December 26, 2007
These are no easy times for the former Governor James Ibori of Delta State as several of his close associates have now deserted him albeit temporarily. Several sources revealed to Saharareporters that a number of the former governor’s business associates have taken flight to the UK, the US or to unknown parts of the world to hide until the pressure from the EFCC calms down before returning back to Nigeria.
When Ibori was first arrested by the EFCC on Wednesday, December 12 2007, his associates and friends rallied around to get him to work towards bailing out of EFCC custody as soon as the ex-governor was arraigned in court. They held several meetings to discuss several strategies aimed at getting the former governor granted bail on soft terms or even freed. Part of their strategies included using threat of militants as well as deploying pressure groups and rented crowds to intimidate the EFCC and the Federal High Court judge.
His associates waxed with confidence that a cocktail of methods would do the magic. In separate interviews, several of them told Saharareporters that they expected Ibori to be let off soon after his arraignment at the Federal High Court Kaduna. Saharareporters has learnt that the Ibori’s associates under-estimated the resolve of anti-corruption officials and the Metropolitan Police in London to keep James Ibori in jail for longer than they had expected.
Forlorn and scared, associates of the former governor have now taken to their heels to avoid falling with their benefactor as he cools his heels behind bars at Kaduna prison.
Mr. Henry Imasekka, a front man used by the former governor to buy off Wilbross Nigeria in a $155 million transaction, has skipped town. He first traveled to London, but has recently been sighted at his multi-million dollar home in Aventura, (Miami), Florida.
A source told Saharareporters that Ibori was very dismayed by Henry Imasekka’s propensity for running away as well as his associate’s greedy nature. “Even from jail, Chief Ibori has started working on how to recoup his investment from Henry,” the source disclosed.
Another close associate of Ibori’s who has fled Nigeria is Tokunbo Lulu Enobaifo, a British-Nigerian who took a hike from the US some years ago due to undisclosed legal problems. Lulu briefly visited with James Ibori in Kaduna after he was arrested, but he too is currently in London cooling off away while hiding from the pressures of Ibori’s arrest and prosecution. According to one friend who spoke to us, Lulu said he was visiting his family in the UK. The same source told Saharareporters that Ibori rehabilitated Lulu by asking him to return to Nigeria when his US legal problems became unbearable. “Ibori made Lulu a millionaire and a well -patronized bachelor living in high-brow Parkview, Ikoyi, Lagos, but his eccentricity made Ibori trust him less,” revealed a close associate of both men. He said Lulu Enobaifo is scared of being picked up by the EFCC and may wait a little longer in the UK, at least until the IG can successfully transfer Nuhu Ribadu to NIPSS, Kuru-Jos.
David Edevbie, Ibori’s former commissioner of finance who was involved in many of the scams perpetrated by the former governor, has also skipped town. Edevbie arrived Miami last week with his entire family in tow in order to avoid being picked up by the EFCC for his role in the unprecedented looting of Delta State during Ibori’s 8-year rule.
Also sighted in Miami is Nogie Meggison, the MD of Ibori’s airline, Wings Aviation Limited. Meggison’s name featured prominently in money laundering activities that saw Ibori almost purchasing a private jet from Bombardier Aerospace Company in Canada. The Metropolitan Police anti-fraud unit truncated the transaction, worth over $20 million, when it successfully got UK courts to freeze Ibori’s worldwide assets including the Bombardier Challenger jet. The jet was left at a hangar in Canada. Meggison also owns an expensive flat at 20201 East Country Club Drive, Aventura (Miami), Florida. Two other Ibori’s associates Olusegun Fowora (lives in Apartment #807) and Henry E. Imasekka (lives in Apartment #1802 same address to which his Heritage Investments, LLC is registered)—also own choice ocean view flats in the same address.
Our sources also said they have been unable to ascertain the whereabouts of Dere Otubu (son of Baba Aladura Otubu) and Ebisan Rewane, one of the sons of the late Chief Alfred Rewane who was slain a few years ago by assassins believed to include Ibori himself. Our source said Ibori had since stupendously enriched Ebisan Rewane to appease the family over the assassination of their patriarch, Pa Rewane.
Also missing in action is Tony Anenih, Jr., the first son of Mr. Anthony Anenih, former chairman of the Board of Trustees of the ruling PDP. The young Anenih is reportedly laying low in the UK, allowing his father to help keep him in Ibori’s good books by visiting the former governor in Kaduna prison. Tony Anenih Jnr. is known to be a major accomplice in Ibori’s money laundering activities.
