Reps Move Motion To Halt Spending Of £4.2m Ibori Loot

The House of Representatives has urged the Federal Government to halt appropriation of 4.2 million Pounds linked to former Delta State Governor James Ibori.

The resolution followed a unanimous adoption of a motion by Minority Leader Ndudi Elumelu (PDP Delta) at plenary yesterday.

The motion was co-sponsored by nine other lawmakers from Delta, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

Elumelu said the 4.2 million Pounds, being proceeds of looted funds recovered from Ibori was being transferred to the coffers of the Federal Government for appropriation.

According to him, this is without recourse to the Delta State government.

The lawmaker said the money belonged to the people of Delta and should be refunded to the coffers of the State Government for developmental purposes.

In his ruling, Deputy Speaker Ahmed Wase mandated the committees to conclude investigations and report back to the House within two weeks.

Also, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), the Nigeria Voters Assembly, has condemned the statement by the Attorney General of the Federation and Justice Minister Abubakar Malami that the 4.2 million Pounds proceeds of crime traced to Ibori would be used to fund the construction of the Second Niger Bridge, the Abuja-Kano expressway and the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

In a statement by its President, Mashood Erubami, the pro-democracy, human rights and anti-corruption group said the sum, which is being returned by the British Government, should be released to the Delta State government and its people because “diverting the fund from Delta State to other regions will be an open conversion of what rightly and legally belong to Delta State”.