Ibori's Grandeur Reception And The Slap On Decency

Wednesday, the 21st of December 2016, was a day of reprieve for embattled James Ibori, the former governor of Delta state, and to the many followers of his who have all time seen him as a demigod. On this day, the Southwark Crown Court in London, by its ruling, denied the request by the Home Secretary for the further incarceration of James Ibori.

James Ibori ruled Delta State betwenn 1999 and 2003, and was in 2012 convicted of offences bothering on money laundering and fraudulent activities. He was accused to have ripped the state he had governed to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. It was a case, which the Nigerian government initiated and for which, also, its judiciary flopped in giving a conclusive end.

Mr Ibori dribbled the Nigerian judiciary and got away with his outrageous scam and deceit. However, before a more virile and probing system, he pleaded guilty to the charges before the British judiciary.

The political figure, well renowned in his home state of Delta where he had established a political dynasty, that resonates even in custody, spent six and a half years in incarceration.

He was subsequently released after the prosecutor failed to get approval to further keep him behind bars. And like a tsunami, the news of his release sounded more echo down here in Nigeria and more especially his home state of Delta than it even did in the immediate environ of London into which he had been freed to walk in. 

Starting from his home town of Oghara, it became observed how a celebrity Mr James has been, of how valued and respected even whilst still in custody. Rumors immediately caught fire, once it had become apparent Ibori has been released. The whole arena of Delta state went frenzy at the news.

The frenzy, the jubilation and the preparation that soon worn Delta state caused wide blinking. It was so surprising, so astonishing to see how a man who has ripped his state and for which reason was incarcerated in faraway London could become a subject of hilarity to the same people he “sucked dry”.

It has been established of how boisterous the man's influence is in his state, politically. His influence remained afloat that even after in custody, the man Ibori commanded a raving respect among his kins. It is from the blessings of his left behind dynasty that people like Uduaghan and Okowa have flown into the heights of political relevance.

Indeed, the relevance of Ibori leaves to be tapered as could be seen around the atmosphere of his state. Ibori had so oozed out so great scent of influence that not even distance, time and blackmail could subvert. So, it is, for in and around Delta, people are so wrapped into the man and the news of his release that plans have been made to elegantly welcome the'colossus' home.

But to what end is the whole razzmatazz, especially when we look away from the enrapturing frenzy and unto the horizon of true morality and of values?

What does it portend to cherish ideals and decency, the garrulous grandeur homecoming planned for confirmed criminal and an n ex-convict? It indeed beats my mind as to how a condemned criminal, certified to be and jailed by a competent court law could be so magnificently extolled like a prodigy just because he's returning after serving his term.

It simply suggests how norm has been upturned, of how dwindling our society has become towards the path of indecency and distortedness of character and values. 

The purported glamour that has seen to have caught even high personalities of Deltans in government circle if anything to go by, then our society has sharply gone comatose.

Indeed that singular act of having to welcome a world-pronounced convict and criminal smacks off indecency and loss of sense of values. Our society, by applauding such acts that ought to be of utmost remorse, has turned the head of decency upside down. By giving pomp to one act that no less demands soberness, we have crucified morality and made a jest of its principles. We are doomed!

But, for those driven to such, let the nonsense be forever hidden. It is indeed the height of shamelessness.