Our sources revealed that a few of Ibori’s friends are sticking it out for him. Even some associates said to be at loggerheads with him are reportedly trying to make up with him to discourage him from implicating them as accomplices.
Former California-based attorney, Ovie Omo Agege, is reported to be organizing Ibori’s legal team, with all expenses paid from the coffers of the Delta State government. Mr. Agege was the commissioner for special duties and later, briefly, the Secretary to the State Government under Ibori. He once boasted to a newspaper reporter that as the Commissioner for Special Duties to Ibori, it was his job to pick the ex-governor’s grey hair.
The California Bar suspended omo-Agege in May 1996. He then bore the name of Augustine Ovie Omo-Agege with attorney number 162185. His debarment followed his conviction for violating California Penal Code §470 for forgery, a felony offense involving moral turpitude. He remains the person picking off Ibori’s grey hairs occasioned by his legal troubles with the EFCC.
Omo-Agege takes care of Ibori’s legal team. Agege owns a multi-million-naira mansion in Orogun, his hometown. He built the house while serving as Ibori’s commissioner for Special Duties. He also runs a construction firm that got most of the road contracts given by the Ibori regime. Now 47, Mr. Agege organizes the flights that take people to Kaduna to visit Ibori. He is also associated with the setting up of a James Ibori Center for Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Platteville. John Ifediora, a Nigerian-born economics professor, manages the center.
Last week, former Minister of Police Affairs Professor Osamor died shortly after visiting Ibori in prison. His death has not discouraged others from trooping to pay homage to the ex-governor.
Saharareporters in Kaduna sighted former Ekiti State Governor of Niyi Adebayo. Also Mr. Andy Uba, former senior special assistant on domestic matters to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, was seen visiting Ibori in what one insider source described as a fence-mending mission. Uba, whose police escorts were three days ago yanked by Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, visited Ibori in the company of Alhaji Aliko Dangote.
Ibori, who was instrumental to Okiro’s appointment, was reportedly behind the removal of Uba’s police escorts. Ibori is miffed by Andy Uba’s role in pocketing most of Ibori’s N9 billion contributions to Umar Yar’adua’s presidential campaign funds. Ibori, who illegally funneled his state’s funds into the Yar’adua campaign, believes that Uba and former President Obasanjo squandered a huge part of his cash donation.
A source close to Ibori said the embattled governor suspects that Uba’s embezzlement of his campaign donation was the chief reason Yar’adua is not doing enough to save him in his present travails.
When Ibori was first arrested by the EFCC on Wednesday, December 12 2007, his associates and friends rallied around to get him to work towards bailing out of EFCC custody as soon as the ex-governor was arraigned in court. They held several meetings to discuss several strategies aimed at getting the former governor granted bail on soft terms or even freed. Part of their strategies included using threat of militants as well as deploying pressure groups and rented crowds to intimidate the EFCC and the Federal High Court judge.
His associates waxed with confidence that a cocktail of methods would do the magic. In separate interviews, several of them told Saharareporters that they expected Ibori to be let off soon after his arraignment at the Federal High Court Kaduna. Saharareporters has learnt that the Ibori’s associates under-estimated the resolve of anti-corruption officials and the Metropolitan Police in London to keep James Ibori in jail for longer than they had expected.
Forlorn and scared, associates of the former governor have now taken to their heels to avoid falling with their benefactor as he cools his heels behind bars at Kaduna prison.
Mr. Henry Imasekka, a front man used by the former governor to buy off Wilbross Nigeria in a $155 million transaction, has skipped town. He first traveled to London, but has recently been sighted at his multi-million dollar home in Aventura, (Miami), Florida.
A source told Saharareporters that Ibori was very dismayed by Henry Imasekka’s propensity for running away as well as his associate’s greedy nature. “Even from jail, Chief Ibori has started working on how to recoup his investment from Henry,” the source disclosed.
Another close associate of Ibori’s who has fled Nigeria is Tokunbo Lulu Enobaifo, a British-Nigerian who took a hike from the US some years ago due to undisclosed legal problems. Lulu briefly visited with James Ibori in Kaduna after he was arrested, but he too is currently in London cooling off away while hiding from the pressures of Ibori’s arrest and prosecution. According to one friend who spoke to us, Lulu said he was visiting his family in the UK. The same source told Saharareporters that Ibori rehabilitated Lulu by asking him to return to Nigeria when his US legal problems became unbearable. “Ibori made Lulu a millionaire and a well -patronized bachelor living in high-brow Parkview, Ikoyi, Lagos, but his eccentricity made Ibori trust him less,” revealed a close associate of both men. He said Lulu Enobaifo is scared of being picked up by the EFCC and may wait a little longer in the UK, at least until the IG can successfully transfer Nuhu Ribadu to NIPSS, Kuru-Jos.
