The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s battle with Chief James Ibori might have assumed a diplomatic dimension as the Federal Government is considering withdrawing the operating licence of Emirates Airline, a Presidency source told Sunday Punch in Abuja on Friday.


The airline, which operates commercial flights from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to Nigeria, is that country‘s national carrier.


The sanction against the airline is a form of protest against the UAE authorities’ seeming unwillingness to extradite Ibori to the United Kingdom to face corruption trial, for which his sister and a female associate were convicted last week.


The former Delta State governor is also wanted in Nigeria to answer questions over alleged corruption charges in connection with his eight years stewardship.
Emirates Airlines, which is based in Dubai, the commercial hub of UAE, enjoys heavy traffic of Nigerians travelling to the Middle-East country on business and vacation trips.


The airliner is wholly owned by the government of Dubai through its commercial investment arm, Investment Corporation of Dubai.


A Presidency source told our correspondent that the FG was irked by the delay in the extradition of the ex-governor.


A Southwark Crown Court jury in London had, on Tuesday, found Ibori‘s sister, Mrs. Christie Ibori-Ibie guilty on a 12-count charge of money laundering, mortgage fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.


Also, the EFCC has appealed in the 170-count charge case involving Ibori, for which a Federal High Court in Asaba quashed all the charges.


Ibori‘s cat-and-mouse game with the EFCC entered a new phase last March when the commission declared him wanted on the strength of a fresh petition against him by Delta State Elders, Leaders and Stakeholders Forum.


Some stakeholders from Iboris‘s home state led by former Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, had requested the commission to investigate the ex-governor for allegedly diverting the state‘s resources to personal use.


He was alleged to have used 528m units of the state‘s shares in Oceanic Bank as collateral for a personal loan he obtained from Intercontinental Bank for his private company, Ascot Offshore Nigeria Ltd.


Before fleeing abroad, the ex-governor had hibernated in his native Oghara home, where militants overwhelmed a police team led by a Deputy Inspector-General, Mr. Udom Ekpoudom, in a bid to arrest him.


He was eventually arrested in Dubai on May 12 at the behest of the London Metropolitan Police and arraigned in court the following day over alleged theft.

He is currently on bail.


The Met Police had applied for the extradition of Ibori on the strength of the extradition treaty between the UK and UAE, which supports the release of suspects being sought for economic crime, among other offences.


While the Met Police and the EFCC tried to perfect the documents and files preparatory to filing the extradition paper in court, Ibori fought back by seeking political asylum in Dubai.


Since the ex-governor flooded the UAE with documents alleging political persecution on the part of Nigeria, there had been a lull in the extradition process.


The twist had pitted Nigeria with the Arab country, which is said to be protecting its economic interests at the expense of Nigeria.


http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20100606293351

And the Ibori battle rages on.

Surely, this is one battle the EFCC must win to get an iota of credibility in its war against corruption. I f successful, the EFCC would have gotten a foothold to execute its anti-corruption war further.

I'm watching.

Cut your nose to spite your face?

assuming ibori one of the biggest criminals of our time has left nigeria for uae and the country has refused to release him, what happens to other criminals at home?
why did nigeria not withdraw british airways licence when ribadu ran to the uk?
why is it that non issues are made national projects in nigeria?
why are we decieving ourselves?
if these guys do not take their time, uae will end up siezing all the properties belonging to nigerian politicians.
anyways, the fg will not do no such thing just shakara.

I will begin to have a different view of the Gov. if they can let this sail through with all the corruption.

one thingy i hate is empty treat. c fed . govt mouth.

stormm:

Cut your nose to spite your face?

Exactly. Nigeria's diplomacy is perhaps more pathetic than the governance of the country. When we have bumpkins as leaders and policy makers, what do you expect? It would be tthe tomfoolery of the century if Nigeria slaughters its cordial diplomatic relations with the UAE on the altar of an inconsequential Ibori. Numskull goverment.

This is a media propaganda and junk journalism.

I sincerely hope this news is a joke.

If this story is true, then Goodluck Jonathan is not as savvy as most of us wish he is. If GJ's administration is serious about fighting corruption as the world has been promised, all GJ has to do is call Obama and ask him to put pressure on UAE to extradite Ibori, shikena.

