SOURCE LEADERSHIP
Abuja — Against the alarm being raised that the Federal Government is trying to thwart the course of law in the corruption charges leveled against former Delta State governor, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, members of the Delta State Elders, Leaders and Stakeholders Forum yesterday staged a protest march to the office of the Central Bank Nigeria, (CBN), Governor, Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
The protesters, numbering about twenty, all prominent elders of Delta State, took off from the Asokoro home of the leader of the group, Chief Edwin Clark, and were armed with placards whose inscriptions showed that they wanted justice not only to be done in Ibori case, but to be seen as done.
LEADERSHIP gathered that the protesters also visited the office of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Mrs. Farida Waziri.
They were said to have held a closed door meeting where they strategised on how to make their position known in the Ibori case and what they intended to do if justice is undermined.
Apart from alleging that some government officials, spearheaded by the Attorney- General of the Federation, Chief Michael Aondookaa, were making it impossible to have a fair hearing on the Ibori corruption charges, the group also demanded that the presiding judge of the Asaba High Court, Justice Marcel Awokulehin, be disqualified for showing elements of bias.
In an open letter addressed to President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua dated November 3, 2009 and entitled: No Sacred Cows as the Guilty Must be Punished”, the group which made copious reference to some of President Yar Adua’s pronouncements on the anti-corruption crusade as evidence of his determination to eradicate corruption, however, noted with dismay its gradual decline resulting from unpatriotic activities of some of his principal aides.
The group, which also addressed another letter to Justice Awokulehin of the Asaba High court dated November 2, 2009 entitled: “Our Humble Request that you Disqualify Yourself from Presiding Over the Trial of Chief James Onanefe Ibori” listed, among others, the obstacles posed by some presidency officials against a fair trial in the Ibori case.
“Preventing officers from being investigated and prosecuted by the EFCC and other law enforcement agencies through court injunctions, the deliberate refusal of the AGF to cooperate with the British government under the Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement Treaty (MLAT), hurried transfer of Chief Ibori’s case from the Federal High Court Kaduna to a newly, created Federal High Court in Asaba and indicted public officers arrogantly parading themselves as celebrities and sacred cows in and out of the presidency”
Some of the prayers of the group include that the people of Delta State demand for a fair and judicious trial of all charges preferred against Ibori both in London and Asaba, that the AGF should be directed to comply with the request by the British under the MLAT , particularly to make available all the witnesses to the case, the EFCC should be directed to employ the services of an honest and dedicated lawyer to prosecute the cases presently in court and that the case should be transferred from the Asaba Federal High Court, as the judge has not only enriched himself but is presently undergoing disciplinary measures in the National Judicial Council.
kenneth uwadi