James Ibori Arrested In Dubai

Several sources have confirmed to Saharareporters that James Onanefe Ibori, the fugitive former governor of Delta State, has been arrested. Our sources revealed that Interpol agents picked up Mr. Ibori from his posh apartment in Dubai with assistance of the Dubai police.
Saharareporters’ sources disclosed that a subdued Ibori sent a text message to Mr. Lulu Enobaifo, one of his closest protégés, announcing his arrest. Another source told Saharareporters that former Governor Niyi Adebayo of Ekiti, a close friend of Ibori’s, was overheard telling friends that Ibori had been arrested in Dubai.

Saharareporters received conflicting reports as to which agency initiated the request for Ibori’s arrest. A source in the UK told Saharareporters that Ibori’s arrest was most likely at the instance of the London Metropolitan police. But a different source, speaking from Abuja, said Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which had earlier declared Ibori wanted after he failed to answer an invitation to appear at the agency’s headquarters for questioning on new money laundering allegations, was behind his arrest. If UK authorities requested Ibori’s arrest, then he is likely to be extradited to London where his associates, including a former mistress Udoamaka Okoronkwo, his sister, Christine Ebie-Ibori, and a former personal aide, Ms Pogoson, are facing charges of assisting the former governor to launder billions of naira stolen from Delta State. Their trial is nearing an end at the Southwark Crown Court. Last Monday, lawyers representing Ibori’s associates began making closing arguments. Our legal correspondent in the UK reports that the jury at the Southwark Crown Court is likely to deliver a verdict in a matter of days.

In what a top security source described as “embarrassing,” a combined team of the Nigerian police and EFCC officials could not arrest Ibori – who for a time was holed up in his country home in Oghara, Delta State. “The scandal is that Chief Ibori enjoys support from various top brass of Nigeria’s security agencies,” said the source, a senior official of the State Security Service (SSS) in Abuja. “That’s why he always received information about the plans to arrest him. And that information gave him the edge to mobilize heavily armed thugs who fought to protect him,” added the source.

Saharareporters learnt that Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, Ibori’s maternal cousin and handpicked successor, left Abuja abruptly tonight to return to Asaba, his state capital, after he received information of Ibori’s arrest.

If Ibori is successfully extradited to the UK, he will be the second person to be extradited under the Extradition Treaty and Mutual Legal Assistance signed between the UK and the government of the United Arab Emirates. The first person was Jeleel Ahmed, 28, who was extradited to the UK in August 2009 to face murder charges.

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