Justice Nathan Musa of a Yola High Court, Thursday, asked the Inspector-General of Police, Muhammad Adamu, to liaise with the International Criminal Police Organisation, INTERPOL, to arrest former Petroleum Minister, Mrs Alison-Madueke, now a fugitive in London, and bring her to face corruption charges.
Diezani is linked with some monumental fraud perpetrated during the President Goodluck Jonathan’s Presidency.
The Judge gave the advice while sentencing two officials of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC ) to 21 years imprisonment each for receiving a bribe of N362 million from the former Minister of Petroleum during the 2015 general election.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had charged the convicts, Ibrahim Mohammed and Sahabo Iya-Hamman, alongside Mrs. Alison Madueke to court over the bribe money which was reportedly used to influence the 2015 elections in favour of a candidate.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan lost his re-election bid to then candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, during the 2015 vote.
Delivering judgement, on Thursday, Justice Musa said that going by testimonies from 15 witnesses who appeared before the court and the suspects’ responses, it was clear that they were guilty of the offence.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reported that the Judge said that although N362 million was received by the officials, they only shared five per cent of the money to other staff of the commission leaving a balance unaccounted for.
He, however, said that following the pleas by their counsel, they were sentenced to seven years each on each of the three charges, adding that the sentence will run concurrently.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke, easily one of the most powerful Petroleum Ministers Nigeria ever had, has, since 2015, been living in London where she is reportedly treating cancer.
