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Ibori closes defence, tenders
three more documents
Rotimi
Fadeyi,
Senior
Correspondent,
Abuja
Governor
James Onanefe Ibori of Delta State on Monday closed his defence in the
case brought against him by two members of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP),Goodnews Agbi and Anthony Alabi, alleging that he(Ibori) was the one
convicted by a Bwari Upper Area Court on September 28, 1995 over criminal
breach of trust and negligence.
But
before he closed his defence, three vital documents were tendered by one
of his counsel, Dr. Alex Izinyon (SAN) and admitted as exhibits. They
include: Ibori�s petition to the president dated January 27, 2003; his
statement to the police and This Day
Publication of Tuesday March 25, 2003.
The
This Day
publication contained the reproduced report signed by the Inspector
General of Police (IGP) where the governor was cleared of the allegation
levelled against him by the plaintiffs.
The three
documents tendered as exhibits on Monday brought to 11 the total number of
exhibits tendered in the cause of the trial in the civil case. One exhibit
was tendered in the contempt proceeding against the IGP, but was later
dropped.
Counsel
in the case have now been ordered to file and exchange written submission
before October 29 when they are expected to adopt the written submissions
and expatiate on the claims of their clients before the court would now
fix date for judgement.
While
Justice Husseni Mukhtar gave Ibori�s legal team up October 25 to serve its
written submission on counsel to the plaintiffs, Chief Gani Fawehinmi
(SAN), the court also directed Fawehinmi to serve his own submission on
Ibori�s counsel the next day.
However,
Justice Mukhtar granted Izinyon the right of reply to the written brief of
Fawehinmi before it would now be adopted in court.
On
October 12, Justice Hussein Mukhtar had earlier admitted from the bar the
interim report which exonerated Ibori and which the Police refused to
tender in court after eight times sitting.
The
report of February last year 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
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