Deziani Begs Court To Order AGF To Bring Her Back To Nigeria

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LAGOS SEPTEMBER 3RD (NEWSRANGERS)-A former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has urged the Federal High Court in Lagos to compel the Attorney General of the Federation to bring her back to Nigeria from the U.K, where she traveled to shortly after leaving office in 2015. 
She said she would like to appear in court in Nigeria to defend a criminal charge bordering on alleged laundering of N450m, where her name was mentioned. 
.The main defendants in the charge are a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Dele Belgore; and a former Minister of National Planning, Prof. Abubakar Suleiman. 
Belgore and Suleiman were charged before Justice Rilwan Aikawa for allegedly collecting N450m from Diezani and laundering same in the build-up to the 2015 general elections. 
.EFCC, which filed the charges, claimed that the N450m was part of a sum of $115m which Diezani allegedly doled out to compromise the 2015 general elections. 
The SAN and the professor were arraigned on five counts, wherein Diezani’s name was mentioned, but she was declared as being “at large.” 
At the resumed proceedings in the case on Tuesday, a lawyer, Obinna Onya, appeared before Justice Aikawa with an application seeking the joining of Diezani as one of the defendants in the charge as she’s willing to return to Nigeria.
.The lawyer argued that since Diezani’s name had been mentioned in the charge, it would be against her right to fair hearing for the case to proceed without affording her the opportunity to defend herself. 
Onya urged Justice Aikawa to hear and determine the application before proceeding with the case on Tuesday. But the prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo, opposed him, saying the application was not ripe for hearing, as he had yet to be served. 
Responding, Justice Aikawa said the court could not entertain the application until all the parties had been properly served. Meanwhile, the trial proceeded with the second witness for the EFCC, Usman Zakari, continuing his testimony. Via: Punchng 

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