The noose tightened further around the neck of Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, on Tuesday as a High Court at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, ordered her immediate arrest.
The court, sitting in the Apo area of the city, ordered the anti-graft agency, the Nigerian Police Force, and the Department of States Security Service, as well as all other relevant security agencies to effect Madueke’s arrest within 72 hours.
The ex-Minister who has been living in London since the expiration of the Goodluck Jonathan Administration in 2015, has been hunted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for corrupt acts she allegedly perpetrated while in office.
Tony Orilade, EFCC’s acting spokesperson, revealed this in a statement on Tuesday.
Ruling on an ex parte application filed by the EFCC, Justice Valentine Ashi, ordered: “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.”
Earlier on Monday, Justice Valentine Ashi had, upon a request by the EFCC, granted leave permitting the anti-graft agency to arraign Alison- Madueke and one of her associates, Olajide Omokore, on five counts of corruption allegations.
The arrest order as well as the charges filed before the court are part of the EFCC’s to get the former Petroleum Minister extradited to Nigeria from the United Kingdom.
EFCC’s Acting Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, had recently said the commission was planning to extradite the ex-minister to Nigeria following the commission’s dissatisfaction with the handling of the case by the British government.
Msuur Denga, EFCC’s lawyer, while praying the court for Alison-Maduekwe’s arrest on Tuesday, said the order had become inevitable to enable the commission to apprehend and arraign her for the alleged financial crimes in Nigeria.
The EFCC said it had investigated the former minister along with Omokore, erstwhile Chairman of the Atlantic Energy Drilling Company, following a petition dated October 2, 2013, from the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, 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,” the commission added in a statement.
“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 for the offences, which are contrary to Sections 26(1) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.”
In the statement, the commission had revealed that Alison-Madueke left the country for the United Kingdom while investigations into the allegations against her were ongoing, and she had refused to honour EFCC’s invitation to return to the country to face charges.