David Edevbie, Ibori’s former commissioner of finance who was involved in many of the scams perpetrated by the former governor, has also skipped town. Edevbie arrived Miami last week with his entire family in tow in order to avoid being picked up by the EFCC for his role in the unprecedented looting of Delta State during Ibori’s 8-year rule.
Also sighted in Miami is Nogie Meggison, the MD of Ibori’s airline, Wings Aviation Limited. Meggison’s name featured prominently in money laundering activities that saw Ibori almost purchasing a private jet from Bombardier Aerospace Company in Canada. The Metropolitan Police anti-fraud unit truncated the transaction, worth over $20 million, when it successfully got UK courts to freeze Ibori’s worldwide assets including the Bombardier Challenger jet. The jet was left at a hangar in Canada. Meggison also owns an expensive flat at 20201 East Country Club Drive, Aventura (Miami), Florida. Two other Ibori’s associates Olusegun Fowora (lives in Apartment #807) and Henry E. Imasekka (lives in Apartment #1802 same address to which his Heritage Investments, LLC is registered)—also own choice ocean view flats in the same address.
Our sources also said they have been unable to ascertain the whereabouts of Dere Otubu (son of Baba Aladura Otubu) and Ebisan Rewane, one of the sons of the late Chief Alfred Rewane who was slain a few years ago by assassins believed to include Ibori himself. Our source said Ibori had since stupendously enriched Ebisan Rewane to appease the family over the assassination of their patriarch, Pa Rewane.
Also missing in action is Tony Anenih, Jr., the first son of Mr. Anthony Anenih, former chairman of the Board of Trustees of the ruling PDP. The young Anenih is reportedly laying low in the UK, allowing his father to help keep him in Ibori’s good books by visiting the former governor in Kaduna prison. Tony Anenih Jnr. is known to be a major accomplice in Ibori’s money laundering activities.
Our sources revealed that a few of Ibori’s friends are sticking it out for him. Even some associates said to be at loggerheads with him are reportedly trying to make up with him to discourage him from implicating them as accomplices.
Former California-based attorney, Ovie Omo Agege, is reported to be organizing Ibori’s legal team, with all expenses paid from the coffers of the Delta State government. Mr. Agege was the commissioner for special duties and later, briefly, the Secretary to the State Government under Ibori. He once boasted to a newspaper reporter that as the Commissioner for Special Duties to Ibori, it was his job to pick the ex-governor’s grey hair.
The California Bar suspended omo-Agege in May 1996. He then bore the name of Augustine Ovie Omo-Agege with attorney number 162185. His debarment followed his conviction for violating California Penal Code §470 for forgery, a felony offense involving moral turpitude. He remains the person picking off Ibori’s grey hairs occasioned by his legal troubles with the EFCC.
Omo-Agege takes care of Ibori’s legal team. Agege owns a multi-million-naira mansion in Orogun, his hometown. He built the house while serving as Ibori’s commissioner for Special Duties. He also runs a construction firm that got most of the road contracts given by the Ibori regime. Now 47, Mr. Agege organizes the flights that take people to Kaduna to visit Ibori. He is also associated with the setting up of a James Ibori Center for Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Platteville. John Ifediora, a Nigerian-born economics professor, manages the center.
Last week, former Minister of Police Affairs Professor Osamor died shortly after visiting Ibori in prison. His death has not discouraged others from trooping to pay homage to the ex-governor.
Saharareporters in Kaduna sighted former Ekiti State Governor of Niyi Adebayo. Also Mr. Andy Uba, former senior special assistant on domestic matters to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, was seen visiting Ibori in what one insider source described as a fence-mending mission. Uba, whose police escorts were three days ago yanked by Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, visited Ibori in the company of Alhaji Aliko Dangote.
Ibori, who was instrumental to Okiro’s appointment, was reportedly behind the removal of Uba’s police escorts. Ibori is miffed by Andy Uba’s role in pocketing most of Ibori’s N9 billion contributions to Umar Yar’adua’s presidential campaign funds. Ibori, who illegally funneled his state’s funds into the Yar’adua campaign, believes that Uba and former President Obasanjo squandered a huge part of his cash donation.
A source close to Ibori said the embattled governor suspects that Uba’s embezzlement of his campaign donation was the chief reason Yar’adua is not doing enough to save him in his present travails.
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