- Contacts Interpol to Arrest 251 Bigwigs Hiding Abroad…
By The New Diplomat Diplomatic Desk
In a determined bid to steer the economy back to life through aggressive recovery of looted funds apparently stashed away by wanted political bigwigs who played strategic roles in the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, the Federal government has commenced underground diplomatic moves to extradite various personalities hiding abroad who have various questions to answer over allegations of massive corruption and reported underhand dealings.
The New Diplomat investigations reveal that among those whom the Federal government has commenced extradition process against with their host countries are former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Adoke who is presently said to be residing in Switzerland, former Petroleum Resources Minister, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, (she is currently in the United Kingdom presumably undergoing cancer treatment),former Peoples Democratic party(PDP) National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mua’zu,(believed to be in Singapore/Malaysia) erstwhile Chairman of Presidential Pension Reforms Task Force , Abdul Rasheed Maina, (he is believed to be holed up in the Middle East) and former Special Adviser to ex-President Jonathan on Niger Delta and Presidential Amnesty Program, Mr Kingsley Kuku, and about ninety others for alleged various criminal offences.
Sources close to The New Diplomat revealed that most of those on FG’s wanted list have begun underground negotiations with the Federal government. For example, it was gathered that Diezani has in recent times been allegedly holding secret negotiations with officials of the Federal government drawn from the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs over the possibility of a plea bargain. This follows the decision of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to speed up moves to recover about $20bn reportedly traced to Diezani and some of her cronies and business fronts. The funds which were allegedly computed by the current management team of the NNPC were allegedly wired offshore in phases through various scams and alleged fraudulent contract deals.
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To strengthen the Federal government’s case against the embattled ex-Petroleum Recourses Minister, the acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu has reportedly been in close contacts with the UK’ National Crime Agency, where the later has allegedly deposited dozens of documents said to be linking Diezani to corrupt deals and crime proceeds, including photographs of multi-billionaire properties in choice locations in Abuja, Lagos and Bayelsa as well as over N35bn allegedly traced to her in one of the new generation Banks(Bank name withheld to avoid a run on the bank by customers), multi-billion naira deals involving Jide Omokere’s led Atlantic Energy Company Limited for which the Federal government was reportedly duped about $2bn, alleged bribery of INEC officials, amongst others.
The New Diplomat’s sources in London disclosed that the embattled ex-Minister has raised a team that is ‘’already co-operating with the Federal government officials on this issue of extradition in exchange for plea bargain…”
For Mr Adoke, he is allegedly wanted by the EFCC and the Ministry of Justice in connection with his reported untidy role in the $2bn Malabu Oil deal involving former Petroleum Recourses Minister, Chief Dan Etete. Adoke who is believed to be holed up in Europe, shuttling between Switzerland and France, has written Acting President Yemi Osinbajo alleging that ‘’some persons in the Buhari government are bent on embarrassing him because all he did was to carry out the directives of President Jonathan with respect to the Malabu Oil deal…”
But the Federal Government in a swift reaction filed a $1.1bn criminal charges against Adoke, in a determined bid to fast-track his extradition to Nigeria to face alleged corrupt dealings.
In a related development, Hon Kingsley Kuku, former Presidential Adviser on Niger Delta, is being wanted in connection with allegations of corrupt enrichment and massive mismanagement of the Amnesty Programme funds under President Jonathan. Sources within EFCC told The New Diploimat that Kuku is believed to be hiding in a Island in South America and the Agency has intensified moves to track him down to answer questions in Nigeria.
Sources in the EFCC and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told The New Diplomat that both the Ministry of Justice, the EFCC and officials of the National Intelligence Agency(NIA) are currently working in collaboration to get hold of ex-PDP Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mua’zu, Alhaji Maina, amongst others.
It would be recalled that the Federal government had pledged to ensure that these persons are extradited and brought home to answer allegations of corruption hanging on their heads. Minister of Information and Communications, Alhaji Lai Mohammed who gave the commitment on behalf of the Federal government had said: “I don’t think the government would give up any of the options…I can assure you that between the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we would do everything possible to bring all these matters to logical conclusions.”
