Contrary to expectations by governor Okowa of Delta State that the recovered $4.2M Ibori’s loot will be given to the state, in this case Delta state, where the money was stolen from or better still be used to fund projects of interest to the state within the state; the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, on Wednesday ruled out any such possibilty.
The Federal Government, on Tuesday, reportedly confirmed receipt of the funds from the United Kingdom, but rules out accommodating Delta State in the spending of £4.2 million funds recovered from a former governor of the state, James Ibori.
It will be recalled that the Delta State Government and Niger Delta groups have earlier requested that the funds must on repatriation from the United Kingdom be transferred back to the state where it was pilfered from.
Governor Okowa had reported to have stated; “I have spoken with the attorney-general of the federation. My attorney-general went to have a meeting with him. I think that we are working and we are likely to come on the same page. We have written a formal letter of protest to Mr President.
“We have made two suggestions; return the money directly to us or apply it directly to projects that we feel are of importance and are in Delta State so that Deltans can directly benefit from the repatriated funds and I don’t think anybody can fault that line (of thinking)”, Governor Okowa said in an interview in a recent interview on Channels TV.
Surprisingly, on Wednesday, responding to a question bordering on the fund on a Channels TV programme, the AGF said Nigeria would not deviate from the agreement reached with the United Kingdom government concerning the disbursement of the fund.
Malami said the government would expend the funds on projects in line with the agreement reached.
The minister said, “The way international diplomatic processes operate with particular regard to the recovery of looted asset is more or less about engagement among the nations of interest.”