A former Nigerian minister has been convicted and sentenced in absentia, with the UK’s anti-corruption unit offering to share intelligence to track him down, sources close to the investigation confirm. The verdict, delivered in a Lagos courtroom on Tuesday, marks the latest blow in a long-running crackdown on grand corruption that has seen a parade of high-ranking officials fall from grace.
The convicted minister, whose identity remains under a reporting restriction, was found guilty of siphoning billions of naira from a public health programme meant to combat malaria. The money, sources say, was laundered through a network of shell companies registered in Lagos and London, with a portion traced to offshore accounts in the British Virgin Islands. The judge described the crime as “a calculated assault on the Nigerian people” and handed down a 14-year sentence.
But the minister is not in custody. He fled the country last year, just before the charges were filed, and is believed to be hiding somewhere in West Africa. The UK’s National Crime Agency, which has been working with Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a joint task force, has now offered to deploy assets to help locate him. “We have tools that can map financial flows and phone signals with precision,” a British officer familiar with the case told me. “If he’s alive, we’ll find him.”
The offer signals a shift in London’s approach. For years, the UK was seen as a safe haven for Nigerian looters, with London property and British banks acting as laundromats for dirty money. But since the launch of the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre in 2017, intelligence sharing has become more aggressive. In this case, UK analysts helped trace the money trail from the health ministry to a flatscreen dealership in Manchester.
The EFCC’s chairman praised the cooperation but warned that the real prize is not just one fugitive. “We have 15 similar cases pending, each with tentacles reaching into London, the UAE and Switzerland,” he said. “This is a system. We are dismantling it brick by brick.”
The minister’s sentence is a symbolic victory, but the gap between a conviction and a capture haunts every anti-corruption fight. Nigeria has extradited fewer than a dozen high-profile suspects in the last decade. And those who have been brought back often face endless delays or sudden acquittals. One former minister jailed in 2019 is already free and running for office again.
Still, the timing matters. Nigeria is battling a currency crisis and record inflation, and public patience with the elite has worn thin. The conviction of a man who even now refuses to face trial may offer some balm to a nation angry at a system that lets the powerful steal with impunity.
As one Lagos-based activist put it, “We want the body. Not just the paper.”
The UK’s offer of intelligence is fresh, and the chase is just beginning. I will be following the money, the phones, and the man who thinks he can hide. Until he answers, the story is not over.
