Here’s what ex-governor has to say about £1 compensation from UK court

The court awarded him £1 as damages after he claimed he was unlawfully detained by British Home Secretary, Amber Rudd.

However, Ibori, in a statement by his media aide, Tony Eluemunor criticized the press for focusing on the trivial compensation instead of the victimization and oppression he suffered at the hands of the UK government.

The statement reads in part:

“The reports of some media outfits focused on the frivolous and disdained the serious mocking the £1 nominal damage. In doing so, they missed the obvious – how again Chief Ibori was victimized and oppressed by the UK government and how a British high court found in his favour and maligned the British Crown Prosecution Services (CPS) failures.”

“The CPS’ failures have embarrassed both the home secretary – Amber Rudd and the UK Establishment that continue to cover-up its misconduct. This action demonstrates the political nature of the Ibori and linked prosecutions in the UK.

“At issue here is that Ibori’s human rights had been violated, but stretched significantly further, that detention is part of the long list of political persecutions he has faced both in Nigeria and Britain.

“The judge could make no findings of any theft from Delta state. The sums alleged to have been stolen have now apparently dwindled down to £17m, the last amount widely mentioned last December instead of the other wild figures the were routinely mouthed. In fact, the forensic evidence demonstrates, there has been no theft from Delta state.

“Many newspapers unwittingly fell victim of media manipulation when they followed the cue of a London evening newspaper to leave the essence of the judgment – the illegalities Ibori suffered in the London trial – and focused on trivialities.”

Ibori was released on Wednesday, December 21, 2016, following a court order to that effect.

Ibori was jailed on Tuesday, April 17, 2012 by the Southwark Crown Court of the United Kingdom after pleading guilty to ten counts of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud.

He was arrested in Dubai on May 13, 2010, on an international warrant after being declared wanted by the UK Metropolitan Police.

Ibori was subsequently extradited to the UK in April 2011, and tried on 23 counts of money laundering, forgery, and fraud.

ALSO READ: Okowa allegedly using state funds to boost Ibori’s business

His sentence was commuted to six and a half years and further reduced to four and a half years after the 645 days he had already spent in detention was taken into account.