Ibori: My trial taught me incredible lessons

James Ibori, former governor of Delta state, says his corruption trial has taught him incredible lessons that he could not have learnt in any institution of learning.

He said this in the October edition of EFCCAlert, a monthly newsletter of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In 2012, Ibori was sentenced by a United Kingdom Southwark Crown Court to 13 years in prison after he was found guilty of counts of money laundering and related offences of fraud to the tune of £50 million.

He was released in December 2017 having spent about half of the jail sentence.

However, Ibori filed an appeal against his conviction which was heard at a UK court of appeal in March 21 and 23 and June 21, 2018.

But in a landmark judgement on October 17, his appeal was dismissed, paving the way for confiscation of his assets in the UK.

A day to the ruling of the court, Ibori had released a statement through Tony Eluemunor, his media aide, where he claimed that he was a victim of political persecution, adding that “quantum of lies were heaped against me”.

“Owing to this, I have since lost faith in the British judicial system, having been through it and observed first-hand the politics, desperation and wicked machinations inherent in the process that rigged the trial against me and against all judicial wholesome processes, which differentiate the modern era from the dark ages,” the statement read.

“I will continue to protest the political nature of my predicament.

“In all of this, I will say that what I have been through since the persecution against me began has taught me incredible lessons; lessons I could not have learnt in any institution of higher learning.”