GOVERNOR James Ibori of Delta has alleged a ploy by the prosecution to confuse issues in the case before an Abuja High Court to establish the identity of one James Onanefe Ibori who was said to have been convicted by a Bwari Area Court Abuja.
Ibori said at the weekend that the ploy was being carried out through an affidavit by a truck driver who swore under the name, James Onanefe Ochuko Ibori, that he was the person convicted by the Bwari Area Court in 1995
“We have every reason to believe that this is one of the gimmicks of the other side (prosecution) to pull the wool over the peoples eyes. Whoever is trying to bring a name like James Onanefe Ochuko Ibori ( into the case) is trying to confuse issues by asking the person to swear to an affidavit that he was the person convicted,’ the governor’s chief press secretary, Mr Sheddy Ozoene, who spoke on behalf of his boss, said in Lagos.
He pointed out “The truth of the matter is that there was actually no conviction at all in that matter, there was actually no case of that nature, nobody was arraigned for that purpose with the name of James Onanefe Ibori or whatever and that is what we intend to maintain, we do not want to confuse issues.”
“Ochuko must have been hired by the opposition since Governor Ibori has maintained that there was indeed no trial, his (Ochuko) claim to being the ex-convict is therefore frivolous, it is a decoy, his affidavit is intended to deceive the public,” Ozoene explained.
The governor’s aide stressed that the legal team of his boss had been able to raise issues that those who were prosecuting the matter against the governor had not been able to answer to.
“As far as we are concerned, the governor still stands by his statements that he was never convicted, that he was never arraigned before the court, that no case of that nature exists and he was never convicted,” Ozoene stated.
He continued: “So, we have every reason to believe that that affidavit by the so-called James Onanefe Ochukwu Ibori was sworn by somebody who is faceless.
We believe that that affidavit is frivolous, we believe it is one of the ploys by the prosecution, the so-called Ibori traducers to distract attention from the issues that are in court, they are using that as a decoy to deceive people.”
“Whatever is going on now is best known to them. We have already disowned the man publicly, we don’t know where he is coming from, we still have every reason to believe that no name of that nature exists and James Onanefe Ibori, the governor of Delta State is the only one that bears that name.”
