How Judge Who Handed Diezani To EFCC For Prosecution Died

Valentine Ashi, a judge of the federal capital territory high court in Abuja, is dead.

The judge died at a hospital in Abuja on Thursday. He reportedly suffered a liver ailment.

According to a court official, the judge’s family informed the court about his death on Friday.

The judge gained public recognition in December 2018 after he ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Department of State Services (DSS) and other security agencies to arrest Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum resources, within 72 hours.

He issued a warrant for Madueke’s arrest to enable the EFCC to apprehend and arraign her for alleged financial crimes in Nigeria.

In 2014, Ashi had also barred the publishing of former President Olusegun Obasanjo‘s autobiography, My Watch.

In 2016, the deceased judge sacked Ali Modu Sheriff, former governor of Borno state, as acting chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), describing the process that led to his emergence as illegal.