RESPONSE TO EFCC ; My Lekki House Was Never A Secret .... James Ibori

Embattled former governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, has condemned in strong terms the claims by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that it had discovered his “secret mansion” located at No. 5 Alpha Beach Road, Lekki, Lagos – on Thursday, January 24.

The claim by the anti-graft agency, which was widely published  in some Nigerian newspapers and on-line blogs,  was credited to a press statement signed and distributed by EFCC’s spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujiaren.

Condemning the claim in a  statement signed, Sunday,  by  Ibori’s Media Assistant, Tony Eluemunor, the former governor  said that the house could not have been secret at all as it was listed down in Asset Declaration Forms he filled in 1999, 2003 and 2007, maintaining that the house has never been a secret.

According to Ibori, "Despite EFCC’s insinuations to the contrary, the Alpha Beach Road house was built as far back as 1994, and so could not have, by any leap of the imagination, been built with proceeds, corrupt or not corrupt, from my office as State Governor because I began to live in that house five good years before I was voted into office”.

Ibori noted that the only rational explanation for the emergence of the story,  in which, he said,  well-known facts were twisted to deceive the public,  is that as the confiscation process against him progresses, some elements within the EFCC may desperately be trying to manufacture things to uphold their often exaggerated stories about his wealth.

"Also, if the stories published about the house were actually based on EFCC’s statement, it means that the EFCC has accepted that Ibori was actually enormously rich at least half a decade before he became Governor of Delta State- after all, EFCC and the media called the house a “mansion”, describing it in superlative terms.

"So, perhaps trying to hide this fact that Ibori was a man of means before he became governor, the EFCC and their agents are using all infernal tricks to cast doubts about when Ibori actually built that house.

"For the records, Chief Ibori reiterates that the house was not only built in 1994 before he became governor, it has featured in his asset declarations.

" Also, Chief Ibori has been cooperating fully with the Crown Prosecution since the preliminary stages of the confiscation process began, in line with the United Kingdom Criminal Justice Act (CJA) of 1988, so he does not see why the house has become an issue – especially as Nigeria has surrendered her jurisdictional sovereignty to Britain," the statement said.

According to Eluemunor,  in the statement,"Nigerians should note that this is one more evidence that what Ibori has faced, and is still facing even after he has been sentenced, is just political persecution.”