The Assistant Inspector General of Police and the head of INTERPOL Nigeria’s national central bureau, Garba Umar has explained on Thursday why the federal government had not succeeded in getting Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former minister of petroleum resources, extradited in order to face corruption charges and go on trial.
In his testimony before the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee to Investigate Alleged Loss of Over $2.4 Billion in Revenue from Alleged Illegal Sale of 48 Million Barrels of Crude in 2015 Including Crude Oil Exports from 2014 Till Date, Umar claimed the British Government denied his request to extradite Alison-Madueke.
The AIG, while being grilled by members of the committee, noted that the Nigerian government followed due process in seeking mutual legal assistance from the United Kingdom but the demand was ignored as the ex-minister also went to court in the UK to frustrate the process.
In response to inquiries from the lawmakers, Umar clarified why the action was successful in the cases of Bello Adoke and Abdulrasheed Maina, former attorneys general of the federation and the chairman and vice chair, respectively, of the now-defunct Pension Reform Task Team (SAN).
“In respect of assistance – seeking for assistance, if you remember, we repatriated many Nigerians who were alleged to have swindled the Nigerian Government. I went personally and brought Maina from (Republic of) Niger.
“I brought the former Attorney-General of the Federation from Dubai and many other Nigerians who absconded. We brought them back to face justice and those who are in Nigeria, hiding, we took them back to their various countries to face justice,” he said.
Jude Ngaji, a committee member who represents Cross River State’s Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency in the House, specifically questioned why Nigerian authorities had been unable to extradite Alison-Madueke back home to stand trial.
Responding to Ngaji’s question, Umar said, “The issue of Diezani, a warrant of arrest was issued. I am sorry to say the government of the UK turned down our request. We followed the MLA – you can check, that is Mutual Legal Assistance – to bring her back home. She went to court because, according to them, they have a system where they check our…let me not go there.”
Regarded as the most powerful minister in the Dr Goodluck Jonathan Administration, In 2015, Alison Madueke was arrested and investigated by the UK National Crime Agency for alleged offences relating to money laundering, bribery and corruption. The Federal High Court in Nigeria also ordered her arrest but the EFCC have been unable to get her after she left for London since 2015.
