Two days after a
spokesman for the EFCC said they discovered a 'secret mansion' belonging to
Ibori located somewhere in Lekki (see story HERE), James Ibori' condemned the
claims. He released a statement yesterday through his media assistant, Tony
Eluemunor, saying the house was never a secret as it was listed down in Asset
declaration forms he filled in 1999, 2003 and 2007.
The statement reads:
The statement reads:
"Despite EFCC’s
insinuations to the contrary, the Alpha Beach Road house was built as far back
as 1994, and so could not have, by any leap of the imagination, been built with
proceeds, corrupt or not corrupt, from my office as State Governor because I
began to live in
that house five good years before I was voted into office”.
"Also, if the stories published about the
house were actually based on EFCC’s statement, it means that the EFCC has
accepted that Ibori was actually enormously rich at least half a decade before
he became Governor of Delta State- after all, EFCC and the media called the
house a “mansion”.
"So, perhaps
trying to hide this fact that Ibori was a man of means before he became
governor, the EFCC and their agents are using all infernal tricks to cast
doubts about when Ibori actually built that house.
"For the records, Chief Ibori reiterates that
the house was not only built in 1994 before he became governor, it has featured
in his asset declarations.
"Also, Chief Ibori has been cooperating fully
with the Crown Prosecution since
the preliminary stages of the confiscation process began, in line with the
United Kingdom Criminal Justice Act (CJA) of 1988, so he does not see why the
house has become an issue – especially as Nigeria has surrendered her
jurisdictional sovereignty to Britain," the statement said.
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