President
Muhammadu Buhari’s is scheduled to
discuss with fellow world leaders on how to extradiction some Nigerians being
fingered for alleged grafts at a meeting in United Kingdom next month.
It was learnt on Friday
that the President would at the summit explore ways of bringing to the country
politicians who were being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission.
It
was gathered that the outcome of the summit would speed up the extradition of
individuals, including a former Minister of State for Defence, Mr. Musiliu
Obanikoro; a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party,
Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu; and a former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Force,
Abdulrasheed Maina.
Others
are the ex-Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke; her son, Ugonna;
and a former Comptroller-General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko, whose house was
raided in Abuja in January by the EFCC.
Also
included are a former Senior Political Adviser to ex-President and Coordinator
of Goodluck Support Group, Prof. Rufai Alkali, who coordinated the
disbursement of N320m allegedly collected from the Central Bank of Nigeria
during the 2015 elections and the immediate past Attorney-General of the
Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, who is being allegedly
investigated over $1.1bn Malabu Oil deal.
While
Obanikoro, who is believed to be in the United States, is wanted in connection
with the alleged payment of N1.45bn to his companies, Muazu is reportedly
wanted over disbursement of funds to PDP zonal chairmen. He was reported to be
in Singapore.
Alison-Madueke
and her son are being investigated for N2.3bn disbursed to some staff of the
Independent National Electoral Commission through Fidelity Bank before the 2015
general elections.
While
the former minister is in the UK, the whereabouts of her son is unknown.
Findings
revealed that some of the pacts that would be signed by the world leaders at
the summit would pave the way for the extradition of those who were being
investigated.
A
senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who spoke on the issue, said at the sideline of the summit, the
Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) and the Acting
Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, would meet with law-enforcement
agencies from 59 other countries.
The
senior official said, “The Federal Government is determined to bring
politicians, who are under investigations, but have fled the country. The
summit will afford the EFCC and the Ministry of Justice the opportunity of
discussing how those guys will be interrogated for the offences they have
allegedly committed.”
Efforts
to get the attorney-general and minister of justice did not succeed on Friday
as he did not pick calls to his mobile telephone or respond to an SMS sent to
him as of the time of sending this report.
But
a source in the Ministry of Justice said
that Malami would be attending the London conference.
The
source said, “Though it is a conference of heads of state, the minister will
attend with the President since it has to do with corruption.
“You
can also not rule out the fact that there may be the need to sign one agreement
or the other with some other nations. In that regard, the President needs the
AGF to be with him.”
The
AGF had, in an interview on Friday last week, said that the Federal Government
and 59 other countries would sign agreement on the sanctions to be imposed on
corrupt political and public office holders.
Tags
Politics