Encomium
Perks and enjoyment at her disposal in the 5-star hospital
WITH nearly everything at her beck and call at Reddington, the five-star hospital on Idowu Martins Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, convicted ex-Oceanic Bank MD/CEO, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru is spending her eleventh day in her prison extension. Comfortable in her elite Royal Suite, meant for Presidents, Heads of State and VIPs, the former first lady of banking is really living big with all that are meant to guarantee her comfort and happiness in surplus supply.
With choice breakfast, lunch and dinner served at the right time, the disgraced ex-bank chief has no business with prison food in the N80,000 per night Royal Suite.
Mrs. Ibru, again has unlimited access to visitors, only that she can’t go home from there.
There are even prison wardens attached to her to remind her she is still a prisoner and at least, to fulfill all righteousness.
Mrs. Ibru’s day, a source squealed begins with her morning devotions. The next in her routine is medical examination which comes before a well-deserved bed rest. She also attends to few visitors, mainly her family members. Said to be more spiritual now than ever, the VIP prisoner is now sober, taking her misfortune in her stride. And given her critical health condition, which was naturally worsened by her present ordeal, Mrs. Ibru, who pleaded guilty in a three-count charge (which many see as a perfect escape from justice), is already adjusting to her new found life.
“Our grouse is that she is receiving preferential treatment because of her personality and status. Could the law have given the poor unfettered access to all the luxury this convict is presently enjoying? Has any suspect awaiting trial or convicted persons lived to tell their story after they were bundled to prison, irrespective of their critical medical conditions? Even with all concrete allocotus (plea for mercy), does a judge always give the common man the kind of privilege Cecilia Ibru got at the Friday, October 9, 2010, Lagos High Court judgement?,” Asked one angry Nigerian.
Rhetorical as these questions sound, Ibru’s six-month prison sentence, running at the multi-specialist hospital already, has eleven days off and it is likely she might even spend more days there.
Justice Dan Abutu jailed the former Oceanic Bank International MD/CEO 18 months. But the sentence will run concurrently and last for six months. Mrs. Ibru also forfeited cash and property in excess of N190 billion, in addition to wearing the ignoble toga of ex-convict.
And because it was a plea bargain affair, where she pleaded guilty all by herself, there is no room for appeal against the judgement that took her respected family by surprise.
A classical case of a fall from grace to grass, the once-adored amazon of Nigerian banking grew Oceanic Bank from its modest status as a family bank to an A-rated financial institution in Africa. She even bagged awards and recognitions for her ‘exceptional’ entrepreneurial and leadership efforts.
Now, she has lost it all, wearing in its place a prison uniform and confined to a five-star hospital suite from where she may be transferred to her new abode in Ikoyi Prisons, Lagos –whenever she recovers.
This story was first published in Encomium Weekly on Tuesday, October 19, 2010
