A Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Jabi has ordered the arrest of Dan Etete, a former Minister of Petroleum, Mohammed Adoke, a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation and four others who were allegedly implicated in the Malabu Oil scandal.
The order was made on the strength of the continued absence of the defendants in court even after they were decalred wanted by the anti-graft agency, the EFCC.
According to a statement by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the warrant of arrest was issued by Justice D.Z. Senchi on Wednesday after they failed to appear to face charges related to the scandal.
The statement said that all the defendants declared wanted have repeatedly failed to appear before the court.
The EFCC had through its counsel, Aliyu Yusuf, brought a motion ex parte praying the court for a warrant of their arrest, and an order for leave to execute the warrant outside of the jurisdiction of the court.
The proceedings on Wednesday had Justice Senchi, grant the prayers of the EFCC, and ruled that the Nigeria Police, the INTERPOL and any other law enforcement agency should arrest them anywhere they were found including outside jurisdiction of the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) High Court.
The EFCC had since 2017 pressed charges against Shell Nigeria Exploration Production Co. Ltd, Nigeria Agip Exploration Limited, Eni Spa, Raph Wetzels, Casula Roberto, Pujato Stefeno, Burrato Sebastiano, Duazia Louya Etete (aka Dan Etete), Mohammed Bello Adoke, Aliyu Abubakar and Malabu Oil & Gas Limited.
The matter was adjourned to July 11, 2019, for further hearing.