Ibori: Nigeria has no reputation to lose – Lawyers

former Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori
| credits: File copy

Prominent lawyers have said the recent report that a British Metropolitan Police officer collected a £20, 000 bribe from former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori, who is serving a 13-year jail term in the United Kingdom, is not a problem for Nigeria, since the country is known for corruption.

The lawyers, who spoke to SUNDAY PUNCH, said while Ibori’s action was highly condemnable, it was the UK government that has to work hard to clean up its reputation tainted by the bribery.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Prof. Itse Sagay, said the bribery would not affect Nigeria’s image.

“Nigeria has no reputation to lose in this case. The country is already known worldwide for corruption. Nigeria is close to the top on the list of corrupt countries. It is the UK that has something to lose. It is a stain on their reputation that one of their police officers could take bribe from a suspect who comes from a developing nation,” he said.

Similarly, Emeka Ngige, (SAN) said the bribery case showed that corruption was a worldwide phenomenon.

“It is not a Nigerian problem. It is the UK’s problem. This goes to show that corruption is a global phenomenon. There is no country that does not have corrupt people. It only depends on how the government of each country handles it. In the Nigerian police, corruption is the norm; it is the culture.

“And I’m sure if Nigerians hear it in the news that a Nigerian Police officer collected bribe to reveal information to a suspect, it would not be news to them. But in the UK, they would shudder, and you will see how their government would handle this,” he said.

Also, Mike Igbokwe (SAN) said the bribery case showed that Nigerian politicians were in the habit of using public fund to bribe their way through.

“I’m not in support of corrupt practices in anyway and what Ibori and his agents did was very wrong and illegal. But I believe this has shown that corruption is everywhere. Nowadays, the British Metropolitan Police can no longer be said to be ‘saints’.

“The noise that the British police and their government make about African countries being corrupt no longer has any basis. British police have to redeem their image.

“This is also an indication that this is what Nigerian politicians do with public funds; bribing their way in and outside the country,” he said.

Similarly, human rights activist, Femi Falana, said the continued revelation of the corrupt practices of Ibori was a shame on Nigeria.

Falana said, “He was allowed to become a governor- the judiciary in Nigeria has been exposed to unprecedented ridicule. It is a shame that a man that was convicted in 1991, 1992 and 1995, for fraud and related offences, became a governor in defiance of the Constitution. As the Ibori story is not concluded, the leading ambassador of a kleptomaniac ruling elite is going to continue to shame the country,” he said.

Source: SUNDAY PUNCH

Posted in: Crime, Special Report