A Federal High Court Judge gave what appears to be a tall order to
the EFCC, DSS and the Nigerian Police Force to produce within 72 hours,
Diezani Alison-Madueke, former petroleum minister.
Diezani Alison-Madueke |
Diezani is based in London, facing a probe by an anti-graft agency
and the EFCC only recently began to explore the possibility of
extraditing her to Nigeria.
Justice Valentine Ashi of a Federal Capital Territory High Court,
sitting in Apo, Abuja, on December 4, 2018, perhaps oblivious of this,
ordered all the security agencies to apprehend and arrest Diezani within
72 hours.
The order was made, following a motion ex parte moved by counsel to
the EFCC, Msuur Denga, praying for an order of the court, to issue a
warrant of arrest against Madueke, to enable the Commission apprehend
and arraign her for alleged financial crimes in Nigeria.
The EFCC investigated the former minister along with Jide Omokore, a
former Chairman, Atlantic Energy Drilling Company, following a petition
dated October 2, 2013, from Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL,
bordering on money laundering and official corruption.
Investigations into the petition revealed that Madueke as supervising
minister of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, was found to
have engaged in illicit and monumental fraudulent dealings in oil
transactions, which she entered into on behalf of the Federal
Government.
Madueke and Omokore, are also alleged to have accepted and given
gifts in properties located at Penthouse 22, Block B, Admiralty Estate,
Ikoyi, and Penthouse 21, Building 5, Block C, Banana Island, Lagos.
They
are to be arraigned on February 25, 2019 on a five-count charge for the
offences, which are contrary to Sections 26(1) of the Corrupt Practices
and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
When the matter came up on December 3, 2018 the Commission filed an
application for warrant of arrest, condition precedent for Deziani’s
extradition protocol to bring her back home to face trail.
The prosecution told the court that Diezani, who is currently in the
United Kingdom, jetted out of the country while investigations into the
alleged fraudulent acts were ongoing.
The court today, granted the ex parte motion, and ordered the
security agencies to provide Madueke within 72 hours, for her to face
the charge preferred against her.
“The Inspector General of Police, the Chairman of the EFCC, the
Attorney General, the Department of State Services, are hereby ordered
in the name of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria to apprehend
and arrest the first defendant and produce her before this court for
further directives within 72 hours”, the judge held.
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