Ibori files appeal against UK conviction

James Ibori

Former Delta State governor, James Ibori, has filed a full appeal in the British Court of Appeal against his 2012 conviction for money laundering.

A statement from Ibori’s media assistant, Tony Eluemunor, said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain’s counsel informed the Southwark London court on Friday March 17, 2017 that they have filed the appeal on his behalf.

Ibori ran the affairs in Delta from 1999 to 2007, but fled Nigeria in 2010 shortly after the death of former President Umaru Yar’Adua.

He was arrested in Dubai on May 13, 2010 and extradited to the United Kingdom where a Southwark Crown Court jailed him for 13 years on April 17, 2012.

Ibori left prisons on the midnight of December 22, 2016 after serving half of his term, taking into account pre-trial detention.

He returned to Nigeria on February 4 and an elaborate thanksgiving service was held in his honour at the First Baptist Church in his hometown, Oghara, Delta State on Sunday, February 12.