Date Published: 05/03/10

Fugitive Ibori escapes from Nigeria

James Ibori

Fugitive and ex Delta State Governor, James Ibori has escaped from his hideout in the creeks, and out of Nigeria, Pointblanknews.com has learnt.

Ibori who was holed up amongst AK-47 totting militants in the delta swamp, bolted out of Nigeria, days ago,  top intelligence sources disclosed to pointblanknews.com Monday.

It was learnt that Ibori fled by boat with the assistance of some militants and political allies.

 On wether the interpol would be  used to fish out Ibori, our source said " issue is,  before you involve the interpol, you must indentify his location, presently his location is not known, but the only thing we can confirm is he has left the shores of Nigeria"

However, our source maintained that since it would be difficult for Ibori to flee to the UK or the US, he is believed to be hiding in one of the neighboring nations, from where he could most likely flee to south America, a safe haven for fugitives.

Ibori, who was declared wanted by the EFCC for sundry allegations involving embezzlement, had been involved in a cat and mouse game with the agency.

Shortly after he was declared wanted over a petition brought by elders and opinion leaders of his state, Ibori went into hiding. From his hideout, he went to court to stop what his cronies tagged witch hunt by the EFCC. When he realised that the anti-graft agency meant business, he fled to his village Oghara, from where he was spirited into the creeks.

Few days later, operatives of the agency and a team of policemen stormed oghara, but they were resisted by a rented crowd, which threatened violence.

A source at the EFCC also confirmed the escape of Ibori. The source said all what has been emanating from the Ibori's camp had been diversionary. According to our source" all the noise about him being around , and has nothing to fear , or run away from, have been diversionary tactics by his men. "