There is certainly a Judgment day for every act or misconduct of man. Was it not late Dele Giwa that wrote on marble that “No evil will go unpunished: every evil done against fellowmen shall be punished. If not now certainly later, if not by man certainly by God. For the victory of evil over good is only temporary”. Sigmund Freud, (1856-1939), Austrian psychiatrist once said, “I have found little that is good about human beings on the whole. In my experience most of them are trash, no matter whether they publicly ascribe to this or that ethical doctrine or to none at all”. Yet Homer, a Greek Poet stated “of all the creatures that creep and breathe on the earth there is none more wretched than man”. George Augustus Moore (1852-1933) an Anglo-Irish novelist puts it this way, “Humanity is a pigsty where liars, hypocrites and the obscene in spirit congregate”. For Samuel Butler (1835-1902) an English writer, “All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income”.
But to crown it all, the Holy Bible and the Holy Koran have certain allusions to money and wealth. “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favour rather than silver and gold” see Proverbs 22:1. “Will thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven” see also proverbs 23:5. In the New Testament Jesus remarked, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” Matthew 19:24, In Surah al-Isra 37 (Koran) it is written, “And do not walk upon the earth exultantly. Indeed you will never tear the earth (apart), and you will never reach the mountains in height”.
It seems Governor James Onanefe Ibori never read anything about life and nature. He does not seem to have read the Bible which reveals that there is a Judgment Day for any act of men. Ps. E.G. Kogbara is a man of God that has a good command of English Language and mastery of his sermon. During the funeral service of his friend and late preacher, Ps. M.S. Tanen, at the Field Headquarters of the Apostolic Church, Bodo last year, the man of God took his text from the book of Ecclesiastes 12:14. I shall reproduce that verse of the Bible. “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
Apostle E.G. Kogbara stated in his brief sermon that he was not worried by the first part of the verse, “for God shall bring everything to judgment”, because it is an over-beaten path. Every body knows that one but that the striking aspect is the phrase “with every secret thing”. That is the area that strikes me too. “With every secret thing”. So there is nothing one can hide from God. No wonder, late Dele Giwa said, “for the victory of evil over good is only temporary”. All these, former Governor of Delta state, James Ibori never thought of. He felt one could eat one’s cake and still have it. So also many of his colleagues or present Governors who loot public funds think.
Like I said in one of my previous articles, most Governors have constructed an underground conduit pipe from the various Government Houses to their various personal residences, accounts and oversea accounts to milk their various state dried. The travail of Onanefe Ibori sounds like a mere noise in their ears. That is why an Ibo proverbs goes “He whom the gods want to kill, they first him go mad”.
The criminal history of James Onanefe Ibori did not begin today.
But he did not remember the proverb said in his village of Oghara that “everyday is for the thief but one day is for the owner of the farm”.
On February, 26, 2012, James Onanefe Ibori, a renowned Chief in Delta state pleaded guilty to a 10 count charge of money laundering at a Southwark Crown Court,9 in London.
Ibori James was accused of stealing 250 million pounds during his eight-year tenure in office.
Ibori admitted before the court charges of money laundry, obtaining a property by deception and theft of more than 250 million pounds while he was Governor of Delta state. Ibori also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to make false instruments and money laundry linked to a 37 million Us Dollar share fraud surrounding the sale of shares in Nigeria Telecommunications Company, V-mobile.
Paul Whatmore, detective inspector, who spoke to newsmen after the arraignment, stated, “the scale can only be described as huge. He laundered vast sums of money, which were used to fund his lavish lifestyle. The real harm in this case is the potential loss to the people in some of the poorest regions in the world”. Paul Whatmore, a Briton looks more patriotic in his speech concerning the poor people of Niger Delta or Delta state but Ibori who ruled them for eight years was only looting them. Ibori is a heartless ruler and calling him a wicked man is even charitable. He is the devilist devil that has ever ruled the people of Delta state. What else do you expect from a longtime thief and an established criminal?
It was reported that James Onanefe Ibori had been convicted twice in London Court of theft charges. In the first criminal case, James Onanefe Ibori and Theresa Nakanda, then his girlfriend, now wife were convicted at the Isle worth crown court in London on January 25th, 1991. The facts were that Ibori lived in the Middlesex area of London. He was a cashier with wickes, a home improvement chain. He was charged with stealing of building materials from his place of work with the aid of his then girlfriend, Nakanda.
Again, in 1991, Newswatch magazine, March 12, 2012 at Pg 29 reports that Ibori was arrested for using an American gold credit card stolen from another person.
He was charged in clerkenwell Magistrate court and convicted for stealing and credit card fraud.
Tell magazine, of March 12, 2012, Pg 51 also reports that as though James Ibori was tired of the serial conviction in the UK, he returned to Nigeria intending to become a political operator in 1993. In the run-up to the April, 2003 general election for a second term of office, Mersrs Goodnews Agbi and Anthony Alabi went to court to challenge his eligibility for the exalted office of a state governor. They argued that he is an ex-convict. Not in the various U.K. convictions. Indeed the duo were oblivious of the U.K. convictions if not they would have blown it up with the dimension the matter took that time. Agbi and Alabi argued that James Onanefe Ibori was the same James Onanefe Ibori that was convicted for criminal negligence and theft of building materials (you can remember that one of his crimes in the U.K. was in respect of building materials). So Ibori can be said to have so much criminal penchant for building materials. This one in Nigeria was at Usman Dam near Bwari in the Federal capital territory, Abuja in 1995.
Barr. Gideon Kpoobari Girigiri
08036784327
