September 2017, far before the build up to the 2019 General elections. So, we wonder how come, according to Tony Eluemunor, it was only published in September 21, 2019? It is even more surprising to note that the said article referred to by Tony Eluemunor, was not amongst the published articles in Urhobo Voice for the month of September 2019. In case you are wondering why all of this is so, it is simply because as a well-paid writer, Tony Eluemunor obviously glanced through all of our past write ups/articles about his pay-master James Ibori, and specifically chose that piece to try to puncture some of the valid points/issues we have raised concerning Ibori in our more recently well-circulated writeups which include: “JAMES IBORI REMAINS THE MAJOR POLITICAL NUISANCE AND OBSTACLE STAGNATING AND OBSTRUCTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF DELTA STATE – THOSE STILL RUNNING AFTER HIM ARE PART OF THE ENEMIES OF OUR STATE’S PROGRESS (written in October 2019); JAMES IBORI – AS THE ‘REAL’ OBSTACLE RESPONSIBLE FOR, AND DEPRIVING DELTA STATE FROM DEVELOPMENT WITH HIS EXTRAVAGANT LIFESTYLE AND INSATIABLE GREED FOR POLITICAL POWER/INFLUENCE (written in August 2019); ON URHOBO TO PRODUCE DELTA STATE GOVERNOR COME 2023 – IBORI CANNOT SPEAK FOR THE URHOBO NATION (written in September 2019); JAMES IBORI ON THE NEWS AGAIN, WITH HIS LOSS FOR AN APPEAL AGAINST HIS CONVICTION IN UK (written in October 2019); DELTANS, WE WILL NEVER DEVELOP WHEN WE STILL ACCORD HONOUR AND RESPECT TO UNREPENTANT EX AND SERVING PUBLIC OFFICE HOLDERS – JAMES IBORI AS A GOOD EXAMPLE (written in April 2018); HOW OKOWA BLEW N250M ON RECEPTION FOR EX-CONVICT FORMER GOVERNOR JAMES IBORI” - SAHARA REPORTERS (written in March 2018).”
Of all of these writeups concerning Ibori, Tony Eluemunor, specifically picked the stated one we wrote since 2017: “James Ibori On The March Again”, which was more of an advise to Ibori, who was at that time trying to physically revive and redeem back his relevance in Delta State politics, having been away in UK prison – in view of the 2019 General elections. We wrote that piece to advise Ibori to show some sort of remorse, repentance from the atrocities he has committed against Delta State and its people, by adopting a low-profile and staying completely away from active politics in Delta State, and act as a statesman. This was why we referred to a similar advice that was given to Ibori by Abraham Ogbodo of The Guardian newspaper, in the said writeup. It is this same writeup that Tony Eluemunor is now terming to be senseless. While we would not bother ourselves to go into all the baseless, senseless, spurious, frivolous and almost stupid claims and statements made by Tony Eluemunor in his stated ‘article-crusade’ against me, Zik Gbemre, I find it appalling that a supposed “media consultant” would throw caution into the air, and without conscience, tried to defend a character like Ibori.
For absolute lack of what to say, Tony Eluemunor, in his obvious joblessness, went to the extent of counting every word in our said writeup on Ibori to arrive at a figure – 1212 words according to him. In his ‘blind-consciousness’, he repeatedly spelt the name ‘Gbemre’ wrongly throughout his article, from “Gbenre” to “Gbmre”, and was practically trying to ‘build castles in the air’ in his bid to make sense out of the nonsense he was defending. Tony Eluemunor made reference to the fact that he actually “took the title from his late boss, Dr. Stanley Macebuh’s article in Vanguard Newspaper of April 1st, 2001 newspaper.” And also noted that: “Anybody who read the cerebral Macebuh, Nigeria’s own Immanuel Kant, will remember that he was a gentleman to the core…and that gentle spirit pervaded all his written or spoken word.” But if the said late Dr. Stanley Macebuh was Tony Eluemunor’s boss as he puts it, this clearly leaves one in doubt because there is nothing “gentlemanly”, or having any resemblance, of Tony Eluemunor’s article/writeups (which are mostly in defense of James Ibori) when compared with Macebuh’s. Or was he using this to build credence/credibility to his character as a supposed paid-writer? A Google of some of Tony Eluemunor’s articles in this regard clearly justify this fact. However, this is not even an argument here.
