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Ibori: Court delivers judgment today
• Rep urges
Deltans to be calm
By Rotimi Fadeyi
and Tom Chiahemen
Snr
Correspondents, Abuja
Judgment in the
re-trial of the case brought against Delta State Governor James Onanefe Ibori
will be delivered today by Justice Hussein Mukhtar of the Abuja High Court.
It comes after four
months of legal battle in a litigation filed by two members of the state
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who alleged that Ibori was convicted by a Bwari
Upper Area Court on September 28, 1995 for criminal breach of trust and
negligent conduct - an allegation he denies, saying he was never
convicted by the court or any other court for criminal breach of trust and
negligent conduct or for any offence whatsoever.
Besides, the police
report issued after an investigation, dated February 14, 2003, states that
“there is no evidence from police record and the court’s record to
show that His Excellency, James O. Ibori, was investigated by the Bwari police
station and neither was he charged to Upper Area Court for any criminal
offence”.
The report, admitted
by the court, has as conclusion/recommendation that: “Our legal system
demands that any criminal case against any person should be reported to the
police, investigated and charges preferred against the suspect(s) for
prosecution.
“All these
requirements are conspicuously absent in the alleged case of conviction of His
Excellency James O. Ibori. …There is, however, evidence of conspiracy and
forgery against Alhaji Mohammed Yusuf (the Bwari Judge), Musa Garuba, current
Registrar Ibrahim Yau (former Registrar and Jafaru Aliyu (the Court Clerk) and
the burden of proof has shifted to them to show evidence of such of such
conviction”.
The case started in
February 2003 before Justice Hussein Baba Yusuf of an Abuja High Court,
sitting in the Gwagwalada area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Yusuf resolved the
case in favour of Ibori when he declared that, based on the evidence before him
(the record of proceedings of the Bwari Upper Area Court) no James Onanefe
Ibori was convicted at the court on September 28, 1995.
But the case had come
full circle, from the courtroom of Yusuf to the Court of Appeal in Abuja, where
three justices, while ruling on the appeal of the plaintiffs, held that there
was a conviction based on available records. It also directed that the case be
sent back to the high court for a fresh trial to determine the identity of the
convict.
From there, it went up
to the Supreme Court. There, on February 6, 2004 seven justices affirmed the
decision of the Court of Appeal.
The case was
thereafter assigned to Mukhtar for re-trial by FCT Chief Judge Lawal Gummi.
Today, Mukhtar is set to deliver judgment.
But Ibori through his
counsel Alex Izinyon has submitted that the plaintiffs have no case and urged
Mukhtar to dismiss the suit, saying the plaintiffs had failed to point to the
governor as the person convicted.
Other grounds he
listed why the case should be dismissed include:
• The plaintiffs
lack locus standi
(legal right) to institute the action, having failed to testify at the trial
and furnish facts to show their locus standi;
• The only
evidence by PW1 (Awwal Yusuf, Judge at the Bwari Upper Area Court) which has
been subjected to numerous material contradictions under cross examination,
fall far short of proof beyond reasonable doubt prescribed under Section 138 of
the Evidence Act.
• The plaintiffs
have not complied with Sections 225 and 226 of the Evidence Act, laying down
the procedure for proving the identity of a person alleged to have been
convicted in CR/81/95 when the person named in the Certificate of Conviction
(CoC) denies the allegation.
However,
plaintiffs’ lead counsel Gani Fawehinmi argued that he has established
that Ibori was the one convicted.
Fawehinmi, in his
submission, contended that the evidence of Yusuf was water tight as he admitted
before the court that it was Ibori that he tried and convicted in his court for
criminal breach of trust and negligent conduct.
He also relied on the
report of Gummi, where he concluded in the report after an administrative
investigation, that Ibori was the person convicted.
Though Fawehinmi
listed Gummi as one of his witnesses, the court ruled that since the report of
the Chief Judge could be tendered from the bar, there was no need to invite
Gummi to testify in court.
In the cause of the
trial, an itinerary truck driver, James Onanefe Ochuko Ibori, approached the
court through his lawyers, claiming that he was the one convicted in the Bwari
Upper Area Court and not the governor.
But his application to
be joined in the case as a defendant was dismissed for lack of diligent
prosecution as neither himself nor his counsel appeared in court to prosecute the
motion.
Also, contempt
proceedings were brought against Inspector General of Police (IG) Tafa Balogun
when the police failed to produce certain documents, among which was the
interim report on the investigation conducted on the case.
The interim report,
dated February 14, 2003, cleared Ibori of the allegation.
The people of Delta
State have been advised to remain calm as they await today's ruling.
House of
Representatives Petroleum Resources Committee Chairman Cairo Ojougboh made the
call in Abuja on Sunday, saying there is no cause for alarm as God would
vindicate Ibori.
“The governor
will be vindicated, having reposed his confidence and faith in God and in the
capacity of the judiciary to be unbiased.
“I also
personally trust in the capacity of the judiciary to be impartial in the
delivery of justice. I appeal to Delta people to be calm as they await the
judgment. They should even be more supportive of the Governor than before. We
shall triumph” he said .
In his view, Ibori has performed well in office, stressing
that the potential is there to even perform better “but for the
distractions by opponents, which would soon come to an end”.
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