Ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed that the former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, looted $200 million but only repaid $15 million of the funds.
Between 1999 and 2007, both Obasanjo and Ibori were in office when the incident took place.
Obasanjo made the admission in
response to accusations made against him by the late former governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, and Ibori.
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He made the revelation during an interview with Chude
He said,
“These people allowed them to go into chapter and verse. I hope Ibori hasn’t said that, but if he has, please explain what transpired.
Ibori was found to have misused about $200 million after an investigation by the EFCC. Ibori, come and take a look at the report, Ibori, they said as they presented the report to me. Go and give the EFCC $150 million assuming you have already spent $50 million. When he returned, he asked, “Where should we put it?” I told you to pay the money to your state since it is yours. How do I accomplish that, he asked? I opened a Central Bank account for him.
Afterwards, he returned and advised me to open Central Bank accounts for each state if he just deposited funds into the Delta-related account at the Central Bank. Which I did. Said Obasanjo.
When Nuhu Ribadu arrived, I told him to deposit the $15 million in cash in their account at the Central Bank because he believed he was being cunning. We kept looking at it after that. He was so hunted down and taken to London, where he was put in jail. Therefore, if that was revenge, I would encourage more revenge in Nigeria.
