Nigeria’s former oil minister Deziani Allison-Madueke was on Friday arrested in London, by the Metropolitan police for charges of corruption.
Sources close to Allison-Madueke revealed that she was arrested alongside some other persons whose identity could not be ascertained yet.
According to Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) Alison-Madueke was arrested in the British capital.
She was the first woman to hold position of petroleum minister in the country. She is also the first female president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
The five people arrests alongside the former oil minister were arrested from different parts of Britain, NCA said on its website.
A few hours after the arrest, Alison-Madueke was granted bail but had her passport seized and was ordered to stay at her London home, sources said.
Allison-Madueke a close ally of Jonathan whose administration was plagued by allegations of corruption, has faced several accusations of graft in the past but she denied vehemently.
She was also reported to have tried in vain to get audience with President Muhammadu Buhari before he was sworn in on 29th May.
Buhari, who was elected on an anti-corruption ticket, has pledged to crack down on fraud in government and state-run agencies, in particular in the oil sector.
No comment has been made by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yet. However some sources have revealed that EFCC sealed Allison-Madueke’s home in the capital, Abuja.
