Saharareporters, New York
Dateline: Abuja, December 13, 2007
More facts are now emerging from the UK over the fraudulent life history of James Ibori and his wife, Theresa Nkoyo Ibori (nee Nakanda).
Saharareporters investigators have unearthed never-before-published information about Ibori's criminal past in London in the early 1990's.
According to UK court documents obtained by Saharareporters, James Ibori was twice convicted for stealing and dishonest acts by UK courts in 1991 and 1992.
In his first trial, his then girlfriend (now wife), Theresa Nakanda, was convicted along with Mr. Ibori on January 25, 1991 at the Isleworth Crown Court in London.
In that trial, Theresa Nakanda, who gave her date of birth as January 5th 1968, was convicted on two counts and fined £300 and £450. James Ibori, who, according to court documents, gave his date of birth as August 4th 1962, was also fined in the same amounts. At the time of his conviction, Ibori lived in the Middlesex area of London.
Ibori (who used "Obori" as his last name) was working as store cashier in London with Wickes, a home improvement chain. The court case charged that Ibori aided his girlfriend, Theresa Nakanda, to steal building materials from the store over a period of time.According to the prosecutors, Ms. Nakanda would come into the store where Ibori was a cashier to “buy” building materials and Ibori, as the cashier, would act as if she had paid for the products by checking her out through his cashier slot. She never paid.
Court details revealed that Ibori and his girlfriend carried on their defrauding of Wickes for a long period of time. Unknown to them, security cameras monitored their activities and, sometime in 1991, policemen were called in to arrest both Ibori and Theresa Nakanda. The Isleworth Crown Court convicted them both for stealing. They were let go after paying 300 and 450 pounds each as fines for stealing and dishonest acts.
Despite that conviction, Ibori continued his acts of fraud in the UK. In 1992 he was arrested for using an American Express Gold credit card stolen from another person. He was tried at the Clerkenwell Magistrate’s Court and convicted for stealing and credit card fraud. Again, the court imposed fines of £300 and £400 respectively as penalty.
Ironically, a man named James Ibori—and widely believed to be the ex-governor of Delta State—was in 1995 convicted by a Bwari Magistrate court in Abuja for stealing building materials.
However, when two citizens of Delta State challenged Ibori’s competence to run for governorship by drawing attention to his conviction, the former governor, according to a lawyer who asked not to be named, heavily bribed judges of the Federal Appeals Court as well as justices of the Supreme Court.
“The judges who handled the case ignored obvious testimonies by the judge who convicted Ibori, and ruled that Governor James Ibori was not the same James Ibori who was convicted,” said the lawyer. “It was a sad moment for the Nigerian judiciary. It was as if there was another James Ibori out there. The judges knew better. There is no other Ibori who was convicted apart from the man who was governor. Nobody has ever heard of or seen the other ‘Ibori’. He doesn’t exist.”
Ibori’s reputation as a big briber may now complicate his case before a Federal High Court in Kaduna where he was yesterday charged on more than a hundred counts of corruption, graft and money laundering.
In May, 2007, Ibori tried to bribe Nuhu Ribadu, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, with $15 million in order to persuade the commission to drop corruption charges against him.
Saharareporters learnt that several staff members of Ibori’s staff delivered the staggering amount to Ribadu’s Abuja home in cash. Unknown to Ibori, EFCC operatives secured the money to use it to bolster their case before the Kaduna Federal High Court.
Ibori’s criminal past in London seemed to prepare him for dabbling in the bloodier assignment of working undercover for the repressive regime led by the late General Sani Abacha.
Records show that, soon after Ibori’s second conviction, he slipped out of the UK and returned to Nigeria where he joined hands with the military regime that was badly in need of underground killers during Abacha's reign of terror.
Ibori has been fingered in the assassination of Pa Alfred Rewane, one of the most outspoken critics of Abacha’s rule. Ibori reportedly led the killer gang that shot Pa Rewane, a financier of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), in the early days of Abacha’s murderous reign.
Ibori was handsomely rewarded by Abacha and Major al Mustapha, the ex-dictator’s chief security officer. Funded by Abacha, James Ibori started Diet newspapers in Lagos. In order to pave the way for Diet newspaper to thrive, Abacha clamped down on major Lagos-based newspapers, including the Guardian and Punch. However, when Abacha needed to frame up journalists for a coup plot, Ibori was quick to sacrifice one of his editors named Niran Malaolu to the Abacha government. Malaoulu was tried and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Abacha regime for plotting to overthrow the government.
Ibori may have confessed to EFCC investigators about his UK convictions, according to a source privy to his interrogations.
Armed with information on Ibori's prior convictions, security agencies in Nigeria have requested the Interpol to compile and secure a database of Nigerians convicted for criminal activities in the U.S. and Europe. The database may be used to run background checks on serving political office holders.
Two lawmakers of the National Assembly, a Senator from the South Eastern state of Anambra, Annie Okonkwo who was allegedly convicted on drug charges in the US and Doris Uboh (convicted for credit card fraud with her brother) who represents Ika federal constituency of Delta State are said to be scared stiff about the desire of the FBI to send a database of convicted US-based Nigerian criminals to their Nigerian security counterparts.
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