Plans are afoot by the Nigerian government to declare some top officials of the Goodluck Jonathan administration wanted, in connection with several ongoing corruption investigations.
Informed sources on the issue confirmed the development to SIGNAL on Thursday. According to the source, more names will be released in the following days.
Top on the list of those to be declared wanted is a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke.
Mr. Adoke is being wanted in connection with the $1.1 billion Malabu Oil deal. He is required to explain his role in facilitating the transfer of the huge sum, paid by oil giants Royal Dutch Shell and Eni, to accounts operated by a former petroleum minister and convicted felon, Dan Etete.
Also on the list is the publisher of ThisDay Newspaper, Nduka Obaigbena who declared wanted for receiving N670 million from former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki. Obaigbena, SIGNAL gathered was already out of the country in an undisclosed location.
Mr. Obaigbena had claimed, in a letter to the EFCC, that part of the money was meant for compensation for Boko Haram attacks on his newspaper offices in Abuja and Kaduna, while another N120 million was on behalf of the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria and 12 newspapers who asked to be compensated for the “unlawful seizure and stoppage of circulation by armed soldiers in Abuja and several cities”.
#DasukiGate: Thisday Newspaper Boss, Nduka Obaigbena Writes to EFCC [READ]
Other names on the list are a former Comptroller of the Nigerian Customs Service, Abdullahi Dikko, who is being investigated for fraud, and a former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, who is wanted for allegedly stealing N2.8 billion.
Two retired senior military officers, Sarki Yarki-Bello, a retired General and Bello Fadile, a retired Colonel, who worked in the office of the national Security Adviser under Mr. Dasuki, are also reportedly on the list.
Mr. Sarki was the Director of Counter-terrorism at the ONSA. Fadile is a close confidant of former National Security Adviser, Mr. Dasuki who was arrested in company of Mr. Dasuki when operatives of the Department of State Security raided the home of the former NSA in Abuja last July.
Also on the list of wanted ex-government officials is Waripamowei Dudafa, a former Special Assistant to ex-President Jonathan on Domestic and Social Events.
On Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari signed a series of bilateral agreements with the government of the UAE, among them the Judicial Agreement on Extradition, Transfer of Sentenced Persons and Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal and Commercial Matters.
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