By Akanimo Sampson
House of Representatives, the Green Chamber of Nigeria’s bicameral Legislature, is opposed to the Executive arm of the Federal Government appropriating the £4.2 million James Ibori loot.
Ibori dominated the affairs of Delta State as its governor from 1999 through 2007.
The argument of the federal legislators is that since the funds were stolen from Delta State, they should rightly be returned to the state, pointing out that the funds are needed for the infrastructural development of the state.
The lawmakers’ resolution is sequel to a unanimous adoption of a motion by Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu (PDP-Delta) at plenary on Wednesday. The motion was co-sponsored by nine other lawmakers from Delta.
Elumelu said the £4.2 million pound, being proceeds of looted funds recovered from former Gov. James Ibori was being transferred to the coffers of the federal government for appropriation.
According to him, this is without recourse to the Delta State Government, insisting that the money belonged to the people of Delta and should be refunded to the coffers of the state government for developmental purposes.
Continuing, Elumelu said that assets seized by Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from other states were returned to those states as the case in Bayelsa and Abia.
“If the federal government is allowed to appropriate the fund without recourse to the Delta Government, the people of the state will be shortchanged.
“They will be deprived of their legitimate resources to improve on the economy of the state as well as provide the requisite infrastructure for their benefit”, he said.
The House mandated its Committees on Finance, Justice and Recovered Funds to investigate the matter, and accordingly urged the Ministry of Finance to stop disbursement pending the final determination of the matter by the House.
The House also requested the Ministry of Finance and Attorney General of Federation, Abubakar Malami, to furnish it with all particulars relating to the money.
In his ruling, Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase, mandated the committees to conclude investigations and report to the House within two weeks.
This was the resolution reached after a motion of urgent public importance which was sponsored by all the lawmakers from Delta State.
According to the lawmakers, the total money is £6.2 million and not £4.2 million as is being reported.
The United Kingdom on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to return the sum of £4.2 million assets stolen by former Governor Ibori to Nigeria.
Malami said the recovery of the stolen fund is part of the efforts of the current administration to fight corruption and that the money will be used for the construction of the second Niger Bridge, Abuja-Kano road, and Lagos-Ibadan Express road.
“The major consideration relating to who is entitled to a fraction or perhaps the money in its entirety is a function of law and international diplomacy”, Malami said, claiming that the law that was alleged to have been breached by Ibori was a federal law and that the parties of interests involved in the repatriation of the funds were national and not sub-national governments.
“All the processes associated with the recovery were consummated by the federal government and the federal government is, indeed, the victim of crime and not sub-national”, he said.
