Magu Meets with UK National Crime Agency in Bid to Extradite Deziani

• Seeks repatriation of stolen funds stashed in UK

By Alex Enumah in Abuja

The acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu has met with the National Crime Agency (NCA), in the United Kingdom over the extradition of a former Minister of Petroluem Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison- Madueke and other Nigeria’s politically exposed persons (PEPs) living in the UK.

Besides, Magu at the meeting with UK officials discussed how the authorities could assist Nigeria in the repatriation of her stolen funds stashed in that region.

The EFCC said in a statement by its acting Head of Media and Publicity, Tony Orilade that Magu “on Thursday, 22 November, 2018 met with the NCA, in the United Kingdom to discuss the efforts of the Commission in recovering all ill-gotten assets domiciled in foreign jurisdiction by Nigeria’s PEPs.” According to the statement obtained by THISDAY, the acting EFCC Chair also explained to the UK authorities why the commission was seeking the extradition of all PEPs.

“Outside the recovery of assets, the EFCC boss in the course of the high powered meeting with officials of the NCA will also present the Commission’s position on ways to fast-track the extradition of all PEPs who have found safe heavens in foreign jurisdiction”, the statement added.

Orilade said that Magu had impressed upon the British authorities the essence of extraditing the former minister.  

“The EFCC Chairman had explained why the anti-graft agency is bent on extraditing all PEPs. For instance, speaking on the former Minister Of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Alison-Madueke, whose process of extradition from the United Kingdom has commenced, Magu explained that having waited for three years, the Nigerian Government believes that it is time to initiate the extradition process”, the EFCC Spokesman added.

The statement recalled that in 2017, a Federal High Court in Lagos ordered the final forfeiture of N7.6 billion alleged loot the Commission recovered from Diezani. The order of final forfeiture was granted by Justice Abdulazeez Anka.

Orilade said apart from Diezani, the commission is also seeking the extradition of several other PEPs who had fled into exile since 2015 when the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari came on board.

The NCA is a national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2013 as a non-ministerial government department, replacing the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), and absorbing the formerly separate Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre as one of its commands.

Meanwhile, Magu has appealed to Nigerians in the diaspora to own the fight against corruption. Magu who made the call while speaking at the Black History Month of the School of Business and Management Studies of the Queen Mary University of London, said for the fight against corruption to be effectively won in Africa, the job of fighting the scourge should not be left in the hands of the government or anti- corruption agencies alone.  

In a paper titled, “Taming Corruption: The Way Forward for African Development” the anti-graft officer said Africa had been bearing the brunt of corruption for so long and that developmental efforts of government gets truncated as corrupt individuals divert public funds to private pockets.

“This presentation supports the view that corruption is one of the factors that contributed to the current predicament of the African continent. The World Bank estimates that about $1 trillion are given out as bribe worldwide annually, representing about 3 percent of world GDP.”

According to the statement from the commission, Magu told his audience that there was another dimension of corruption in Africa that is worth mentioning because of its greater destructive potential.

He said this pertains to large scale corruption perpetrated by the ruling elite, top government bureaucrats, politicians, businessmen, bank executives, captains of industries in the private sector and the rest.

Magu disclosed that between 1970 and 1996, capital flight from sub-Saharan Africa through corruption totalled $187 billion, an amount that exceeded the external debts of the countries involved.