Nigeria has arrested the chairman of a local oil firm, a security official said on Tuesday, as part of a widening graft investigation in Africa’s biggest petroleum producer that has also netted former oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke.
Days after British police detained Alison-Madueke, one of Africa’s most powerful women, the official said their counterparts in Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had arrested Atlantic Energy chairman Olajide Omokore on corruption and money laundering charges.
The arrests, which follow pledges by President Muhammadu Buhari – a former military dictator – to “clean up” Africa’s biggest economy, have sent shockwaves through Nigeria’s globe-trotting corporate and political elite.
“A lot of people have been shocked,” one oil executive in Nigeria told Reuters. “The net is widening and it’s not clear how deep the rabbit hole goes. There will be a few people looking over their shoulders.”
Read More: Reuters
