Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has formally requested the extradition of former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Allison-Madueke, to Nigeria from the United Kingdom.
Gatekeepers News reports that the extradition request follows an official request made by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to the AGF.
The request, made on the orders of President Bola Tinubu, is based on Nigeria’s Extradition Act and the London Scheme of Extradition within the Commonwealth, a multilateral treaty governing extradition between the UK and Nigeria.
The EFCC had established a prima facie case against Allison-Madueke, leading to the issuance of a warrant of arrest. The warrant was then attached to the extradition request written to the UK government by the AGF.
However, the delay in Diezani Allison-Madueke’s extradition is due to an ongoing internal review of the request by UK authorities. Extradition processes are subject to approval by the recipient country, and the UK will determine the timeline for her return to Nigeria.
Diezani Allison-Madueke is facing over 13-count charges of money laundering in Nigeria, covering various jurisdictions, including Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Nigeria.
She recently appeared in Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London over an alleged £100,000 bribe and was granted £70,000 bail with certain conditions. Her next court appearance is scheduled for October 30 at Southwark Crown Court, which handles serious criminal cases.
The former Minister is accused of embezzling $2.5 billion from the Nigerian government during her tenure from 2010 to 2015. She has vehemently denied the charges and has sought legal recourse in Nigeria against the forfeiture of her seized assets and what she perceives as malicious attempts to portray her as a common criminal.
