Nigeria’s Minister of
Petroleum Diezani Allison-Madueke speaks at a media briefing on a new gas price
regime in the capital of Abuja May 27, 2010.Nigeria’s state power company will
pay energy companies, such as Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil more for their
gas to encourage investment and boost supply capacity, the oil minister said on
Thursday.
A Federal High Court Judge
on Tuesday gave the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) the
Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Police 72 hours, to arrest
Diezani Alison-Madueke, former petroleum minister.
Diezani is currently in
London.
Justice Valentine Ashi of a
Federal Capital Territory High Court, sitting in Apo, Abuja, made the order
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.
According to CACOL, Madueke
as supervising minister of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC),
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, a 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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