SENIOR lawyers are divided over who takes possession of 4.2 million pounds stolen by James Ibori, former Delta State governor.
While some of them say the money should be returned to Delta State, others affirm that it belongs entirely to the federal government.
The United Kingdom had, on Tuesday, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian government in Abuja, to return 4.2 million pound assets stolen by Ibori, who was convicted in the United Kingdom and jailed for corruption in 2012.
The UK has recovered huge sums of money from Ibori, returning it in parts to Nigeria. But part of his largesse has divided opinion in Africa’s most populous country characterised by institutional theft and entrenched corruption.
According to Abubarkar Malami, Nigeria’s attorney-general, the funds were expected to be used for the completion of the Second Niger Bridge, Abuja-Kano Road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and other key infrastructures in the country.
Malami’s disclosure has since generated a lot of controversies and debates among Nigerians, with many asking questions.
Some analysts have accused the federal government of short-changing Delta State by breaking with its precedent of returning looted funds to their state of origin.
They recall that in December 2007, the federal government handed over a cheque for 300,000 pounds ( about N72 million at the time) to Plateau State government, being part of the funds allegedly laundered in London banks by former governor, Joshua Dariye.
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They further noted that more than 5 million pounds recovered from the funds stolen by former Bayelsa State governor Dieprieye Alamieyeseigha was handed over by the federal government to Bayelsa State government in 2012.
While Femi Falana, Babatunde Ajibade, Jiti Ogunye, all senior advocates of Nigeria, opine that the money should be returned to Delta State from where it was initially looted, other senior advocates disagree.
Femi Falana, human rights lawyer, said that the federal government lacked the ‘locus standi’ to determine how the loot recovered from Ibori should be spent.
“The federal government has no locus standi with respect to how the money is spent. That is left for the people of Delta State to monitor the government of that state to ensure that the fund is not relooted,” Falana said, as earlier reported by The ICIR.
Both Ajibade and Ogunye have argued, like Falana, that the government should immediately return the money to Delta State.
However, Yemi Candide-Johnson and Kunle Adegoke (SANs), during their appearance on a radio programme on Nigeria Info, on Thursday, explained why the state government had no valid claim to the money.
They argued that the UK government-owned the money in accordance with its laws authorising it to confiscate proceeds of crime from persons convicted via the British judicial system, such as Ibori.
Ibori loot: Stop disbursement of funds pending determination of ownership -Reps
Nigeria, they argued, could not breach the terms of that agreement without consequences.
“The strict legal answer is that the money belonged to the British government, ” Candide-Johnson said.
“The process by which the proceeds of crime is extracted from the hands of criminals such as a convict like James Ibori, the law is quite clear that the government is to deprive criminals of the proceeds of their crime, (and it) has the power to take that money wherever it can be found,:” he further said.
“Governments across the world take possession of proceeds of crime and that is like a fine.”
Adegoke also maintained the same position about ownership of the soon-to-be repatriated funds.
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