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Ibori
Ibori’s trial stalled
•Police papers absent
•Lull at Govt House, Asaba
MALACHY UZENDU, Abuja
CAJETAN MMUTA, Asaba
GOVERNOR
James Onanefe Ibori of Delta State opened his defence in the ex-convict
identification trial yesterday, encountering initial obstacles posed by
non-presentation of police of vital documents needed for the defence.
But the Inspector-General of Police (IGP),
Mr. Tafa Balogun, who was subpoenaed to produce the documents promised to
present them today in the course of the trial.
Following the absence of the documents,
the defence team applied and obtained the court’s consent to abandon an earlier
subpoena (SUBPOENA DUCES TECUM AD TESTIFICANDUM) issued on the IGP which
also required that he testified in evidence.
In Asaba, the Delta State capital,
official activities were crippled as most commissioners and other top government
functionaries trooped to Abuja to solidarise with Gov. Ibori as he opened up
defence on the ex-convict case.
Represented by Mr. Columbus Okaro, a
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in the Legal Department of Alagbon Close of
the Police Force, the IGP attracted the odium of Ibori’s legal team, which
opened his defence on the allegation of having been convicted by the Bwari court
levelled on the Governor by two chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
Goodnews Goodman Agbi and Anthony Alabi.
The subpoena issued on the IGP was for him
to tender the following eight documents:
•Case File on CR/81/95 in which it was
alleged Chief James Onanefe Ibori was convicted.
•Police First Information Report (FIR)
dated May 29, 1995.
•Chief Ibori’s statements (statement of
the accused person) allegedly made on May 29, 1995.
•Copy of the petition by Chief Ibori to
President Olusegun Obasanjo on the allegation dated January 27, 2003.
•Reply of the IGP to the President
(Interim Police Report on the matter) February 14, 2003.
•Cause List of criminal Matters of the
Bwari Upper Area Court of September 28, 1995.
•Case Diary for 1995 and
•The Statements of the Accused Persons.
Of all these, Mr. Okaro said he came to
court with only Chief Ibori’s petition to the President on the matter and the
statements of the Accused Persons.
He however, promised to fish out the
remaining documents and tender them today as the matter continued.
Earlier attempts he made to tender a copy
of the Police Final Report on the matter were rebuffed by Chief Milton Paul
Ohwovoriole (SAN), Ibori’s leading counsel, who insisted that the final report
could not be tendered as they did not request for such document in the subpoena
issued.
Not even the insistence by Chief Gani
Fawehinmi (SAN), leading counsel to the plaintiffs, who hinted that the final
report confirmed the alleged conviction, scaled through as Justice Husseini
Mukhtar, the presiding judge, ruled that "parties are bound by their pleadings"
and as such, the claimed final report was inadmissible in evidence.
According to Chief Ohwovoriole, "we did
not ask for the document dated June 2003 (Police Final Report on Chief Ibori).
We didn’t know he (the IGP) failed to produce documents he was asked to produce
and produced documents he was not asked to produce."
"The Police is working hand-in-glove with
the plaintiffs. He (the IGP) has to go by the subpoena we served on him. He
cannot go outside the subpoena issued," Ohwovoriole alleged.
"My Lord, it is very important to the
prosecution that all the documents asked for in the subpoena be tendered,
otherwise they should tell us why they are not in court with them. It is very
important that the reply of the IGP to the President dated 14th February, 2003
be produced," Chief Ohwovoriole insisted.
Chief Fawehinmi, who objected to the
statement, argued that since the witness (IGP) is the defence witness, it was
wrong for Chief Ohwovoriole to have cast aspersions on the integrity of the
Police, to which he denied.
Matters in the court came to an abrupt end
when Ibori’s legal team asked for adjournment till today following the inability
of the IGP to produce all the needed documents.
In acceding to the application, Justice
Mukhtar noted that the documents are not only necessary for the defence team to
properly defend their client, but in the interest of fair hearing.
In Asaba, the political appointees had
early Monday morning left the city alongside the 25 council chairmen in the
state, to witness the proceedings of the court.
Daily Champion
visits to Government House, some ministries and the state secretariat revealed
that most of the special advisers and special assistants, had travelled to Abuja
with commissioners, a development which left their offices without serious
official activities.
Worse still the usual hordes of cronies
and hangers-on at Government House and commissioners office complexes
drastically disappeared yesterday.
Meanwhile, the opposition Alliance for
Democratic (AD) in the state has challenged the Federal Government and the
judiciary to rise to the occasion to prove their mettle as unbiased institutions
in deciding the Ibori case.
State deputy chairman of AD, Chief Tony
Ezeagu who spoke with Daily Champion in an interview yesterday, said
there was no attempt by any person or group to cause upheaval should Gov. Ibori
lose the case.
Chief Ezeagu noted that the matter is a
test case on the integrity of the judiciary and the government as the public is
keenly following the case to hear the verdict in view of the unfolding events.
"We call on the Federal Government and the
judiciary not to think there is going to be an uprising or anything, if anybody
is removed, there is no such thing," he said.
The AD chieftain maintained that instead
of chaos, Deltans would jubilate.
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