Daily Independent Online.
*
Thursday, July 01, 2004.
Counsel seeks court records in Ibori’s case
Tony Eluemunor,
Rotimi Fadeyi and
Gbenga Abiodun (Abuja)
Hearing
in the case against Delta State Governor James Onanefe Ibori was laced with
drama when it resumed at the Abuja High Court on Wednesday.
Both
sides made startling disclosures which prompted Ibori’s lead counsel
Milton Paul Ohwovoriole (SAN) to
request the certified true copy (CTC) of the entire record of the proceedings
at the Bwari Upper Area Court concerning the case.
Ohwovoriole
demanded it following allegation by Bwari Upper Area Court Judge Awwal Yusuf,
that Ibori was the one he convicted on September 28, 1995 for alleged criminal
breach of trust and negligence.
But
Ibori insisted that he was never tried by that court.
Testifying
before Justice Hussein Muktar, Yusuf said the governor was arraigned in his
court and after pleading guilty to the charge, he was convicted. “I have
no doubt in my mind that it was James Onanefe Ibori that was convicted”,
he said.
Yet,
as Ibori’s lawyer pointed out, Yusuf was not sure of the case charge
number. He came up with conflicting numbers.
Yusuf,
who also claimed that Delta State Attorney General, Prof. Amos Utuama, was part
of a team that tried to seek his favour over the case, could not identify him
in court.
In
a counter claim filed on his behalf on Tuesday by Dr. Alex Izinyon (SAN), Ibori
said at no time in his life did he appear before Yusuf in the case, number CR
81/95, or any other case, neither was he ever convicted by the said court on
September 28, 1995.
During
the proceedings on Wednesday, Ohwovoriole asked for the CTC of the record of
proceedings because he alleged that about 10 pages of the record covering the
trial of Shuiab Anyebe were missing.
That
case, according to Ibori’s defence team, was tempered with to appear like
a case against the governor.
He
had earlier maintained that the record of proceedings in which Ibori ‘s
name was mentioned, as the person convicted, was a forged document. Ohwovoriole
asked that the record be produced for verification.
Led
in evidence by Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), Yusuf told the court that in January
last year, Ibori invited him to the Delta State Government Lodge, Asokoro,
through Bala Ngilari, where he discussed with the governor on the conviction.
According
to Yusuf, when Ibori asked for possible assistance he could render in respect
of the case, he advised him to file a civil case in the Bwari Upper Area Court
against himself, the commissioner of police, the investigating police officer
(IPO) in the case and the court registrar in order to identify the person that
was convicted.
Ibori
has since explained that it was his then lawyer, Ngilari, who suggested that as
the governor was never jailed, it would be helpful to get Yusuf to testify as
Ibori’s witness.
He
also alleged that the governor promised to give him N10 million in any
denomination if he could save him from the case about the conviction.
Yusuf
claimed that Utuama was at the meeting, a disclosure that prompted Gani to ask
him to look around the court room and identify the Attorney General. Although
Utuama was seated in the front row among the lawyers, Yusuf said the AG was not
in court, after looking through the court room.
As
the case raised more controversies, Yusuf explained that he was summoned by the
Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Justice Lawal Gummi, during
an investigation into a report that a judge and registrar falsified court
records.
According
to him, he made a statement about the case during the investigation conducted
by Gummi, to whom he also submitted the record of proceedings.
But
during cross examination by Ohwovoriole, Yusuf could not make a clear
distinction between the charge number in Anyabe’s case and that involving
Ibori.
He
first said the charge number of
the case against Ibori in his court was CR 81/95, then changed it to CR 85/95.
He
explained that initially the divisional crime officer (DCO) for the Bwari Area
Council wanted to withdraw the case he brought against Ibori on September 28,
1995 but that it was not withdrawn and was later registered as CR85/95.
Before
the court adjourned further hearing till July 5, a lawyer alleged that one Dr.
G.G.Dara, an aide of Ibori, said to his hearing during the proceedings that
“Gani would go with the case”. This he said was a death threat.
When
Gani notified Muktar of it, Dara
denied making such a statement, saying he knew Gani for a long time and has
respect for him.
Murtar
accepted Dara’s defence and warned the parties to be cautious in their
utterances. The matter is not a warfare in which a death threat would be
issued, the judge said.
Fawehinmi
and Dara shook hands after the matter was resolved.
Ibori
has expressed satisfaction on the accelerated hearing.
According
to Delta State Information Commissioner Magnus Onyibe, “what is going on
now is what the governor has always prayed for; that the people who falsified
figures and numbers as well as court records be arrested and indicted”.
He
said it is strange that though it was Ibori himself who petitioned President
Olusegun Obasanjo that certain people have been reported by the police to have
falsified records claiming that he (Ibori) was the same person convicted in
1995, “the people were arrested and were freed.
“They
were arrested and were freed and later the case took a new dimension and went
round for one year before the Supreme Court asked us to go back to square one
which is where we are now to identify the person that was convicted”.
