Saharareporters.com has gathered from reliable sources that current
Aso Rock occupant Umar Yar’adua and Attorney General Michael
Andoakaa are perfecting a new plan to protect former governors
against prosecution by the British authorities.
The new plan calls for former Governor Peter Odili of Rivers State to
sue the British Broadcasting Corporation while Mr. Andoakaa would
question the propriety of British authorities trying former Governor
James Ibori of Delta State.
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Recently, Mr. Aondoaaka released to a few Nigerian journalists a letter
from the Crown Prosecution Service, signed by David M. Williams, a
CPS solicitor, on behalf of the Home Secretary. The letter officially
requested Nigeria’s assistance in the investigation of former Delta
State Governor James Ibori.
In leaking the letter, Andoakaa was playing a new card in the game to
shield Ibori and other governors accused of corruption and money
laundering by the British Police and the EFCC.
'The attorney general commented that the British “request is not
appropriate — it did not come through the proper channels” and that
the signatory, David Williams, was “not the competent authority to
make this request.”
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“The Yar’adua government’s new game plan is to quibble over every
small technical detail, and to frustrate the British effort to prosecute
Ibori,” disclosed a Ministry of Justice official who is an insider in the
new game plan. “Some of us advised against this move, but for
obvious and strange reasons the Yar’adua government wants to
shield corrupt officials.
It makes nonsense of our nation’s experience with corruption if the
government is maneuvering to get big shot embezzlers off the hook.
How are we ever going to look the British in the face and say we are
fighting corruption?”
In a response to Andoakaa’s argument, the British Home secretary
stated that he is the ultimate UK Justice authority; that the Crown
Prosecution Service reports to him and is the appropriate authority
delegated by the Home Secretary to issue formal requests for
juridical assistance from foreign jurisdictions. He also stated that the
individual who drafts the letter is not relevant since the request was
made on behalf of Her Majesty's government.
The British letter also complained that AGF Michael Aondoakaa was
putting every conceivable obstacle in the way of those seeking to
assist Nigeria in locating and repatriating tens of millions of dollars
misappropriated and stolen by Nigerian public officials.
Meanwhile, Peter Odili, reputed to be one of the biggest money
launderers of the last eight years, has sued the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC) for “defamation of character.”
Close sources to the Andoakaa told Saharareporters that Peter Odili,
who recently failed to secure a court order stopping his arrest in
Nigeria, was prompted by the Yar'adua government to sue the BBC
for libel.
The idea is to pressure the British authorities and media to freeze the
big publicity trailing revelations of money laundering and corrupt
enrichment by serving and former Nigerian government officials.
“Like his predecessor, Yar’adua has little stomach to mount a serious
campaign against corruption,” said a source close to the “president’s”
thinking. “Obasanjo had vindictive motives for fighting the war. He
wanted to put his foes on edge—and on the run.
Yar’adua doesn’t have a vindictive agenda, and is too close to many
corrupt officials, including Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Ibori and
Atiku Abubakar, to feel any urgency about combating corruption.”
Several British newspapers have reported that corrupt former
governors in the Niger Delta funded Yar’adua’s electoral campaign.
Apart from Ibori, who gave N10 billion to support Yar'adua's
presidential campaigns, Peter Odili and the current Vice President
Jonathan Goodluck also contributed billions of naira in looted state
resources to fund the Yar'adua campaign.
Yar'adua has never denied these allegations.
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