The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr
Geoffrey Onyeama, says the Federal Government is in the process of repatriating
from Jersey the stolen 300 million pounds. Onyeama stated this on Tuesday in
Abuja at a news conference organised as part of activities to mark the one year
anniversary of President Mohammadu Buhari’s administration.
The minister said that the money in Jersey
would have been repatriated but for a last minute “objection’’ that was raised
by the people, who were supposed to forfeit it.
“We are just in the process of
repatriating that in the UK itself. Sometimes very often what happens is that
the people, who have ownership or who claim to have ownership (of the money)
might bring up a defence.
“So, of course the authorities in Jersey were
obliged – as much as they would have liked to just go ahead and repatriate it –
to go through certain legal procedures, because the other party would have a
lawyer and there were legal issues.
According to the minister, the
important thing is that the process has been engaged. He said Nigeria would not
relent in seeking to repatriate the alleged stolen funds. He also said that the
process of repatriation of looted funds stacked in other countries like
Switzerland and U.S. was in progress.
Jersey, an independent,
English-speaking territory with a mix of British and French cultures, is the
largest of the Channel Islands located between England and France.
No comments:
Post a Comment