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Identification:
Police final report forged -
Ibori
•Judge insists on interim report
MALACHY UZENDU,
Abuja
AS the legal
team defending Governor James Onanefe Ibori of Delta State refused the admission
of the Final Police Report over the allegation that he was the one convicted by
the Bwari Upper Area Court, Bwari in 1995, the report revealed that indeed a
James Onanefe Ibori was the one convicted.
The current trial before the Abuja High
Court is to identify the particular James Onanefe Ibori who was so convicted.
Reacting to the report, Gov. Ibori said
the report could not be anything but forged and very far from the truth.
In the final report, dated June 7, 2003
and signed by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) himself, Mr. Tafa Balogun,
the police boss said "it would be very difficult for any investigation to
controvert the direct evidence of Alhaji Awwal Yusuf, the Upper Area Court judge
that it was James Onanefe Ibori that he tried and convicted."
However, the IGP said the mysterious death
of two police officers who had contacts with the suit involving the Ibori,
hampered the investigation.
The deceased officers, according to Mr.
Balogun, include Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Dauda, the then
Divisional Crime Officer, Bwari Police Station and the Bwari Upper Area Court
Orderly in 1995, Police Corporal Haruna Damaye.
The report marked CB.4099/IGP.SEC/ABJ/MU.11/Vol.
1 and titled: "Police Final Investigation Report on Alleged Case of Forgery and
Falsification of Court Reports in Case No. Cr/81/95 Commissioner of Police Vs.
James Onanefe Ibori in the Upper Area Court Holden at Bwari on September 28,
1995, before Hon. Alhaji Mohammed Awwal Yusuf," was made available to
Daily Champion.
The IGP, who noted that the report was in
reaction to a directive by President Olusegun Obasanjo, based on complaint made
by Gov. Ibori, stated emphatically that the governor complained that certain
people were out to destroy his image by linking his name to a conviction at the
Bwari Court through forgery.
In his conclusion, the police boss stated
that "it is true that the person charged to court on CR/81/95 who was one
Shuaibu Anyebe, who was then a security guard with the Abuja Municipal Area
Council." Anyebe, the IGP said, pleaded guilty together with five others,
including Ibori, brought before the Bwari Upper Area Court, except for one
Monica Innocent who pleaded not guilty.
"The issue as to whether one James Onanefe
Ibori was charged and convicted by the Upper Area Court, Bwari could not be
controverted, especially as the then Upper Area Court Judge, Bwari, Alhaji Awwal
Yusuf consistently maintained that he tried and convicted one James Onanefe
Ibori," he added.
Commenting on the contradiction noticed
between the final report and the interim report marked No. CB-4099/IGP.SEC/ABJ/MU.11?VOL.
21, dated February 14, 2003, Mr. Balogun said an interim report could only but
be based on preliminary investigation available to it as at the time it was
made.
He said the further recommendation made in
the report which noted that certain persons be further investigated and possibly
tried, led to an indepth investigation that led to the final report.
But, reacting to the development, Gov.
Ibori, through his Special Assistant on Media Relations, Mr. Sheddy Ozoene,
pointed out some irregularities in the said final report which was described as
"unacceptable somersault."
According to the governor, "the purported
final report by the police dated June 7, 2003 bears the Inspector General of
Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun’s signature, with his usual national award of the
Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR).
"Discerning Nigerians would remember that
as at June 7, 2003, when the IGP purportedly signed the final report, no such
award had been conferred on him. This shows that the so-called final report is
an after-thought, written after the award, but criminally backdated.
"Interestingly, the police who now say the
case file in missing had earlier in the report of February 14, 2003, disclosed
that it was duplicated and handed to the Ministry of Justice for further action.
So, who are they fooling?"
Further accusing the police of complicity
and conspiracy in the entire allegation, the governor stated that "at the
sitting of the Abuja High Court on the ex-convict identification trial on Monday
26 and Tuesday 27 July, 2004, the police stunned the civilised world by claiming
it could not produce vital documents in their possession which are necessary for
the defence’s case."
"Specifically, the documents include,
among others, the said case file number IBK 24/95 of September 28, 1995 and the
Police Inspector-General’s reply to President Obasanjo on the investigation
carried out by him as a result of the letter of complaint by Gov. Ibori dated,
February 27, 2003.
"The existence of both documents and their
contents, are public knowledge as they have been in wide circulation since early
last year.
"The police have not disowned this
document which Nigerians are aware was also copied to the Vice-President and the
Chief Justice of the Federation (CJN).
"It is also public knowledge that the
Inspector-General had actually defended his findings contained in his February
14, 2003 reply, before the President and the CJN.
"Strangely, he has now chose to re-label
the reply on interim report implying that it has been superceded by another one
now christened "Final Report" and dated June 7, 2003," he noted.
Justice Husseini Murkthat of Abuja High
Court, who is presiding over the on-going identification trial, has refused to
accept the police final report, insisting that the interim report be produced,
despite police insistence that no such report exists again.
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