SENATOR Andy Uba on Friday denied his involvement in the alleged 2007 payment of $15 million bribe
money by former Governor James Ibori of Delta State, to the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu.
Mr. Uba, who represents the Anambra South Federal Constituency, said that he was not a party the transaction between Mr. Ribadu and Mr. Ibori beyond that his home was the chosen meeting point between both men.
According to the senator, his Abuja home was a favorite meeting point for politicians and government functionaries while he served at the presidency as a special assistant to former president Olusegun Obasanjo, and the former governor simply used his home as a convenient meeting point with Ribadu as others did during this period.
The senator spoke amid a recent claim by an Abuja-based businessman, Mr. Chibuike Achigbu that the money belongs to him. Achigbu is attempting to get the courts to compel the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to release the money to him.
Achigbu, who filed an application with the Federal High Court in Abuja earlier in the week, had also claimed that the senator had deposited the money with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on his behalf.
The money, according to Mr. Achigbu, was originally part of the funds raised for the 2007 campaigns of the Peoples Democratic Party. He said he and the senator had agreed to hand over the money to the financial crimes fighting outfit to clear the air of any impression that the money was stolen public funds.
Mr. Uba, whose latest revelation came through an e-mailed statement from his personal assistant, Mr. Chike Okeke, also admitted that he was aware that former Governor Ibori came with money meant for the former chair of the financial crimes fighting outfit.
“I was never a party to the transaction between Ibori and Ribadu,” Uba said in the statement. “That my house was used as the venue for the transaction is not in question as an affidavit to that effect has been sworn to by the current EFCC chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, which is probably the point of confusion.”
The senator also made suggestion as to why Mr. Ibori may have used his house to pass on money to Mr. Ribadu, saying Ibori may have been unwilling to go to the EFCC office to hand the money over to those in charge theire.
“Probably, Chief Ibori didn’t want to go to the EFCC office to hand over the money and so decided to use my house.
“All I know about this matter is that Chief James Ibori brought some money to the then EFCC chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.
“The details of the transaction were undisclosed to me at the time. The money was handed to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu who invited his then Director of Operations, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, to fetch it.
Mr. Ribadu, the former chairman of the EFCC who also ran for president in 2010 as a candidate of the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria, had alleged that Mr. Ibori tried to bribe him with the $15 million in question, which he subsequently requested his director of operations to deposit with the Central Bank of Nigeria in Abuja.
The money which has since been with the Apex Bank became the subject of recent intrigues after the Federal High Court in Abuja on July 25, 2011 granted an ex-parte order releasing the money to the federal government if it remained unclaimed by anyone after 14 days.
The Delta State government responded to the order by filing its own application with the Federal High Court, arguing in a 35-point affidavit that the money belonged to it.
Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, waded into the matter by calling for the arrest and prosecution of Mr. Ribadu, along with Senator Uba and businessman Chibuike Achegbu, allegedly for perverting the cause of justice.
Keyamo made the call in a statement released on Friday saying that it is important that relevant authorities get to the heart of the matter and resolve it once and for all.
“Why deposit the proceeds of a crime, which is already an exhibit to be tendered in court, in the Central Bank of Nigeria? Is the CBN a store for exhibits? Does the EFCC not have facilities to keep exhibits?” asked Mr. Keyamo in his Friday statement, asking the federal government and the Delta State government to immediately end their quest for the funds so that relevant authorities can investigate the matter and try whomever might have been undermining the cause of justice.
“The Federal Government should immediately withdraw that case from court and the Delta State Government and all other parties should back off from this national embarrassment we are witnessing”
The human rights lawyer added that if the government refuses to act in the matter, he will be left with no other option than to personally see to it that those whom he consider to be suspects in the matter are hauled before the court of law.