GJ is beginning to appear like one of the boys - there may be nothing special about him afterall.

ndu_chucks:

If this story is true, then Goodluck Jonathan is not as savvy as most of us wish he is. If GJ's administration is serious about fighting corruption as the world has been promised, all GJ has to do is call Obama and ask him to put pressure on UAE to extradite Ibori, shikena.

GJ is beginning to appear like one of the boys - there may be nothing special about him afterall.

Do you guys ever plan on taking your tongues off America's a55hole anytime soon?
What a load of utter bunkum!
Lick Obama's raw behind cos of Ibori! You gast to be laughing.

Send Mossad.

Hello Nairalanders.

Yes Ibori is a Big Thief and we need to get him arraigned and charged and jailed for at least 40yrs (not consecutively)

But then we are also beginning to see pockets of support for other big thieves this forth-coming elections. I find it sad that President GoodLuck Jonathan is taking the political slant in attacking those he feels threatened by. why not Bola Tinubu or IBB or OBJ or Atiku or Peter Odili or Akala. Let me guess, they have no hard evidence against them

The same EFCC despite all the multiple counts of charges they had against him prior to Yaradua's death, they could not make anything stick allowing the lower courts set him free on all counts. Now they are champions of justice once again (You can fool some all the time but you cannot fool everyone all the time)

Goodluck Jonathan is no Messiah, neither is he any different from OBJ, IBB or Yaradua that we loath. he is simply an Evil Son of a Bad Father.

We will realize this soon enough

stormm:

Cut your nose to spite your face?

Exactly

OMO IBO:

Do you guys ever plan on taking your tongues off America's a55hole anytime soon?
What a load of utter bunkum!
Lick Obama's raw behind cos of Ibori! You gast to be laughing.

You sound quite naive. Only a foolish leader will fail to cash in on his political capital, particularly if it will result to the prompt achievemnent of the leader's objectives. You sound like an intellectual midget who is ignorant of how foreign policies and interactions occur. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Junk Journalism! Can they ever try that?

ndu_chucks:

You sound quite naive. Only a foolish leader will fail to cash in on his political capital, particularly if it will result to the prompt achievemnent of the leader's objectives. You sound like an intellectual midget who is ignorant of how foreign policies and interactions occur. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I sound like this
I sound like that
Pssfhh
At least we know what you sound like. . . . . .bootlicker!

ndu_chucks:

If GJ's administration is serious about fighting corruption as the world has been promised, all GJ has to do is call Obama and ask him to put pressure on UAE to extradite Ibori, shikena.  

Please tell me you're joking! Call Obama to tell him what? LMAO! PJ could as well call Mrs. Obama to seek advice on what size of bra would fit a 1st lady's mamaries.

You think highest-level international diplomacy is some kinda child's play.

i wonder why 1 ibori who has been allowed to get out of nigeria is our major concern compared to more 50 million iboris who are still arround.
are we not a nonsense group of ppl?
when fg was looking for el rufai and ribadu, they excaped and when they began to look for ibori, he escaped but ojukwu was travelling on a medical trip, he was arrested at the airport - nigeria, which way nigeria?
we are a joke and nairalanders are so senseless that they always rejoice and jubilate over a planned commedy proggrame in the name of projects.

chidichris:

i wonder why 1 ibori who has been allowed to get out of nigeria is our major concern compared to more 50 million iboris who are still arround.
are we not a nonsense group of ppl?
when fg was looking for el rufai and ribadu, they excaped and when they began to look for ibori, he escaped but ojukwu was travelling on a medical trip, he was arrested at the airport - nigeria, which way nigeria?
we are a joke and nairalanders are so senseless that they always rejoice and[b] jubilate over a planned commedy proggrame in the name of projects.[/b]

Bros, you funny sha! But i don't think this issue of banning is true and quite agree with you on the bold part of your post above.

Wait and the seriousness of the present regime to tackle corruption

This tori e get as ebi,somebody is asking GJ to contact Obama is this issue,I want to ask ,do you know US MOU with UAE about oil export?

Nigeria (PDP) is becoming so irritating. In fact they are beginning to constitute Public Nuisance to the international community in the name of fighting corruption.
I can't imagine such an empty threat coming from people who can not even probe their internal Affairs.
Who signed 2009 supplementary budget while Yaradead was critically?

