20101213
reuters

DUBAI (Reuters) - Nigerian politician James Ibori, who is wanted in Britain over allegations of corruption, has lost an appeal in Dubai against his extradition, according to a court statement on Monday.

Ibori, a former governor of oil-producing Delta state in southern Nigeria, was arrested in the emirate in May at the request of Britain's Metropolitan Police, and a Dubai court later approved a British extradition request.

He is also wanted by anti-corruption police in Nigeria.

A statement read in court in Dubai on Monday said the Gulf Arab emirate's cassation court had ruled against Ibori's appeal.

Ibori was governor of Delta, one of three major oil-producing states in the impoverished Niger Delta, from 1999 to 2007.

He continued to act as a power-broker in Nigeria's ruling People's Democratic Party after stepping down and has said that the accusations against him are political.

A British court froze $35 billion worth of his assets in August 2007 on suspicion that they were the proceeds of corruption. Several of Ibori's associates in Britain are facing money-laundering charges.

Nigeria's anti-corruption police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), tried to arrest Ibori in April, before his trip to Dubai, to question him over allegations that he looted 44 billion naira from Delta state coffers.

But a violent crowd prevented police from arresting him in his hometown of Oghara and he later left the country for Dubai.

Ibori is one of many former Nigerian state governors to have been charged by the EFCC in cases seen as a test of the Nigerian government's commitment to tackle corruption.

These cases have made little progress through Nigeria's criminal justice system.