"CECILIA IBRU NOT AN ORDINARY NIGERIAN" - lawyer

It can only happen in Nigeria. Where else in the world would a lawyer claim that his client, declared wanted by the authorities on charges of massive financial impropriety, is not an ordinary Nigerian but an eminent one? According to press reports, Mr. Adeniyi Akintola (SAN), the lawyer of former Managing Director of Oceanic Bank Plc, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru, his client is no ordinary Nigerian, arguing that; “this is the only country where people go to the media on issues they know nothing about. Mrs. Ibru is not an ordinary Nigerian. She is an eminent one. They know where she lives.” Mr. Akintola’s assertion brings us back to riyenews’ last thread in which the role of lawyers (Akeredolu, Lawyers and the rest of us), in Nigeria’s social, political and economic life was discussed.

Mr. Akintola needs to explain in greater detail what makes Mrs. Ibru more eminent than the average man on the street, perhaps in court.
It is only in Nigeria that those who ought to cover their heads in shame and ignominy would strut around, thumb their noses in front of the people and even collect awards and chieftaincy titles to boot. What makes Mrs Ibru an eminent Nigerian? Is it the fact that she was once the MD of a bank? What are the criteria for eminence in Nigeria apart from being a clergy?

The answer is of course money but as Nigerians are now finding out she is less than eminent and she is someone who betrayed the trust of thousands of customers of her bank. It is obvious that Mr. Akintola knows that he has just discovered a gold mine in taking the Ibru case, but must he insult our intelligence?