The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said it does not have the authority to hand over former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke to face trial for corruption allegations against her.
Uwajaren said that only the Ministry of Justice has any authority in matters of extradition.
When asked about his reaction to the development, Uwajaren said, “The proper agency to talk to is not the EFCC. The EFCC, contrary to the views of some people, is not the one in charge of extradition.
“That type of extradition is handled by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice who is the right person to talk about extradition of any Nigerian from any part of the world.”
“What I can tell you is that we already have the charge in court in which Mrs Diezani was listed as one of the defendants, and in that charge we stated that she’s stiill at large – which means that we were not able to bring her into the country to face trial.
“We are still waiting for her to respond because we have invited her for questioning but she has not responded. We are aware that she is living in the UK where she was taken to court sometime ago and was released on bail.
“Ours is to investigate and prosecute, but issues of extradition are handled by the Ministry of Justice.”
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