Indications emerged yesterday that the convicted former governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, may soon be back to Nigeria following the signing of a prisoner transfer agreement between the Federal Government and the United Kingdom.
At a meeting between the Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro and the United Kingdom’s Minister of Justice, Jeremy Wright, the Federal Government said it is in the mutual interest of both countries that the Prisoners’ Transfer Agreement be implemented especially because of the traditional relationship between them.
The agreement had earlier been signed by Wright and the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke.
The agreement would also see the UK government extending millions of pounds in aid to the Federal Government for the rehabilitation of some local prisons for that purpose.
National Mirror checks revealed that nearly 600 Nigerians are serving various terms in UK prisons while only one Briton is said to be serving in Nigeria. Under the terms of the agreement, a prisoner must have spent at least 12 months in a UK prison to be eligible for transfer to Nigeria.
Ibori was sentenced to prison by a London court in April 2012 and therefore his eligibility is not in doubt. Under the agreement, the former governor has no choice of remaining in the UK as it is compulsory for those who have spent over 12 months in the country’s prisons to be transferred back to Nigeria.
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