Nigerian ex-governor of oil state arrested: anti-graft official

ABUJA (AFP) - The former governor of Nigeria's oil rich Delta state, James Ibori, was arrested Wednesday on corruption and money-laundering charges, an official with the national anti-graft agency said.

"Ibori was arrested this morning by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission," the official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

A statement later Wednesday from another EFCC official, media relations head Osita Nwajah, said the anti-graft agency will formally charge Ibori on Thursday morning at the federal high court in the northern city of Kaduna.

"Chief Ibori will answer to a 103-count charge of abuse of office, corruption and money laundering, among others," the Nwajah statement said.

There was no immediate explanation of why Ibori is being arraigned in Kaduna.

Ibori, who ruled Delta from 1999 to 2007, has also been under investigation by the British police following the discovery of assets in Britain suspected to have been acquired with money stolen during his tenure.

In his eight years as governor, Ibori's annual salary was less than 25,000 dollars (17,000 euros), yet he was able to transfer millions of dollars to British bank accounts, media reports said.

A British court recently froze 35 million dollars worth of his assets, according to the same reports.

Ibori was reputed to be a major financier of President Umaru Yar'Adua during disputed presidential polls in April, politicians in Abuja said.

This, together with reports in the British press saying Nigeria's attorney general Michael Aondokaa had attempted to have Ibori's assets un-frozen, has led to speculation that he was being shielded from prosecution by the government.

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