Nigeria’s former oil minister arrested in London

Diezani Alison-Madueke, who was arrested in London yesterday by the United Kingdom (UK) National Crime Agency (NCA), was last night granted bail by a magistrate Court in London.

Mrs Deziani was said to have been arrested today, in London, UK, by the newly formed worldwide Corruption Unit (ICU) of the country’s National Crimes Agency. The National Crime Agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday stormed Abuja residence of Alison-Madueke, according to another report.

Efforts to obtain more information from the EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, were unsuccessful, as his mobile phone was unreachable.

“This morning, five people between the ages of 21 and 60 were arrested on suspicion of bribery and corruption offenses. Tweets of her arrest got many retweets of their own and by 8.25pm, even without any hashtag, “Diezani”, sits pretty on number one trend subjects”. She retained her position after the House of Representatives investigated the scandal and indicted the minister.

Abuku, however, added that it was not the tradition of the British Police to reveal the identity or nationality of the arrested persons.

When Premium Times contacted the British High Commission in Nigeria, the story that a few arrests were made Friday was confirmed but declined to disclose the identities of those involved.

Nigerian media outlets, including Channels TV, said that Alison-Madueke had been granted bail after several hours in custody.

On Sunday, Buhari stated the prosecution of these suspected of misappropriating the NNPC’s income underneath previous administrations would start quickly.