The long wait will be over soon! May even have been over before you get to read this!
The gates of the London prison will soon open for the enigmatic ‘Sheikh’, James Onanefe Ibori, to breathe the air of freedom.
Already, a huge number of Nigerians is on ground the United Kingdom (UK) to accord the former Delta state governor grandstanding reception as he steps out of jail. They are there to show solidarity, to pledge their loyalty. To some, it is to generally position themselves in Ibori’s good book for some 2019 election spoils.
The number of associates right there is enormous; quality men and women not only from his home state, Delta, but indeed from across a broad spectrum of his political associates all over Nigeria. The deputy governor of Delta state, Kingsley Otuaro, is leading a delegation of commissioners, top Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members and others. This is perhaps a foretaste of the carnival like reception Chief Ibori will receive when he steps foot in Nigeria.
A Nigerian who has resided in London for 15 years could only wonder: “From what I have seen, all the movement and preparations, the world would not understand why despite his conviction, Chief Ibori is still attracting this huge following”.
Meanwhile, TheNewsGuru can reveal that Ibori has a different plan. Not for him is any celebratory carnival. Indeed he is set to shock most of those who have flooded London to receive him.
This is Chief Ibori’s own plan: to leave the prison abode of the past four years and head straight to a church near where he has made arrangements for accommodation until he is able to return to Nigeria. And it is not even the Nigerian style of loud thanksgiving, where all his associates and family will put up a loud show of thanking God.
TheNewsGuru gathered from very reliable sources close to him that Ibori wants to go straight to the nearest church alone and spend the whole day there, in a solo worship and praise. Ibori who is a Baptist will have no qualms going to the nearest worship place of any Christian denomination close to his new abode.
Not many of those who have flooded London seemingly know of this plan. Ibori is bent on doing this show his own way. The solo worship will be a retreat.
After four years of incarceration, it is not to be questioned why Ibori wishes to be left alone for a whole day in the house of God unhindered and not distracted, to thank the Almighty for seeing him through all the rough road, stress, disappointments, and to seek more grace to overcome.
Ibori was sentenced to 13 years in prison by a Southwark Crown court on 17th April, 2012, after pleading guilty to 10 counts of money laundering and stealing.
Despite his travails, Ibori has managed to maintain a core of die-hard loyalists in Delta state and indeed across the country. He is extremely still very popular in Delta as his absence did not stop his political family from dominating and retaining power in Delta state. It is common knowledge that he singlehandedly installed the current governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, from his prison cell.