Nigerians want President Buhari to resume duties or resign

Nigerian protesters in Lagos and Abuja are demanding President Muhammadu Buhari either resume his job as president or resign, after more than 90 days of absence.

Demonstrators have rallied in Lagos for three days, demanding action by the government, with many claiming Buhari's absence is unacceptable and harmful for the country.

"We believe the president has become incapacitated and cannot continue in office, so we are calling for the President to either resume (to continue as president) or resign" Adeyanju Deji, founder of the online campaign #ResistOrResign, told Al Jazeera.

Charles, another supporter of the campaign told Al Jazeera: "It's quite unacceptable that the leader of the most populous African nation in the world would leave the country and go sit down in the UK, on account of a health issue that is unknown to Nigerians".

Some have also used the hashtag #ResumeOrResign.

Buhari, 74, has been under growing pressure to disclose his state of health since a series of lengthy trips abroad to seek treatment for an unspecified illness.

He returned from London in early March after nearly two months away, then left Nigeria again on May 7, 2017.

On the other hand a pro-Buhari group called "Coalition for good governance and change initiative" also took to the streets supporting President Buhari carrying banners that read: "Our President is recuperating. Nigeria is moving forward. No cause for alarm."

Buhari was last in Nigeria in May welcoming back 83 Chibok school girls who had been abducted and then released by Boko Haram. He went on to say that he has "absolute confidence the government will continue to run smoothly while I'm away. God bless Nigeria".

In July, the Nigerian President Twitter account tweeted that Buhari "will be back to Nigeria as soon as his doctors give the go-ahead". As of now it's been more than 90 days since he was last in Nigeria.

While outside Nigeria, Buhari has handed power temporarily to vice president Yemi Osinbajo.

Al Jazeera

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Graft Agency traces $615 million to Nigeria former oil minister

Nigeria’s anti-graft agency said it traced at least $615 million of allegedly illegally acquired cash and properties to the West Africa nation’s former oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke.

In addition to “boxes of gold, silver and diamond jewelry, worth several million pounds” found at her residence, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission identified more than a dozen buildings across the country worth more than $500 million owned by the former minister, the agency said in a statement on its website on Wednesday.

On the strength of the evidence it has gathered, the EFCC said it will ask federal courts to order that the assets be forfeited to the government, according to the statement.

Alison-Madueke has previously denied any wrongdoing, and calls to her mobile phone for comment didn’t connect. Oscar Onwudiwe, a lawyer representing Alison-Madueke, didn’t answer four calls to his mobile phone or respond to a text message seeking comment.

Appointed by former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011, Alison-Madueke, an ex-president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, served as national oil minister for five years until her party lost elections in 2015. She was arrested in London in the same year on suspicion of bribery and money laundering and later released on bail, a spokesman for the Nigerian government said at the time.

Property Forfeit

Justice Chuka Obiozor of the Federal High Court court in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, on Aug. 7 ordered Alison-Madueke to forfeit a $38 million property in the Banana Island district, one of the richest areas of the city, saying it was unlawfully acquired.

U.S. prosecutors are also seeking to recover $144 million of assets, including proceeds from the sale of a luxury condominium in Manhattan, New York, which they claim were bought with the proceeds of bribes paid for Nigerian oil contracts when Alison-Madueke was minister.

The U.S. Justice Department, in a suit filed in a Houston, Texas court, said bribes were paid between 2011 and 2015 to the former oil minister by two business associates, Kolawole Akanni Aluko and Olajide Omokore. The defendants acquired real estate in London that was used by the minister and her family, and bought her more than $1 million of furniture and artwork from several stores in Houston, according to the complaint.

Alison-Madueke was charged in a Nigerian court in April with violating anti-money laundering laws. She was described in the charge as being "at large."

Bloomberg

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$37.5 million luxury apartment complex seized from Nigeria's ex-oil minister

Nigeria’s ex-oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke has been embroiled in a global corruption scandal involving hundreds of millions of dollars that has pulled in investigators from London to Houston to the tiny island of Dominica.

On Monday (Aug. 8), a Lagos court ordered the final forfeiture of a $37.5 million apartment complex on Banana Island, one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Lagos. The building was allegedly purchased by the 56-year old ex-oil minister between 2011 and 2012 while she was still in office. The court also ordered that rent proceeds from the apartment building, totaling nearly $3 million, be forfeited.

The ruling comes after Alison-Madueke and other respondents failed to show cause for why the property should not be forfeited in the 14-day window granted by the court at its last hearing on July 19.

It is the latest high profile example of president Buhari’s government using a forfeiture strategy through the court to reclaim stolen funds or property from the ex-minister. Back in January, the government reclaimed up to $153.3 million of funds misappropriated from the Nigeria’s national oil company NNPC.

Since leaving office in 2015, Alison-Madueke has become the face of corruption during the administration of president Goodluck Jonathan.

Just last month, Alison-Madueke was named in a US Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit seeking to reclaim assets worth $144 million believed to have been proceeds of corrupt dealings. The assets include a $50 million luxury condo apartment in New York and a $80 million yacht purchased by Nigerian businessmen believed to have received lucrative oil contracts from Nigeria’s state oil company largely thanks to Alison-Madueke’s influence.

Among other details, DOJ’s 54-page case showed that, in exchange for the contracts, the businessmen purchased property in the United Kingdom worth £11.5 million for the ex-oil minister. Back in Oct. 2015, Alison-Madueke was arrested in London on charges of bribery and money laundering.

Quartz