Ibori, Fayose Remanded in Prison till January

Former governors of Delta and Ekiti states, Chief James Ibori and Mr. Ayo Fayose, have been ordered to be remanded in prison custody till January.
This means that the two former governors will spend Christmas and New Year in detention.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting the two ex-governors for alleged corruption and money laundering.
While the Federal High Court, Kaduna, which yesterday turned down the bail application by Ibori, ordered that the ex-governor be remanded in Kaduna Prisons till January 11, 2008 when his trial would resume; the Federal High Court in Lagos where Fayose was arraigned directed that the impeached Ekiti State governor be remanded in prison custody till January 10.
Ironically, the two former governors pleaded with the two courts to remand them in prison custody as opposed to EFCC's custody.
Ibori is being remanded in Kaduna Prisons while Fayose is the guest of Ikoyi Prisons in Lagos.

Justice Mohammed Lawal Shuaibu of the Kaduna court, however, ordered accelerated hearing in respect of Ibori's trial.
Yesterday, some women who thronged the premises of the Kaduna court in solidarity with Ibori resorted to striping themselves half naked to protest his trial and the refusal of the court to grant the ex-governor bail.
Ibori was arraigned last Thursday on a 103 count-charge of money laundering and stealing amounting to about N9.4 billion.
Operatives of the EFCC drove Ibori to the Kaduna Prisons around 11.15 am yesterday where he was formally handed over to prison officials.

EFCC was the first to arrive the court yesterday at about 7.45 am along with Ibori and the second accused person, Ms. Uzoamaka Okoronkwo.
Shortly after taking records of counsel in court for the case by the Judge, EFCC lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, sought to address the court.
He was immediately cut short by the trial Judge who wanted to know what application he (Jacobs) wanted to make.
Before Jacobs could reply, Justice Shuaibu said: "Before you make any application, I will not allow you to arrest my ruling, I am going ahead to read my ruling first before any other thing."

The judge then proceeded to read the ruling.
Justice Shuaibu held that the issue of bail was the prerogative of the judge, stressing that in exercising such discretion the critical issues to be considered were the nature of the offence committed, strength of the offence, likelihood of the accused making himself available for trial and the possibility of the accused interfering with investigations.
Giving the ruling that lasted about 15 minutes, Justice Shuaibu said: "Availability of the accused to stand trial has always been an important factor to be considered by the court. It is my view that same is a statement of fact, which shall ordinarily be made by deposition in an affidavit, likewise, the requirement for reliable surety on the unlikely event that the court is not disposed to granting bail for the accused on self recognition.

"In the light of the above and considering the surrounding circumstances of the case, the accused applicants have not placed before the court sufficient material upon which the court will exercise its favourable discretion in granting the accused persons bail pending trial.
"The oral application for bail in respect of the first and second accused applicants is hereby refused and in the circumstance, an accelerated trial in the case is herby ordered.”
Counsel to Ibori, Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN), who was the first to address the court after the ruling, said since the ruling was not explicit on where to remand Ibori, the court should order the former governor to be remanded in prison custody, preferably Kaduna Prisons since the trial was taking place in Kaduna.
He complained that EFCC was not disposed to allowing the accused access to his counsel, noting that, "EFCC took it upon itself to nominate which counsel of the defence team to see the accused."
He said the request became necessary in view of the fact that EFCC did not have the facilities to enable the accused persons prepare for their defence.
Daudu alleged that since the last ruling, which placed custody of the accused with the commission, Ibori had within three days been moved from EFCC's headquarters to their training school in Karu.

Jacobs expressed shock at the observations, regretting that it was wrong for the accused counsel to bring the complaint first before the court, without first letting him (Jacobs) know.
He insisted that the commission had the best facilities, which, he said, most of the former governors who had played guests to EFCC had publicly attested to.
Jacobs then told the court he had an application to make for an amended charge and would wish the trial to be stood down to accommodate the application.
Daudu also stated that he too wanted the case stood down to enable him file a motion for bail.
Justice Shuaibu reminded the lawyers that they all had a primary responsibility to assist the court discharge justice.

"As far as I am concerned, there is no application before the court," he said and subsequently adjourned the matter to January 11, 2008.
After a long running battle with EFCC and London Metropolitan police, the former governor was arrested by EFCC officials last Wednesday in Abuja.
In the charge sheet, the former governor was said to have used about 15 fictitious names to acquire shares in Afribank to the tune of about N2.77 billion.
Ibori was also accused of making cash payment in the sum of $15,000,000.00 (Fifteen Million Dollars) to bribe officials of the commission in order to influence their investigations on the former governor.

