By Valentine Amanze
Online Editor
Chief James Onanefe Ibori, the former governor of Delta State, Nigeria from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2007, will, by midnight today (December 20, 2016), regain freedom in United Kingdom.
The former governor was imprisoned on money laundering charges.
Ibori was arrested in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on May 13, 2010 under Interpol arrest warrants, issued from United Kingdom courts and enacted by the Metropolitan Police.
He was granted bail pending an extradition hearing.
The Nigerian government and the United Kingdom had agreed to work together on Ibori’s extradition to the United Kingdom, even as his movement became restricted by the Dubai authority.
It would be recalled that Ibori fled Nigeria in April 2010, prompting the EFCC to request the assistance of Interpol after the then Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido, had alleged that Ibori used Delta State as collateral for N40 billion loan when he was governor.
Ibori’s case and extradition became one of the longest, most complex and expensive operations mounted by Scotland Yard in recent years. Prosecutors alleged that companies owned by Ibori and his family were beneficiaries from the sale of state assets, including shares in a mobile telephone operator, as well as crude oil deliveries.
On February 27, 2012, accused of stealing $250 million from the Nigerian public purse, Ibori pleaded guilty to 10 counts of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud at Southwark Crown Court, London.
As a result of the guilty plea entered by Ibori, the EFCC brought before an Appeal Court the six-year-old ruling of a Federal High Court in Asaba which acquitted Ibori in 2009.
On Tuesday, April 17, 2012, Ibori was sentenced to 13 years by Southwark Crown Court for his crimes.