We clearly understand the fact that every individual ‘interprets’ written or spoken words ‘differently’, hence the reason you would say one thing to a gathering for instance, and each of them could interpret that same message differently. Which is why we could excuse some readers for interpreting some of the things we might have written in a piece, differently from what we were trying to say. However, there are verifiable facts that everyone can relate to/with, regardless of how it was said/presented. It is only when the persons concerned, deliberately choses to interpret what was said differently, in their bid to make others to see things from their perverted view point/perspective, that we cannot excuse such persons. This is the primary motive of Tony Eluemunor in his said writeup, so as to drive home his self-driven agenda of laundering the image of his pay-master – Ibori. But I believe majority of our educated and well-enlightened fellow Nigerians, who are not afraid of exposing and standing for the Truth; already know better, and cannot be confused, or have their opinions about Ibori swayed/changed by the likes of Tony Eluemunor.
For instance, Tony Eluemunor would want to convince readers that when we advised Ibori that: It is better to leave the stage when the ovation is loudest, that we are suggesting that the “ovation is now ‘loud’ for Ibori—12 years after he ceased being State Governor…”, and that we are invariably contradicting ourselves since we often referred to Ibori as the worst failure in Delta State politics and a thief. Perhaps, Tony Eluemunor, who has obviously chosen this unworthy path, needs to be re-educated that, the phrase was used as a subtle way of telling Ibori to save face, preserve some levels of his self-dignity and self-worth, by maintaining a low profile and completely leave all elements of politicking in Delta State to the younger/upcoming politicians in the State. This is especially when we consider the fact that Ibori, who came back from UK prison for stealing public funds meant for Delta State’s development, was not showing any sign of remorse or repentance of his bad actions against the people of Delta State. Rather, he was practically all over the place, particularly during the build up towards the 2019 General elections (which was when the said writeup was written), trying to ‘influence’ the political landscape of the State to protect/project his self-centered Interest. This was the same advice given to Ibori during that same period, in Abraham Ogbodo’s piece, which we referred to. To borrow Ogbodo’s words: “This is the season for Ibori to eat and sleep and maybe swallow few tots of brandy in-between and avoid like plague, nocturnal political meetings designed to re-arrange the variables ahead 2019. The Good God have delivered the man from permanent incapacitation or evil. That said, Ibori has a bigger responsibility to pray even harder not to be led into temptation ahead…”
In other words, the phrase, as used in our writeup on Ibori, was never intended to suggest all that Tony Eluemunor in his perverted response, is trying to convince readers to believe. And like we said, the stated writeup was written and circulated way back in 2017, so we could not be referring to Ibori’s political meandering and clandestine activities in 2019, as Tony Eluemunor is trying to convince others to believe. Tony Eluemunor’s comparison of Ibori’s experiences, taste of power, wealth, incarceration and comeback, with that of the experiences of Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari, is even more laughable and ridiculous. While we are not here to defend this two, but the fact that Tony Eluemunor used them for his analysis in this regard, clearly shows how desperate he was, in trying to justify his pay-master’s confidence and pay-cheque, by trying to make sense out of the nonsense he wrote. Agreed that these two, Obasanjo and Buhari had tasted high-profile power and all of that, and are still very influential in the nation’s current political landscape, but the big question is, and which separates them, is what were the reasons for their incarceration experiences? To put it more bluntly, why was Ibori sent to prison in the UK? We all know the answer to that question. The reference to Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, which we had advised Ibori to also learn from back then, was also because the writeup was in 2017, a long time before Uduaghan indicated interest to go for the seat of Senate. So, we can see that Tony Eluemunor is more interested in earning his pay-cheque, that he completely went blind to proper investigative-analysis of what one should present as believable facts in any well researched work of writing/journalism.
In Tony Eluemunor’s final words of the said response: “Ibori is not contesting for any elective post (we never said he was). All that is happening is that the Delta Central Senatorial District, peopled by the Urhobo nation is preparing to take over the Governorship baton in Delta State. And some people are afraid of the stout unity of the Peoples Democratic Party family under Ibori’s leadership”, best describes our major bone of contention with James Ibori. And that is the fact that Ibori, does not have the integrity, capacity and authority to speak for, an on behalf of the Urhobo people in Delta Central, as regards the direction of the State’s Governorship quest come 2023. We made all of this clear, with substantial reasons, in some of our above stated writeups.
