The Court 8 of the Southwark County court, South East London, was almost filled to capacity. At the venue of the Ibori trial, one could see the expectations on the face of Nigerians.
Majority of the Nigerians present said they turned up to witness the case as advised by the Nigeria Liberty Forum, a pro-democracy group based in the UK.
Kennedy Ugwuamma said; “I am here to quietly but peacefully show my disgust against Ibori’s accomplices.”
His Honour, Judge Hardy came in at about 10.06 am and immediately set out to business.
The names of the accused were called and three ladies, later identified as Ibori-Ibie Christine .O, Pogoson Adebimpe F and Onuigbo Udoamaka were ushered into the dock. In particular, Ms. Onuigbo appeared to have lost a lot of weight, unlike her previous appearances. The trio had a subdued look.
There was silence at the public gallery in which the Nigerian spectators sat, except for the murmur of “Awon Ole,” which is Yoruba for ‘these thieves!’ from a middle aged Nigerian lady. The trio were admitted on bail by the court, with counsel to Ibori-Ibie putting forward arguments for restrictions on media reporting of the case.
A lot of the time was spent on requesting a sanction on the reportage of the proceedings. The argument did not go down well with those of us in the public gallery. After a long argument and counter argument, the Judge gave a ruling barring media publications “to prevent prejudice/contempt of court.”
Intimidating presence
The drama of the whole event was when a lady, who claimed to be a family of the Iboris, came to the public gallery and rained curses on imaginary enemies, wondering loudly: “what is the business of you people (Nigerians) in London to come to court? Na only Ibori steal money?” Defence lawyer for Ms Ibori-Ibie, Andrew Trollope complained about the “intimidating presence” of Nigerians in the court and vowed to move for restrictions on attendance.
The case is expected to go on for days but, from all indications, the accused were jolted with the presence of Nigerians and could barely look up to where members of the public sat.