Ex-convict and former Gov of Delta State, Ibori, arrives Nigeria

Ex-convict and former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, who was recently released from a London prison landed in Nigeria on Saturday.

He reportedly returned to Nigeria through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja.

The former governor who gained his freedom in December 2016, having spent four-and-a-half years in a United Kingdom prison for money laundering, reportedly came into Abuja by a British Airways flight which is said to have landed at the airport at about 5:25am.

He was received by family members and friend who were excited to see him back to the country.

Ibori, who was learnt to have arrived with a British Airways Boeing 777 aircraft with registration G-VIID, had on Friday appeared before a Southwark Crown Court in London, for the court proceeding on forfeiture of his asset.

Earlier report on Thursday had claimed that the former governor, who is still facing assets forfeiture charges in the United Kingdom secured victory at a London court on Wednesday, when the judge trying his case rejected the request by the British Home Office to get his case transferred to another court.

Read also: Ibori freed, FG begins ex-Delta governor’s extradition process

A statement by his media assistant, Mr. Tony Eluemunor, said the British government had attempted to withdraw the case from Court 5, before Mr. Justice Garnham to either the Queen’s Bench Division or the Crown Court, but Ibori’s lawyers argued that this was a delay tactic by the Crown.

Based on the argument, the judge refused to grant the transfer, insisting that the case will remain in his Royal Court of Justice.

Ibori was accused and sentenced to jail by British Government for stealing about $250million from Delta State when he was governor of the state. He used part of the money in acquiring six houses and luxury vehicles in the UK, South Africa and the United States.

Later reports say Ibori, upon arrival, may have been asked over for brief questioning by the Department of State Security Services (DSS) but that he was not going to be detained.

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