How Ibori Gave Me $15m Bribe In Bag – Nuhu Ribadu

Former ant-corruption boss, Nuhu Ribadu , on Thursday, told a London court how desperate the former Delta State Governor James Ibori tried to halt a probe into his finances.

The former EFCC boss said “He was very desperate to terminate the investigation,” he told the court.

In late April 2007, a meeting was arranged between the two men at a “neutral place”, the house of Andy Uba, a close associate of outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Ibori arrived at the house with several members of his staff and a very large black sack containing $15m in cash. Ribadu said he watched as two of Ibori’s men lifted the heavy sack and handed it over to his own EFCC staff. “It was a bag that an individual could not carry alone,” he said.

Reuters quoted Ribadu as telling the court that he pretended to take the bribe because he wanted the cash as evidence to use against Ibori in a prosecution, but rather than keep the money for himself he had it taken straight to the Central Bank of Nigeria to be kept safe in a vault where the money was counted and boxed into smaller containers. The court was shown photographs of the boxes of cash.

Ibori is said to be the most senior Nigerian politician to be held to account for the corruption that has for decades held back Africa’s most populous nation and top oil producer.