Wahab Shittu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, has blamed the onerous legal procedures involved in extradition for the Nigerian government’s inability to adequately prosecute Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former Minister of Petroleum, for more than 8 years.
It should be recalled that Alison-Madueke, a former minister under former President Goodluck Jonathan, was accused of embezzling millions of dollars from Nigeria.
She has been in the United Kingdom since the end of Jonathan’s administration and is unable to appear in Nigerian courts where she is facing government charges.
Reacting to the development, Shittu, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, said that the difficult procedures involved in extraditing someone from another country are the reason the former minister is yet to be tried adequately.
“You know the extradition procedures of getting somebody who has taken flight from one country to another country involves some legal compliance procedures that must be satisfied before somebody can be brought or extradited from another country to Nigeria.
“There are judicial procedures, there are also some administrative international procedures that must be complied with.
“I think efforts are being made by successive Nigerian governments, particularly this administration, to ensure that those who have fled the country particularly Diezani, are extradited back to the country to face their trials.
“That difficulty is because you have legal and extra-legal hurdles to surmount if this is to be achieved,” Shittu said.
