Alleged $40 m contract: I’m being vilified because of Jonathan – Robert Azibaola

Cousin to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Azibaola Robert,
on Tuesday, opened his defence over the alleged $40 million
contract awarded him by the federal government, with a claim that
he was being framed and vilified by the administration because of
his relationship with the former president.

Testifying before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High
Court Abuja, Robert also alleged that he was being chastised for
his advocacy against environmental injustice in the Niger
Delta.

‘My name is Robert Azibaola, I’m from Otakeme, a community
that’s two kilometres away from Oloibiri where crude oil was first
discovered in Nigeria. I’m a businessman, the managing director of
Oneplus Holdings, Kakatar Nig Ltd. I’m the chairman of several
companies.

“I formed the Niger Delta Human & Environmental Rescue
Organisation (ND-HERO) to fight injustice especially in the Niger
Delta and across the country. I was a lawyer for the Ogoni 20. They
were to be meted the same treatment like Ken Saro Wiwa.

“The late Ken Saro-Wiwa was arrested severally for my sake and I
could not bear the pain anymore. The day Ken was judicially
murdered was the day I retired from law practice. I am a minority
in Nigeria and I have served my country Nigeria faithfully.

“As an environmentalist I toured the creeks of the Niger Delta
along with other notable activists, like Adbul Oruh. There is a
phrase called Environmental genocide. It is the destruction of the
environment of the Niger Delta. Sometimes Nigeria does not factor
this into its actions in the Niger Delta…..’’

But as Robert was narrating his experience and contributions to
Nigeria’s development, prosecution counsel, Sylvester Tahir,
objected to the defendant giving a background of his life and
journey in the Niger Delta advocacy, saying that it was not related
to the money laundering charge preferred against him by the
EFCC.

Tahir urged the judge to either expunge ‘those obnoxious’
aspects of his evidence or whip him in line”.

But counsel to Robert, Chris Uche (SAN) countered, urging the
judge to overrule the objection because the defendant had the right
to tell his story.

Uche said, “My lord, I’m taken aback by the prosecution counsel
and I urge you to discountenance it. This is a criminal allegation
he has been called to defend and in doing so he is defending
himself. Therefore he should be given adequate opportunity to do
so. That is the essence of the Constitution. It is entirely the
prerogative of the defence on how to tell his defence. The witness
should be allowed to give his testimony on the manner he
wants.”

Justice Dimgba agreed with Uche and overruled the objection,
saying it would be premature to shut down the evidence of the
defendant regarding his background to the alleged offence he is
being linked with.

He adjourned the matter till Wednesday, (tomorrow) for
continuation of hearing.

Recall that the court had in March struck out seven out of the
nine-count criminal charges filed by the EFCC against Robert.