The meeting which began at 04:25 pm is the President’s first meeting with the former governors who were elected at the dawn of the fourth republic.

Wednesday’s meeting is at the instance of Tinubu, who was also elected governor of Lagos State at the time.

Present are Olusegun Osoba of Ogun, Bisi Akande of Osun, Lucky Igbinedion of Edo, Saminu Turaki of Jigawa, James Ibori of Delta, Donald Duke of Cross Rivers, Niyi Adebayo of Ekiti, Orji Kalu of Abia, Obong Attah of Akwa Ibom and Sam Egwu of Ebonyi State.

Also present are Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu), Ibrahim Turaki (Jigawa), Adamu Muazu (Bauchi), Ahmad Yerima (Zamfara), Jolly Nyame (Taraba), Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto) and Joshua Dariye (Plateau).

The minister’s spokesman, Dr Umar Gwandu, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the statement, the amount has been credited into the designated Federal Government account with the Naira equivalent value of the amount as of May 10, 2021.

Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Falana stated that the Federal Government cannot lay claim to the fund under any law.

He said “The Federal Government ought to be commended for pursuing this matter having regards to the fact that this case is a collabo issue between the EFCC under Malami/Ribadu and the Metropolitan Police in the United Kingdom. Having acknowledged the role of the Federal Government, the fund has to return to the source. As the Attorney General has said, the money is over £100 million. So what has been released now is the first tranche of £4.2 million. Since the money left the covers of the Delta State Government, it has to be returned once it is recovered.”

InsideOjudu had on Tuesday reported that the United Kingdom signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to return the sum of £4.2 million assets stolen by former Delta State Governor, James Ibori to Nigeria.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami at the ceremony of the MOU 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.

Despite criticism from different quarters on why the funds will be retained by the Federal government, Malami during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today insisted that the funds will be used for federal projects and not returned to the Delta State Government where it was pilfered from.

But, the lawmakers on Wednesday at the plenary session insisted that the funds were stolen from Delta State and as such should rightly be returned to the state.

They added that the funds are needed for the infrastructural development of the state.

This was the resolution reached after a motion of urgent public importance which was sponsored by all the lawmakers from Delta State.

Meanwhile, the lawmakers said the total money is £6.2 million and not £4.2 million as is being reported.

The House also asked the Federal Ministry of Finance to direct the Attorney General of Federation, Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and give the House all particulars relating to the recovered money.

The Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), disclosed this on Channels Television’s Politics Today’ programme on Tuesday.

Malami, who is also the Attorney-General of the Federation, said apart from the Ibori loot, $100m traced to the late Head of State, Gen Sani Abacha, was also being expected.

“As it is we have succeeded in recovering £4.2m from the UK. We are still pursuing other assets even as it relates to the Ibori assets.

“The quantum of the amount involved was within the region of over £100m (N2.2bn) and it is out of it that we have succeeded in recovering a fraction of £4.2m and we are still pursuing an additional sum within the region of £100m (N527bn) and that will be a function of conviction and subsequent recovery process,” he said.

InsideOjodu recalls that Nigeria and the government of the UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding which states that UK government is set to return £4.2m (N2.2bn) assets stolen by former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori, and his associates

This was announced on Tuesday by the British High Commissioner to Nigeria,  Catriona Laing in Abuja, at the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding between Nigeria and the government of the UK.

Laing at the signing of the MoU at the Conference Hall of the Ministry of Justice said the money was recovered from friends and family members of the former governor.

Laing however warned that the UK will no longer be used as a destination for looters to siphon proceeds of crimes.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who also spoke at the ceremony, said the recovery of the stolen fund is part of the efforts of the current administration to fight corruption.

He said, “I wish to remark that today’s ceremony and the recoveries attached thereto has again underscored the fact that international cooperation and mutual trust can yield great benefits for the citizenry in developing countries who are the direct victims of acts of corruption.

“Hence, the governments of Nigeria and the United Kingdom have concluded negotiations for the return of £4.2m to Nigeria pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding earlier executed by the two governments in 2016.

“It is to be recalled that the Nigerian government had all along provided the required mutual assistance and backup to the British authorities while the prosecution of James Ibori lasted in London and today, we are rightfully taking benefit of that cooperation.”

Based on the agreement signed, the £4.2million is to be returned two weeks from now.

Ibori, who was Delta State Governor from 1999 to 2007, was convicted by a UK court in 2012 and was sentenced to 13 years in jail after admitting fraud of nearly £50m (N26.3bn), even though prosecutors say the actual amount stolen was about £250m (N131.7bn).

He pleaded guilty to 10 charges of fraud and money-laundering in February 2012 and is the most prominent Nigerian politician to be successfully prosecuted for corruption.

He was released in 2016 after serving a fraction of his term.

Prominent names on the list compiled in 2018 are former Governors, Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), James Ibori (Delta}, Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Senator Peter Nwaoboshi.

While some of these politicians have denied benefitting from NDDC contracts, the commission however enjoined those whose names appeared in the list not to panic as it has been uncovered that some people used their names to get the jobs.

Charles Odili, NDDC’s director of corporate affairs also revealed that the list does not include a case of 250 contracts which were signed for and collected in one day by one person for members of the National Assembly.

Odili said “The Interim Management Committee of the commission stands by the list which came from files already in the possession of the forensic auditors. It is not an Akpabio list but the NDDC’s list; the list is part of the volume of 8,000 documents already handed over to the forensic auditors. Prominent indigenes of the Niger Delta whose names were on the list should not panic as the commission knew that people used the names of prominent persons in the region to secure contracts, and the ongoing forensic audit would unearth those behind the contracts. The intention of the list was to expose committee chairmen in the national assembly who used

Akpabio in a letter sent to the speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, listed the former governors as some of the beneficiaries of the projects by the commission. Also on the list as a beneficiary of projects were the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, and Senator Ifeanyi Ararume, among others.

The letter which is titled ‘Some Niger Delta Development Commission Contracts Allegedly Given to Some Members of the National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives).’, was also copied to the office of the Attorney General of the Federation/Minister of Justice and was addressed to the Clerk to the House, Mr. Patrick Giwa, with Reference Number MNDA/HM/04/IV/158.

According to the letter, one of the projects linked to James Ibori, was the emergency repairs of Onoghove community road from Ajanesan to Western Delta University at a cost of N485.7m.  The letter also stated that Uduaghan was linked to the emergency repairs of Close B, Alhaji Estate & Environs, Rumuodomaya, Port Harcourt at a cost of N429m.

Five projects were linked to Senator Kalu who was simply identified in the document as OUK-Kalu (the project source). The emergency repairs on road projects linked to Kalu are in Abia State and the costs ranged from N517m to N560m. The details are Emergency repairs of Ezere-Acha-Ndiokoukwu Road (N517.9m) and repairs of Amaubiri-Eluama-Uru Ring Road, Lokpaukwu, Umuchieze (N560m). Some other projects linked to Kalu include Ndi Oji Abam-Atan  Road (N523.7m), Okafia-Ozuitem-Bende road (508m),  and the Ozu-Amuru-Abam Road at the cost of  N523.4m.

The cost of the 12 projects linked to Senator Ifeanyi Ararume, located in Imo and Rivers states, were not indicated in the documents.

The NDDC document, however, listed some the projects to include, emergency repairs of Umuelemai-Aba branch road, Anara-Okwelle-Umuna Road, Okpara-Road junction-Ogili Community all in Imo State.