Nigeria’s antigraft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC has deleted a social media post quoting a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke, speaking on money laundering charges brought against her.
The social media post that has now gone viral claimed Diezani spoke in an interview with journalists in the United Kingdom.
A check has now revealed that the post which was unsigned had been pulled down from the anti-graft agency’s official Instagram handle.
The spokesperson for the EFCC, Dele Oyewale while speaking to newsmen denied the report, noting that it did not emanate from nor was it signed by the anti-graft agency.
“The report is not from the EFCC. Anything that is not signed by me is not from us (the EFCC),” Oyewale said.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, had in October 2023 submitted a warrant of arrest and request to the Crown Prosecution Services of the United Kingdom for her extradition.
The report says the extradition request was at the instance of President Bola Tinubu followed a written official request by the EFCC to the office of the AGF earlier in October.
The AGF office in making the extradition request, cited Section 2 (2) of Nigeria’s Extradition Act, CAP E25, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, and the London Scheme of Extradition within the Commonwealth otherwise known as ‘The Scheme,’ a multilateral treaty which governs extradition between the United Kingdom and Nigeria.
“The EFCC established a prima facie case against Allison-Madueke in a letter to the office of the AGF, after which a magistrate was ordered to issue a warrant of arrest. The Certified True Copy of the warrant of arrest was then attached to the extradition request written to the UK government by the AGF on the orders of the President,” a source had noted.
