Diezani Alison-Madueke was on Friday, October 2, 2015 arrested in London, according to online newspaper, Premium Times.
Alison-Madueke, 55, was first appointed minister by late President Musa Yar’Adua in July 2007. She first served as minister of Transport, then Mines and Steel Development in 2008 until April, 2010 when she was appoint minister of Petroleum Resources. She served under former President Goodluck Jonathan from 2010 to 2015.
According to the report, Alison-Madueke, who also became first female president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in November 2014, was arrested along with four other people.
The other four people were not identified in the report, which says the arrests was concerning bribery and corruption investigations by the UK National Crime Agency. The agency released the tweet below and doesn’t provide any information on the identity of the persons who have been arrested or their nationalities.
NCA's International Corruption Unit arrests 5 people in London for suspected bribery and money laundering offences. http://t.co/8njuvrRTYU
— National Crime Agency (NCA) (@NCA_UK) October 2, 2015
Two top British officials in London have however confirmed the development to Premium Times, but requested not to be named.
Responding to media inquiries, Joseph Abuku, press and public affairs officer at the British High Commission in Nigeria said, “This morning, five people between the ages of 21 and 60 were arrested on suspicion of bribery and corruption offences. The crimes are being investigated by the National Crime Agency.
“The National Crime Agency does not confirm identity at arrest nor provide information that could be used to corroborate the identity of an arrested individual.”
Calls made to Alison-Madueke by The Trent to confirm this story went unanswered. We will continue to reach the former petroleum minister to get more details on this story.
