Prominent Ijaw leader, Chief
Edwin Clark, on Thursday, said he would appear before any court to testify in
the alleged $15m bribe offered the former Chairman of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, by former Delta State
Governor, James Ibori.
Clark, who spoke with
journalists in Abuja, also called on President Goodluck Jonathan to remove the
current EFCC chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde.
The former Federal Commissioner
for Information described as disappointing the anti-graft agency’s handling of
the alleged Ibori bribe.
Clark, who looked visibly angry,
accused the agency of changing its testimony on the ownership of the money
after it had in 2007, sworn to an affidavit that the said fund was from Ibori.
The Federal Government had on
October 29 asked an Abuja Federal High Court to summon Clark, to explain why he
should not be charged with contempt over statements he allegedly made
concerning the bribe.
The Federal Government, through
the EFCC, and the Delta State Government are claiming ownership of the $15m,
but a private citizen, Mr. Olalekan Bayode, represented by a United
Kingdom-based lawyer, Mr. Femi Aina, joined in the case by asking the court not
to forfeit the cash to any of the two governments.
Aina prayed the court to order
that the money be placed in a trust to be used for the well-being of Nigerians.
Clark said on Thursday, “I am
further alarmed why there should be two contradictory depositions by the EFCC
when Bello Yahaya, a Senior Superintendent of Police with EFCC, first in 2007
in Re: Suit No.FHC/FD/81C/2007 swore to an affidavit that James Ibori made
attempt to bribe them with the $15m in question but made a turnaround in 2012
in Suit N0…FHC/ABJ/CS/415/2012 to state that he had the consent and authority
of the EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde to swear a contrary affidavit ‘that I
know as fact that the said $15m is an unclaimed property and no one has claimed
or shown any link to the sum.’
“From the foregoing, as someone
who has religiously campaigned against corruption and falsehood in Nigeria, I
believe there must be a limit to official deception.
“I therefore find it
unacceptable that the very institution set up to fight these social vices
headed by Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde is now championing falsehood.
“In the light of this, I demand
an immediate restructuring of EFCC so as not to make the international
community view our anti-corruption agencies as ineffective, having displayed
such double standards as in the James Ibori saga.”
Meanwhile, he has called on the
Legal Practitioners Ethics and Privilege Committee of the Nigeria Bar
Association to commence a review of all those conferred with the Senior
Advocate of Nigeria.”
The Punch
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