Justice Bolaji Olajuwon of the Federal High Court, Abuja has ordered the immediate arrest of the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
The presiding judge gave the order on Monday following the application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for an arrest warrant against the former Minister.
The court had fixed November 3, 2021 for the EFCC to give report on its efforts at extraditing Mrs Alison-Madueke to the country for a possible mention of the case and to stand trial.
On the adjourned date however, the case stalled as nether the EFCC counsel, Farouk Abdullah nor Diezani Alison-Madueke was present.
The judge then fixed January 24 for the matter and adjourned for a report or for possible mention of the case but the former minister was again not available to take her defence.
Justice Olajuwon then issued an arrest warrant against Alison-Maduake who has been out of the country for 6 years.
Reports say that Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu was initially presiding over the matter but the case was reassigned to Justice Olajuwon following the transfer of Ojukwu to Calabar.
On October 28, 2020, Ojukwu had rejected the EFCC’s prayer to issue a warrant of arrest against the former Petroleum Minister citing the commission’s failure to enforce the initial criminal summons.
Diezani K. Alison-Madueke (born 6 December 1960) is a Nigerian politician and the first female President of OPEC.
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