FG gives reason why Ibori loot is not returning to Delta

The Muhammadu Buhari -led Nigerian government on Tuesday explained why the loot recovered from former Delta State Governor, James Ibori will be used for federal projects.

Abubakar Malami , the Attorney-General of the Federation, stated this during his Tuesday appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

Malami had, earlier on Tuesday with the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, announced the return of £4.2 million recovered from Mr. Ibori and his friends.

The funds, according to the duo is set to arrive in the country within two weeks, and are expected to be used for the construction of the second Niger Bridge, Abuja-Kano road, and Lagos-Ibadan Express road and not returned to the Delta State Government where it was pilfered from.

Malami said, “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”.

He argued 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,” the Attorney-General explained.

When pressed on whether the British government had insisted that the money be spent on certain project, Mr Malami said it was not “a matter of insistence but a matter of negotiation between two sovereign states”.