The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, yesterday said that former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, would be brought back to the country this year for prosecution.
Besides, he alleged that some foreign countries were sabotaging the efforts of the commission in the fight against graft.Magu, who disclosed this while speaking with journalists during an official visit to the Ibadan Zonal Office of the anti-graft commission, said that the agency was collaborating with all stakeholders to ensure that the war against malfeasance is successful.
The EFCC boss said: “We are collaborating with everybody, including Nigerians in the Diaspora. We have collected a lot of information so as to expose the looters for them to return their loot.
“For instance, there is a sabotage from foreign partners about the trial of former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, because they are giving her protection. They are yet to disclose her offence. They just rely on the evidence we have recovered, but we have already set up another strategy to investigate the matter but I won’t disclose this.
“We have relations with the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) in most of the overseas countries. She will be brought down to Nigeria for continuation of her trial this year because there is no reason for keeping her. She has not been taken to court for the past five years of her trial. Why should one issue be investigated for five years? This is a straight-forward case. It is a financial crime case. If they don’t have enough evidence, she should be brought back home for trial.”
The EFCC boss noted that the whistle-blower policy was still active, saying: “It is just that it has been slowed down because you need to go through all the court processes to forfeit the proceeds to the Federal Government and also give the whistleblower its own share.”
While reacting to the recent raid of ‘yahoo’ boys in a night club in Ibadan, Magu explained that what the commission did was to look for the way to rehabilitate the ‘yahoo’ boys and bring them back to the society, emphasising that “these are small and intelligent youths who are still useful to the society.
In another development, MV Gratitude, a bunkered vessel and its crew of six, intercepted on January 9, 2020 by officers of the Nigerian Navy, Forward Operating Base, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, were yesterday handed over to the EFCC for further investigation and possible prosecution.
The Commanding Officer, Forward Operating Base, Commodore Suleiman Ibrahim, while handing over the vessel and crew, disclosed that the ship laden with 1,000,000 litres of locally-refined automotive gas oil and it crew of six Nigerians were arrested at the Brass inshore water anchorage.
Tasiu Abubakar, a superintendent of police who received the vessel and crew members on behalf of the EFCC, promised diligent investigation of the alleged crime.