Ibori’s $15m: EFCC wants contempt charge for Clark

Nnamdi Felix / Abuja

Smarting from a recent call for his removal as head of Nigeria’s anti corruption agency by an elder statesman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Monday called on a Federal High Court siting in Abuja to summon the elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, to appear before the court and show why he should not be cited for contempt of court.

Making the application on behalf of the agency, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, a senior advocate of Nigeria, told the court that the elder statesman had commented on certain salient and live issues in the case of the alleged $15 million Ibori bribe which was allegedly offered to erstwhile head of the agency, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.

The lawyer contended that remarks credited to Chief Clark in some newspapers which arose from a media briefing convened by the elder statesman are prejudicial. He urged the court to summon Chief Clark to appear before it to answer questions as to why he made prejudicial comments that touches on live issues in a pending case.

Chief Clark had, during a press briefing on the raging issue of an application for forfeiture of the alleged Ibori bribe which the anti graft agency had brought before the court, thrown his weight behind claims by Delta state government that the money belonged to the state and should be returned to it. He called for the sack of Ibrahim Lamorde over his roles in the plot to have the sum forfeited to the Federal Government.

He claimed that Lamorde has his eyes of the percentage of the sum that will come to his office if the money is forfeited to the federal government and accused the anti graft agency boss of falsifying the records for his ulterior motives.

Following the controversy created by an application by one self acclaimed oil magnate that the money belonged to him and should be released to him, the Ibori bribe money had been generating multiple ripples on different fronts.

Clark made the call for Lamorde’s sack following what he termed “questionable role of the anti graft agency boss in the controversial bribe money” allegedly given to former EFCC boss, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu to wade off the agency’s investigations into Ibori’s activities as the then governor of delta state.

He accused the EFCC under Lamorde of full of lies and contradictions about the money pointing out statements contained in a counter affidavit deposed to by one Bello Yahaya, an operative of the EFCC which the agency relied upon in opposition to the Delta state government claims for the money to be returned to it.

Chief Clark had further stated that the affidavit deposed to by Mr. Yahaya last August contradicts an earlier one he deposed to in 2007 after the $15m was collected from the home of former Presidential aide, Senator Andy Uba, by Lamorde in the presence of the then EFCC boss, Ribadu. He regretted that the anti graft agency is being portrayed as one that is not transparent, competent and committed to the war against corruption.

In his response to the application by the EFCC for Clark to be summoned by the court, the Attorney General of Delta state, Mr. Wilson Ajuya, also a senior advocate of Nigeria, called on the court to be cautious and not to waste precious time pursuing an issue that is outside the matter before it.

He further noted that summoning the elder statesman at this time will be premature since the court is yet to read and acquaint itself with the newspaper reports upon which the EFCC is basing their application.

In his ruling to the application, Justice Gabriel Kolawole noted that Chief Clark is not a party in the suit pending before his court and that dwelling on comments made by non parties in a suit amounts to searching for the cure for ring worm in a case involving leprosy.

The court however called on Nigerians, especially lawyers like Chief Clark who ought to know, to desist from making comments on matters pending before the court as that will prejudge the outcome of the case.

The court also advised the EFCC, if it is so vexed by comments credited to the elder statesman, to file a formal application to enable Chief Clark respond accordingly in line with his constitutionally guaranteed right to fair hearing.

Meanwhile, another person, Mr. Olalekan Bayode, had also applied to be joined in the Ibori bribe money matter on a public interest locus.

Mr. Bayode wants the government not to release the $15 million to Delta state government but rather to set up a Trust to manage the money on behalf of Nigerians. He hinged his argument on the repatriated funds retrieved fro corrupt politicians in the past which could not be accounted for.

Further proceedings in the case was subsequently adjourned to 19 November at 11 am.