Garba Umar, an assistant inspector general of police and the head of INTERPOL Nigeria’s national central bureau, 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 a trial.
Umar claimed that the British Government turned down the request to extradite Alison-Madueke while testifying before the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee to Investigate Alleged Loss of Over $2.4bn in Revenue from Illegal Sale of 48 Million Barrels of Crude in 2015 Including Crude Oil Exports from 2014 Till Date.
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.
Responding to questions from the lawmakers, Umar explained why the move was successful in the cases of a former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina; and a former Attorney-General of the Federation, Bello Adoke (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.
A member of the committee, Jude Ngaji, who is representing Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency in Cross River State at the House, specifically asked why the Nigerian authorities had been unable to bring Alison-Madueke back to the country to face 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.”
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