That being said, and regardless of Tony Eluemunor’s baseless response to one of our writeups on Ibori, we maintain and reiterate our stance on Ibori. And the fact that, no sane person in his or her rightful mind and thinking faculty, would want to have anything to do with James Onanefe Ibori, the supposed former Governor of Delta State, who ascended to that position in the first place on deception, and whose character, personality, orientation about public service, past and present actions in and out of office, have never been, and will never be; in the overall interest of the people of Delta State. James Ibori remains the POLITICAL NUISANCE AND ‘VIRUS’ that has continued to eat deep and deaden everything good in Delta State, which ought to bring about rapid transformation in the State, right from the moment he stepped into Delta State politics from 1999 till date. Anyone, who is still supporting Ibori, drumming support for him in any way, or saying/writing anything good about him, especially as it concerns Delta State’s politics and economy; such an individual is not only a bird of the same feather with Ibori, but he/she should be seen and regarded as the true enemy of the State’s developmental strides and progress.
We are also not the only ones who see Ibori from this light. There are countless of articles/writeups and documentaries on Ibori in this light, both by countless Nigerians and foreigners, including foreign organizations. Even BBC Africa once had a story titled: James Ibori: How a thief almost became Nigeria's president, By Andrew Walker (Nigeria analyst), in February 2012, part of which reads: “The story of how James Ibori went from convicted thief in London in the 1990s, to become governor of a wealthy oil-producing Nigerian state and then to a British prison is a remarkable one.” So, we are not the only ones who have been writing about Ibori and all of his sins against those Ibori reverently call “the good people of Delta state.” Everything Ibori was, and still is, he brought them upon himself with his own hands – in his quest for power, fame, wealth, and relevance. We did not send Ibori to jail in the UK. He was not only jailed in the UK for financial crimes and money laundry commited against Delta State, he also got his wife, his sister, his mistress and his lawyer all jailed as well. A man jailed by a British court for financial crime has no name all over the world. Is that the kind of man any sane person should allow to decide for them and their future? Obviously not! This is what we have been writing about on Ibori, in all our writeups.
Ibori cannot be said to be worth being an ounce of a leader, in all ramifications. Ibori’s name alone, and one being associated with him, will bring condemnation and ill-luck to one, especially in the international scene where Ibori’s name and record reeks of fraud/thievery/deceit/criminality and what have you. No propaganda, paid-writing, galvanizing/rallying support can erase/disregard or make Deltans/Nigerians forget the fact that IBORI REMAINS AN EX-CONVICT, whose trade and stock in the last two decades and up till now, has been the pilfering and misappropriation of Delta State’s collective wealth to satisfy his insatiable extravagant lifestyle and thirst for power/control. So, those Delta elites and politicians who still call him their leader and who still look up to him, are not only criminals like Ibori but they have also become shameless ‘ROBOTS’ and ‘ZOMBIES’ who are following Ibori like fools to the slaughter.
To repeat our point in one of our recent writeups, while Ibori has the right to speak for himself, his family and the few greedy PDP members who have sold their birthrights over a plate of rice, as his flock of supporters, but the fact still remains that IBORI CANNOT SPEAK FOR THE URHOBO NATION OR CALL FOR ANY GATHERING OF ALL URHOBO LEADERS/POLITICIANS. Again, anyone who still praises/rallies support for Ibori, be it through the internet (online) platforms, or through paid writers, bloggers and what have you; such persons are birds of the same feathers with Ibori. I have never seen anywhere in the world, where a person who was convicted by the all-mighty UK that is a global power, for money laundering and fraud, and that person went to jail, but still comes out to become a supposed ‘HERO’ of his people. No normal human being in his/her right senses would want to have anything to do with such an individual. Especially when the said person concerned, has not shown any sort of remorse or repentance over the atrocities he has committed against his State and people. That is the story of Ibori in Delta State.
Rather than Ibori to repent and keep a low profile, he is already planning ahead of 2023 to install his loyal boys at sensitive positions in, and around Delta State Government, to continue from where others would stop come 2023. 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. The likes of Tony Eluemunor, know the truth, but he has simply chosen to dance to his pay-master’s song, which is rather unfortunate!
Zik Gbemre.
November 2, 2019
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes