*As Justice Yusuf narrates how James Onanefe was convicted
ABUJA— GOVERNOR James Ibori of Delta State says he is not bothered by the on-going identification case before an Abuja High Court as Justice Awwal Yusuf narrated how James Onanefe Ibori was convicted.
Delta State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Magus Onyibe, who spoke on behalf of the governor said he (the governor) wanted the case to be concluded quickly, adding: “As we have always said, the governor has never allowed this case to bother him. His mind is primed on governance and the process of providing dividends of democracy to Delta State. That is his pre-occupation, and that is what he is doing. What is going on now is what the governor has been praying for, from day one, that the people who falsified figures and numbers, court records be arrested and indicted.
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. We pray that this thing would be resolved so that the public, Nigerians who pay tax would not go through the pain of spending their money on issues that would have been resolved a long time ago.”
The commissioner said they were happy that the facts were beginning to emerge and that the case provided an opportunity for Gov. Ibori to prove his innocence in the allegation that he was an ex-convict. “The onus is on them to prove that one Chief Onanefe Ibori was convicted in 1995 as they are claiming. The case is now at that level and in the process of trying to prove that he was convicted which the governor has always said it was a clear falsehood. That he was never convicted, he never went to any court and never went on any trial,” Onyibe said.
Justice Yusuf narrates account
Earlier, Justice Yusuf had given a blow by blow account of how he sentenced James Ibori summarily in 1995 after pleading guilty to a two-count ABUJA— GOVERNOR James Ibori of Delta State says he is not bothered by the on-going identification case before an Abuja High Court as Justice Awwal Yusuf narrated how James Onanefe Ibori was convicted.
Delta State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Magus Onyibe, who spoke on behalf of the governor said he (the governor) wanted the case to be concluded quickly, adding: “As we have always said, the governor has never allowed this case to bother him. His mind is primed on governance and the process of providing dividends of democracy to Delta State. That is his pre-occupation, and that is what he is doing.
What is going on now is what the governor has been praying for, from day one, that the people who falsified figures and numbers, court records be arrested and indicted. 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. We pray that this thing would be resolved so that the public, Nigerians who pay tax would not go through the pain of spending their money on issues that would have been resolved a long time ago.”
The commissioner said they were happy that the facts were beginning to emerge and that the case provided an opportunity for Gov. Ibori to prove his innocence in the allegation that he was an ex-convict. “The onus is on them to prove that one Chief Onanefe Ibori was convicted in 1995 as they are claiming. The case is now at that level and in the process of trying to prove that he was convicted which the governor has always said it was a clear falsehood. That he was never convicted, he never went to any court and never went on any trial,” Onyibe said.
Justice Yusuf narrates account
Earlier, Justice Yusuf had given a blow by blow account of how he sentenced James Ibori summarily in 1995 after pleading guilty to a two-count charge of breach of trust and negligence. He was led in evidence by Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN).
Narrating all he knew about the case yesterday before the court, Justice Yusuf said: “On September 28, 1995, a Thursday, I had in my schedule 16 cases, 14 of which were civil matters while the other two were criminal matters. Around 3p.m., Corporal Musa Sunday, the prosecutor of the court, brought six First Information Reports (FIR) which James Onanefe Ibori was one of them.
Among the six FIRs presented before me, five of the accused persons pleaded guilty and were convicted according to the relevant section of the criminal penal code, except Monica Lewinsky
“She pleaded not guilty and was granted bail and her matter was adjourned to another date for hearing.
Among the five convicted persons was James Ibori at the Upper Area Court. His conviction was under section 157 of the CPC. I imposed a fine of N500.00 on each of the two counts, totaling N1,000.00 since he was facing two-count charge. I gave him an option of one year and six months for each of the charges.
“On January 21, 2003, some years after I convicted him, I was in my Upper Area Court, Wuse when Barrister Bala Ngilari, now a member of the National Assembly (House of Representatives) visited me at about 9.00 a.m. and requested if I could see one James Onanefe Ibori. He was sent to me by General Sabo for assistance over the matter. Ngilari and I drove to the Delta Government Office at Asokoro in Abuja. When we got there, I met one short gentle man wearing medicated glasses who later introduced himself as the Delta State Attorney-General. The Attorney-General led me into a parlour,” he said.
Chief Gani Fawehinmi then cut in to tell the court if he could recognise him (Attorney-General) if he saw him to which he responded in the affirmative. Justice Yusuf was asked to look around to see if theJjustice commissioner was in court.
At this juncture, a mild drama played itself out. The Justice commissioner who was aptly described by Justice Yusuf suddenly buried his head in a number of documents in his front, making it difficult for anybody to notice that he was the one. Justice Yusuf eventually looked round for few seconds and said he was not in court and the testimony continued again.
Yusuf continued: “About five minutes after, I was led into the sitting room, somebody in a white shirt came to meet us and that person was introduced to me as James Onanefe Ibori. We sat down and we discussed.
“The attorney-general now asked if I recognised the governor and I said yes. He asked if I could remember whether I ever convicted him to which I kept quiet. I then tackled the attorney-general thus: ‘Did you call me here to interrogate me or what am I here for.’
“At this juncture, the governor now rose to the occasion, saying there is this problem of this conviction and that he wanted my assistance. I told him I had nothing to do with the matter but advised him to file a civil suit at Bwari and invite me, the commissioner of police, the registrar of the court and the prosecutor that prosecuted the case to come and identify whether he was the one that was convicted as James Ibori.
“Bala Ngilari promised that he would go and file the civil suit the next day. After that, Bala Ngilari left the sitting room, leaving only the governor and I. While I was with the governor, he said to me: ‘Judge, if you save me out of this matter, I will make you rich. I will give you N10 million in any denomination you want.’
“On February 30, 2003 again, following an allegation in ThisDay newspapers which accused a judge of falsifying court records, the Chief Judge of Abuja High Court, Justice Lawal Gummi, directed the director of the Area Court to write and ask the judge involved to give his response. The letter was written to me on February 31, 2003 and I made a statement on the invitation of the chief judge,” he added.
Under cross-examination, a legion of question was fired at him by Chief Ovhoworiole (SAN) bothering on names of officers of the court that handled the controversial matter and a sister case in which one Shuaibu Anyebe was also convicted. He was also asked question on the exact suit number on which James Onanefe Ibori’s name appeared.
At a point, he became confused, giving the suit numbers for one another. He eventually stopped confusing the court following hints from it (court) that if he was not sure of his answer, he could say so.
When Justice Yusuf was asked whether he had a certified true copy of a document he submitted to the Abuja High Court Chief Judge, he said he did not have it, a development which made Governor Ibori’s counsel to ask for adjournment, saying he needed the documents for his case.
The star prosecution witness, however, elected to help the court, saying there was no need for the court to adjourn because of the document, stressing that the matter could be stood down for just 15 minutes so that the document could be procured from the registrar’s office upstairs (pointing up) The court of the Abuja High Court is about a few seconds trek to the chambers of the presiding judge.
On account of the witness’ suggestion, Chief Fawehinmi objected to adjournment but he eventually caved in when Chief Ibori’s counsel maintained that they needed more than the documents.
Justice Yusuf also told the court that he had been going through hell and was risking his life to testify in the matter yesterday. He, however, told the court that he had resigned his fate to the Almighty Allah.
His words: “My life is in danger. For the past two years now, I have seen hell over this case. Many times, I have run for my dear life. On a number of occasions, I was pursued by cars. At times, jeeps will pursue me. And I have to run for my dear life. But all these will not deter me from saying what I know about this case because as a Muslim, I have the belief that whatever happens to a being is that which the Almighty Allah sanctions.
His emotion-laden voice moved the presiding judge and said: “But I consider this exercise as a legal matter. Police should protect you. This should not be a war as fought by soldiers. A witness should tell the truth. He should not be threatened.
At the end of the day, a decision will be reached.”
Justice Yusuf’’s alarm, however, followed a similar one raised by a Lagos-based legal practitioner, Chief Andrew Oru, before the court yesterday that the Special Adviser to Governor Ibori on Communications, Prof G. G. Darah, was threatening from the gallery the life of Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) prosecuting the case on behalf of the plaintiffs.
He said he overheard Prof. Darah, from the gallery, vowing that Chief Fawehinmi would go with the case. Oru reported the threat to Chief Fawehinmi (SAN) who took his case formally before the court.
Chief Fawehinmi said: “My lord, a colleague has just come to me now to tell me something very important about my security. And I think when matter of security is raised, it should be addressed. My colleague told me that a gentleman who works with the governor was overheard saying at the bar that Gani must go with this case. He said he was threatening with fire at the back
“I will call him now so that the court can hear from him first-hand,” he added. (He called Chief Oru out to address the court over the issue). When Oru came out, he was fully robed as if he was appearing in the case. He spoke out: “I am Chief Oru. I was sitting next to Prof. G. G. Darah whom I know very well. In the course of the proceedings, he (Prof. Darah) made a statement to my hearing that Gani must go with this case and I turned to him that I have known him for a long time and that if I must interpret that statement, it means death threat
“I told him that if he could be threatening a lawyer in this matter, I don’t know what he could do to people like me who is so involved in this case. I expected him to apologise and retract the statement but he did not.
“And considering the spate of assassinations in this country, especially the way in which the former Federal Attorney-General was murdered in this country, I think this is a grievous issue which should not be waived with the back of the hands. And I quickly informed Chief,” he added.
Chief Milton Paul Ohvowhoriole (SAN), one of the senior lawyers appearing for Governor Ibori in the matter, stood up to lend his voice to the issue. His words: “I have known Prof. Darah for 30 years. He has been a professor for several years. I have asked him and he had denied, saying he has the greatest respect for Gani and that they were in the same side as a radical. Chief Gani interrupted, saying: “That was before o.”
Chief Ohvowohoriole continued: “Oru is an interested party. His complaint should be taken with a pinch of salt. I can assure that there was nothing like that.”
All the while, when Chief Ohvowhoriole was addressing the court on the matter, Prof Darah had moved out of the gallery close to the judge, standing and watching. When the court asked him to talk on the matter, G. G. Darah said: “My lord, my name is Prof. G. G. Darah. I never said anything as claimed. Gani can testify that I have immense respect for him. For instance, when the University of Ife now OAU gave him an honour, I was the one who drafted and read the citation in his honour.
“In that citation, I publicly declared that he is one of the most important icons of law and jurisprudence in Africa and a courageous defender of the weak and the oppressed. I compared him to revolutionary lawyers such as Fidel Castro, V I Lennin. I still stand by that citation. I have never and will never say such a thing,” he added.
It was at this juncture the court said it believed Prof. Darah, saying probably if there was any such utterance, it might be a slip or that somebody else said it.
Justice Murhktar said: “I think I will leave it at that. If there is an overt thing done, then we will know which direction to look. But I believe in what he said.”
Chief Gani also replied: “When I heard that, I thought may be the office of special assistant to the rich state has changed him.”
The case has been adjourned till Monday, next week.
