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| Mugshot of Ibori |
At a meeting between the Minister of
Interior, Comrade Abba Moro and the United Kingdom’s Minister of Justice,
Jeremy Wright, the Federal Government said it is in the mutual interest of both
countries that the Prisoners’ Transfer Agreement be implemented especially
because of the traditional relationship between them.
The agreement had earlier been
signed by Wright and the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed
Adoke.
The agreement would also see the UK
government extending millions of pounds in aid to the Federal Government for
the rehabilitation of some local prisons for that purpose.
National Mirror checks revealed that
nearly 600 Nigerians are serving various terms in UK prisons while only one
Briton is said to be serving in Nigeria. Under the terms of the agreement, a
prisoner must have spent at least 12 months in a UK prison to be eligible for
transfer to Nigeria.
Ibori was sentenced to prison by a
London court in April 2012 and therefore his eligibility is not in doubt. Under
the agreement, the former governor has no choice of remaining in the UK as it
is compulsory for those who have spent over 12 months in the country’s prisons
to be transferred back to Nigeria.
Wright said that the eligibility of
Ibori to complete his prison term in Nigeria would be determined by Nigeria and
the UK governments.
“In relation to individual
prisoners, there has to be a good deal of discussion between our two countries
about individual prisoners and the agreement of both countries to be secured
before individual transfers.
“The compulsory nature of this
prisoner transfer agreement is that the prisoners’ themselves do not have to
choose where they go or not but the respective countries do still have an
opportunity to discuss whether a transfer should be made,’’ he said.
At the meeting, Moro said one of the
biggest challenges facing Nigeria’s prison system is congestion but added that
the presence of such a challenge is not a good reason not to do things the
right way.
He expressed the commitment of the
Federal Government to seeing to the full implementation of the agreement,
adding that a committee would be set up to implement the agreement.
Already, the government said it has
designated six prisons including that of Koton- Karfe and Nnewi for the purpose
of the agreement, adding that five of them, which were built in the 1980’s are
currently undergoing intensive renovations.
Although no specific date of
implementation was announced for the agreement, both ministers were of the firm
belief that before the end of the year, many prisoners would have been
transferred.
Ibori was jailed in April 2012, for
13 years for fraud and money-laundering The London Southwark Crown Court, where
he was sentenced, was told the amount he stole from the people of Delta state
was “unquantified”.
His sentence was announced by Judge
Anthony Pitts. Sasha Wass, QC, prosecuting him, had told the court Ibori
“deliberately and systematically” defrauded the people he was elected to
represent. Senate President David Mark, also applauded the Prisoners Transfer
Agreement assuring that Nigeria would uphold the agreement.
The Senate president, who spoke
while receiving Wright on a separate occasion yesterday, noted that there were
many patriotic and credible Nigerians doing business abroad, but some bad eggs
had caused the misgivings about the country.
He also requested Britain, as an
older democracy, to help Nigeria improve and sustain democracy. Wright, who was
accompanied by the British Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Andrew Pocock, expressed
appreciation to Nigeria for making the agreement possible, assuring that his
country would fulfill its own part of the bargain.
Also yesterday, Mark played host to
the outgoing Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Deng Boqing, where both leaders
pledged the continued socio- economic cooperation between the two nations.
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