UK to return £4.2m of Nigerian funds stolen by governor who was jailed

James Ibori and his associates stole the money and a failed appeal cleared the way for asset seizure

The UK will return 4.2m of Nigerian government funds stolen by a governor from the oil-rich Delta state who served a jail term in London for fraud - in the first such deal between the two countries.

The money was stolen by James Ibori and his associates. He was jailed in 2012 for fraud amounting to nearly 50m after a drawn-out extradition procedure and his evasion of arrest and prosecution in Nigeria. A failed appeal in 2018 cleared the way for a seizure of his UK assets.