Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, has met with United Kingdom Government officials in London, in an effort to expedite the extradition of a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke to face trial in Nigeria.
Diezani, who served in ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, is expected to face trial for graft and money laundering running into billions of naira.
She had holed up in London for the past five years.
The British authorities claimed she was under probe for financial crimes and graft, but the EFCC had criticised the delay in the prosecution of the former official, prompting the Federal Government to file an extradition request.
Punch reports that Magu had secured assurances that Diezani would be extradited in the next one month, or latest by March.
Sources reportedly said that Magu was able to convince the British authorities to expedite action on the extradition request filed by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN).
“The acting EFCC chairman has met with UK officials to expedite the process of extraditing Diezani. The investigation into the allegations against her by the UK government seemed to have stalled. It appears as if it was a ploy to keep her from facing justice in Nigeria. Magu is upbeat that the ex-minister would be repatriated to Nigeria latest by March,” a source disclosed on Friday.
Similarly, the commission has submitted an arrest warrant to the International Police for the processing of the extradition of another former petroleum minister, Dan Etete, who is wanted by the EFCC for his involvement in the $1.1bn Malabu oil scandal.
_____
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2020 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant source.
