James Ibori's aides say he is expected to be released from jail in the UK by July

FORMER Delta State governor Chief James Ibori is expected to be freed from his 13-year prison sentence in the UK in July this year and return to Nigeria according to his close associates.

 

In April 2012, Chief Ibori was sentenced to 13 years on jail by London's Southwark Crown Court after pleading guilty to money laundering and conspiracy charges. He has been in prison ever since although several cases relating to the seizure of his illegally-acquired assets are ongoing.

 

Attempts by Chief Ibori's legal team to get him transferred to Nigeria to serve out the rest of his sentence have failed but yesterday, one of his close aides Ayiri Emami, said the former governor should be home by July. Mr Emami defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) shortly before the 2015 general election said he did so based on Chief Ibori’s advice, although it is not yet clear if his principal will do likewise.

 

Mr Emami added: “There has been speculation as to when Ibori would return but I can confidently tell that by June or at most July, he would return home to Nigeria. We all need him, especially in Delta, to sanitize things again as if he were here, a lot of things would not have happened.

 

“Ibori was one of those who predicted that Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would not win the 2015 presidential election. It is fear of the unknown that made his brother, former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan to remain in the PDP but I listened to Ibori, and had to leave.”

 

Initially sent to Long Lartin Prison in Worcestershire, Chief Ibori was later transferred to Her Majesty’s Prison in Bedford. Chief Ibori, 57, was jailed for using UK financial institutions to launder hundreds of millions of pound sterling he stole from public funds in Delta State.