If i were Mr president most corrupt politician would be in jail by now

too much story about ibori. I cant believe this guy is till walking around free

I think that Nigeria should cut diplomatic ties with the U.A.E so that they
will retaliate by seizing all the nigerian loot there. (especially the mind-blowing
loot by the north)

Anyway they will not carry out any threat to any country because the seizing will start.
Idiots.

I wonder how one man is defeating Nigeria by refusing extradiction up and down the place.
If its Dele Giwa  or Dasuki, they will know what to do.
This Ibori saga will open a can of worms.
let's watch and see.

hackney:

I think that Nigeria should cut diplomatic ties with the U.A.E so that they
will retaliate by seizing all the nigerian loot there. (especially the mind-blowing
loot by the north)

Anyway they will not carry out any threat to any country because the seizing will start.
Idiots.

I wonder how one man is defeating Nigeria by refusing extradiction up and down the place.
If its Dele Giwa  or Dasuki, they will know what to do.
This Ibori saga will open a can of worms.
let's watch and see.

This comment sucks. Why do you want to make a general problem look like is from a section of the country? Or you just want to tell us that some part looted more

I think President Goodluck may be on the right path by threatening to withdraw Emirate's license in Nigeria, if the U.A.E fails to extradite Ibori.
It will be a big blow to their economy and commercial activities (which am sure they may not want because of the fact that they enjoy heavy patronage from Nigerians).

I hear the UAE is heavily indebted to other nations at the moment following the global recession and all, if they are smart, then this won't be a good time to be antagonizing any nation. I don't even understand why they would want to harbour a criminal like Ibori, I was under the impression that being an Islamic state they would have little or no tolerance for criminals & criminal activities. I guess I was wrong about that.

Anyway I think President JG hasn't done badly so far and he strikes me as a quiet achiever and a man that will not tolerate rubbish from within and outside Nigeria, I think we tend to seriously under estimate the man, and that may be a mistake on the part of some people. He may be extremely quiet and a bit laid back but there's a certain depth him.

The UAE had better dispatch the fool called Ibori to the UK to face trial.

If Ibori should be jailed, a lot of heads will roll cos those corrupt poli-trick-tians will have some explanations to do.

When are we going to start taking the bull by the horn in Nigeria and doing what is right?is withdrawing the liscence of an airline a solution to anti-corruption;it is no fault of any country whatsoever; if your nationals keep stealing your money and bringing it to them,as much as Nigeria is an important market for Emirates;i dont think withdrawing their liscence would kill their business,"afterall we dont even have a reasonable airline to call our own"its up to us to keep your house in order,and stop blaming anyone for our folly,have you even considered how many Nigerian you would be returning to the labour market by withdrawing that liscence?In a country already fraught with high rate of unemployment.
A WORD IS ENOUGH FOR THE WISE.

misterh:

If Ibori should be jailed, a lot of heads will roll cos those corrupt poli-trick-tians will have some explanations to do.

One of the reasons why I anticipate his trail and prosecution. Let the can of worms be open and make fowl yansh open.

I think President Goodluck may be on the right path by threatening to withdraw Emirate's license in Nigeria, if the U.A.E fails to extradite Ibori.
It will be a big blow to their economy and commercial activities (which am sure they may not want because of the fact that they enjoy heavy patronage from Nigerians).

I hear the UAE is heavily indebted to other nations at the moment following the global recession and all, if they are smart, then this won't be a good time to be antagonizing any nation. I don't even understand why they would want to harbour a criminal like Ibori, I was under the impression that being an Islamic state they would have little or no tolerance for criminals & criminal activities. I guess I was wrong about that.

Anyway I think President JG hasn't done badly so far and he strikes me as a quiet achiever and a man that will not tolerate rubbish from within and outside Nigeria, I think we tend to seriously under estimate the man, and that may be a mistake on the part of some people. He may be extremely quiet and a bit laid back but there's a certain depth him.

The UAE had better dispatch the fool called Ibori to the UK to face trial.

@madoba,
pls tell me u are joking.
nigeria and nigerians need uae more than they need us.
are u sure as we speak that the wife of our president is not in uae.
the issue here is uae will not even respond to jobless nigerian govt because they are a busy ppl.
apart from the airlines coming here and a few other investments in nigeria, uae no send nigeria in anything.
look, there is no nigerian richman i mean real richman that does not have investment in uae so who will cry?
as at last week, we were told jonathan's wife was in uae so who is sure she did not go to see ibori?
stop listening to these noise makers.