The women who stripped naked yesterday were among hundreds of people said to be from Delta State who besieged the court to show solidarity with the former governor over his travails.
The protesters initially carried placards, which had various inscriptions condemning Ibori's trial.
The placards among others read, "Release Ibori now, Killing Ibori Cannot Kill Resource Control, and Is this Another Plot to Reduce the Chances of South-south Voices."

But when the news filtered outside that the court had refused bail to Ibori, the women immediately turned wild, striping themselves off their blouses, leaving only their braziers alone, while some of them kept rolling on the ground and screaming on top of their voices.
The people who were believed to be Ibori's supporters had arrived the court premises located in the Kawo area of Kaduna State as early as 6.00 am, but were refused entry into the court proper by several hordes of police men who said they were acting on superior orders.
Also yesterday, there was palpable tension in Oghara, the hometown of the embattled former Delta State governor following the failure of the Kaduna court to grant him bail.

However, no incidence of violence was, however, reported despite the fact that several hundreds of people organised pockets of peaceful protests in parts of the state yesterday, at the time of filing this report last night, in connection with the latest development on the Ibori versus EFCC.
Nonetheless, there was heavy security presence especially on the Benin-Warri-Port Harcourt Expressway, apparently to forestall any breakdown of law and order.
The deployment of more security personnel especially in relatively volatile Delta Central and Delta South may not be unconnected with threats of violence from various quarters, particularly by some militant groups, should Ibori be refused court bail yesterday.

Yesterday green leaves and placard-carrying protesters were mostly drawn from Effurun, Oghara, hometown of the embattled ex-governor and the largely Itsekiri axis.
The impeached Ekiti State governor was slammed with a 51-count charge of fraud, money laundering and illegal diversion of public funds totalling over N2billion at the Federal High Court in Lagos.
Like his colleague, Ibori, the impeached Ekiti State governor, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges, after it was read to him in sequential order,
The former governor, who was brought to court at about 10.14 am in a Peugeot Expert Van, with registration number, BM759FKJ, accompanied by two Hilux Tayota buses with registration number EV105EKY and EV104EKY, was escorted by stern-looking security operatives from EFCC and Mobile police force.
Soon after he was ushered into the court, and proceedings started with the introduction of counsel, the charge was read to Fayose.
He pleaded not guilty to each of the charges.

After his plea was taken, his counsel, Mr. Yusuf Ali (SAN), applied orally for his bail, contending that it was normal for the court to hear and entertain oral application for bail and grant same.
He cited many authorities to back his argument.
But the presiding judge, Justice Tijani Abubakar, said in view of the issues of facts that were raised in the matter, the oral bail application could not sufficiently address the issues, hence there was the need to come properly, by filing the necessary bail application.
Consequently, the court noted that there was no application before it and adjourned till January 10, 2008 for the trial.
Counsel to EFCC had earlier sought to amend the charge filed against the accused persons which was granted by the court..
The earlier charge had the name of Goke Olatunji and Gbenga James alongside that of Fayose.
Counsel to Fayose thereafter asked that he (Fayose) be remanded in prison custody, which was not opposed by the EFCC.
Consequent upon this, the court ordered that Fayose be remanded in Ikoyi Prisons in Lagos.

Briefing journalists on why he preferred his client to be remanded in prison custody as against EFCC custody, Ali said from experience, lawyers usually have access to their clients when they are in prison than when they are in EFCC custody.
With an application by EFCC, the court also withdrew the charge against two former aides, Goke Olatunji and Gbenga James, who were charged last year on the same charge, now preferred against Fayose.
THISDAY however, gathered that the two former aides are now prosecution witnesses, as their names were listed by EFCC as witnesses it intends to rely on in prosecuting Fayose.

In order to avoid being humiliated by the anti-graft agency, Fayose had last Friday submitted himself and was detained all through the weekend until yesterday when he was arraigned.
Speaking to newsmen who had laid siege in the commission's office, the former governor said that having not heard from the EFCC following a letter he wrote it, he on his own decided to appear before it.
He said: "I am here today to officially present myself to the EFCC, so that I will have the opportunity to defend myself of all the allegations against me. I volunteered myself to come here (EFCC). I had written the commission that I wanted to come, but got no reply, so I decided to come myself."
Former governors that have been arraigned in court by EFCC over alleged corrupt practices while in office included Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State, Saminu Turaki of Jigawa State, Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu State, Jolly Nyame of Taraba State, Joshua Dariye of Plateau State and Ibori of Delta State who was arraigned last week in Kaduna.