In a major reversal of fortune for former Governor James Onanefe Ibori of Delta State, a judge at the Southwark Crown Court in the United Kingdom (UK) has scheduled the continuation of his trial in February, 2012.
In recent weeks, Mr. Ibori’s associates in Nigeria and the UK had coordinated a propaganda, using several online sites administered by Nigerians to create the impression that the case against the former governor was near collapse.
In a series of propaganda stunts published by rogue websites, Mr. Ibori’s team alleged that UK prosecutors were reeling from a discovery that the case against the former governor was weak. In a series of sponsored, self-incriminating reports planted in several blogs, Ibori’s team claimed that his trial was improper. It also accused London Metropolitan police officers of receiving bribes from him and asserted that the UK police had improperly penetrated his defence.
The websites had been running the false reports for several weeks now. Curiously, Thursday’s ruling by the Southwark Crown judge did not feature any of those allegations.
In a ruling that put paid to the propaganda, the Southwark Crown Court on Friday, ruled against an application by Mr. Ibori’s attorneys to dismiss the case against their client. At today’s ruling, the judge also refused Ibori’s defence arguments, challenging the legal basis of his trial in London.
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