Magu meets UK govt, seeks Expedited Extradition of Diezani, Etete before March

Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, has met with United Kingdom Government officials in London, in an effort to expedite the extradition of a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke to face trial in Nigeria.

Diezani, who served as Minister of Petroleum resources under President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, is expected to face trial for graft and money laundering running into billions of naira.

She has been holed up in London for the past five years, as the British authorities claimed she was under probe for financial crimes and graft, but the EFCC had criticised the delay in the prosecution of the former official, prompting the Federal Government to file an extradition request.

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EkoHotBlog gathered that Magu was able to convince the British authorities to expedite action on the extradition request filed by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), this prompted secured assurances that Diezani would be extradited in the next one month, or latest by March

The source’s statement claims “The acting EFCC chairman has met with UK officials to expedite the process of extraditing Diezani. The investigation into the allegations against her by the UK government seemed to have stalled. It appears as if it was a ploy to keep her from facing justice in Nigeria. Magu is upbeat that the ex-minister would be repatriated to Nigeria latest by March.

Similarly, the commission has submitted an arrest warrant to the International Police for the processing of the extradition of another former petroleum minister, Dan Etete, who is wanted by the EFCC for his involvement in the $1.1bn Malabu oil scandal.

Our correspondent also gathered that the warrant was for the arrest and extradition of Munamuna Seidougha, and Joseph Amaran.

The arrest order issued by Justice Abubakar Kutigi of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting at Gwagwalada, on Thursday was based on an ex-parte application and affidavit brought by the EFCC