Co-founder of Thompson Okpoko & Partners, Chief Thompson Onomigbo Okpoko (SAN) has encouraged the Delta State Government to engage the Federal Government over the ownership of the expected £4.2 million from the British Government linked to ex-Governor James Ibori’s loot.
His position comes amid the controversy surrounding ownership of the £4.2 million loot of Delta State’s former governor, Ibori, which the British Government is set to return to Nigeria.
Both the Federal Government and Delta State government have laid claims to the money.
But, Chief Okpoko urged both parties to have a roundtable discussion to determine how the money will be disbursed, as well as set precedence for future occurrence.
His words, “ My advice is that the state government should establish official contact with the Federal Government and have a roundtable discussion on the money that is expected to come from Great Britain. At such roundtable conferences, they will be able to agree as to how the money should be disbursed. And they would even go a step further, if there is goodwill, to discuss the type of historical things that will be created for future generations.”
He also noted that Delta State also risk losing ownership claim to money because it previously denied the former governor’s loot a few years back.
When asked what the legal implication for earlier denying the money is for Delta State, he said: “The whole trouble is this; I don’t know whether the state government has now come to put forward any claim to that money. So, we are just talking in the air. The state has not come to say ‘the money belongs to us’. If it comes forward to say so, it will then be met by a previous statement saying the state government does not own any such money. In which case, the money no longer belongs to the state. You can’t deny ownership and come back to claim ownership because the money has come.”
