The Presidency on Sunday confirmed it is working closely with British law enforcement over allegations of corruption and money laundering levelled on the former minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke.
Senior Special Assistant to the President, Garba Shehu said, “Nigerian authorities are saying for the first time that matters are being handled with seriousness and deep commitment. Nobody wants to give the impression that this government is frivolous and unserious.
“For this reason, government is only confirming active collaboration. Beyond this, we are not saying more. In due course, Nigerians will be briefed on updates as appropriate.”
Asked about the identities of the other four people arrested with the former minister, Mr. Shehu declined comments, saying, “as I said no one is willing to provide further details at this point”.
Per Second News exclusively reported Friday night that the former minister and 4 others were granted bail, after being arrested same day in the United Kingdom.
A source in the Buhari administration speaking under the condition of anonymity, said that the government will in a couple of days request for her extradition to Nigeria, after the U.K National Crime Agency completes its case against her.
The United Kingdom's extradition arrangements with Nigeria is governed by the fugitive offenders act of 1967. Investigations by Per Second News reveal that the process of extraditing someone from the UK starts at the NCA, curiously, the same body arrested the former minister.
Due to multilateral extradition conventions and agreements, and bilateral treaties, the UK has extradition relations with over 100 territories around the world and the process of extraditing someone from the UK is different depending on which ‘territory’ or country is making the request.
Per Second News gathered that Nigeria falls in category 2, a request from Nigeria need decisions by both the Secretary of State and the courts. The Secretary of State has no influence over the time it takes for a case to clear the judicial stages, and time a case takes to complete can vary depending on how complex the case is.
The extradition process to Nigeria follows these steps:
1. an extradition request is made to the Secretary of State
2. the Secretary of State issues a certificate and sends request to court (if request is valid)
3. preliminary hearing
4. extradition hearing
5. Secretary of State decides on extradition
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