An Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) of Police and Head of the National Central Bureau, INTERPOL, Nigeria, Garba Umar disclosed that the government of the United Kingdom (UK) rejected a request to extradite a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, over alleged corruption during her tenure. Umar made this revelation on Thursday while appearing before the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee assigned to investigate the alleged loss of over $2.4bn in revenue from illegal sale of about 48 million barrels of crude oil in 2015 including crude oil exports from 2014 till date.
He said, “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 the Republic of Niger.
“The issue of Diezani, a warrant of arrest was issued. I am sorry to say the government of UK turned down our request. We followed the MLA – you can check, that is Mutual Legal Assistance, to bring her back home.”
According to him, Diezani went to court in the UK in order to frustrate her extradition process.
Former President, Goodluck Jonathan appointed Diezani as Minister of Petroleum Resources from 2010 until 2015, when she immediately left the country shortly before President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) commenced her extradition process over alleged embezzlement of about $2.5 billion.