Court orders arrest of Diezani

A high court in Adamawa has ordered the arrest of Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum resources, for allegedly giving a bribe of N362 million to INEC officials to influence the outcome of the 2015 presidential election.

Nathan Musa, the judge, gave this order on Thursday while delivering judgement against Ibrahim Umar and Sahabo Hamman, two staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who received the bribe from Alison-Madueke.

The judge directed Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police (IGP), to liaise with the International Police Organisation (INTERPOL) to ensure that the former petroleum minister is arrested.

In a statement, Wilson Uwujaren, spokesperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said the former minister and three others were charged “for allegedly deploying over N362million derived from a $115m slush fund to influence the outcome of the 2015 presidential elections in favour of the candidate of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)”.

Count two of the charge read: “That you, Ibrahim Mohammed Umar, Sahabo Iya Hamman and Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke (now at large) sometime between March and May 2015 in Yola, Adamawa state, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, while being a public officer working with Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and retired public servant and former minister of petroleum resources (now at large) and in capacities, did corruptly procure monetary benefit of three hundred and sixty-two million naira, (N362,000,000.00) in favour of public officers and staff working with Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of Adamawa State, contrary to and punishable under Section 9 (1) (a) & (b) of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act,  2000.”

Alison-Madueke, who fled Nigeria shortly after she left office in 2015, has been named in several corruption cases pending in different courts in the country.

Some of these cases have been stalled owing to her absence.

The EFCC said it is working at extraditing the former minister from the United Kingdom