Ms Alison-Madueke is currently in London where she is facing corruption and money laundering charges and the possibility of being jailed. On October 2, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested the former minister and then released her on bail after an injunction was obtained to seize £27,000 from her and she was asked to deposit her passport with the court.
However, earlier this week, it emerged that Ms Alison-Madueke is planning to secretly relocate from the UK to the Dominican Republic after acquired the country's citizenship. Apart from acquiring a Dominican passport, Ms Alison-Madueke has also been appointed as the island's trade and investment commissioner by Prime Minister Skerri.
Embarrassed by the furore and the allegations that he is promoting corruption, Prime Minister Skerri has decided to remove the former minister from her ambassadorial role. He also made it clear that Dominica would not accept Ms Alison-Madueke relocating to the island as a political asylum seeker.
Mr Skerri said: "There is no truth to the rumour of a former government minister of Nigeria being offered or encouraged by the prime minister or government of Dominica to make The Commonwealth of Dominica her home. In my budget address to the people of Dominica two years ago, I outlined the intention and policy of my government to recruit persons of experience, influence and integrity to serve and represent Dominica in various capacities abroad.
"As a small nation with very limited resources, we do not have the capacity to establish consular or other offices in many regions of the world. In this case, who better to speak for and on behalf of Dominica in parts of the African continent than a former president of Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and former chairman of the West African Gas Pipeline Authority."
He added that in May of this year, during a routine stop-over visit to London, Ms Alison-Madueke was introduced to him as Nigeria's immediate past petroleum minister and Opec president. According to Mr Skerri, these discussions took place well before any question of an investigation by the relevant authorities arose.
According to Mr Skerrit, the idea of relocating to Dominica was never discussed as their discussions surrounded her continued residence in the United Kingdom and ability to travel to Africa in order assist Dominica. He added that the arrangement involving Ms Alison-Madueke serving in an honorary capacity, with no direct remuneration from Dominica and the island facilitating her travels across Europe and Africa with the issuance of a diplomatic passport, was entirely in accordance with existing convention, protocol and practice, until the very recent and unexpected development of the investigations by UK and Nigerian authorities.
He added that Dominica's ministry of foreign affairs moved with dispatch to suspend all relations with Ms Alison-Madueke immediately following her arrest in October 2015, pending the outcome of the investigations. According to the prime minister, Dominica's relationship with Ms Alison-Madueke and all that flows from this will remain completely suspended until such time as the probe into her conduct is concluded and a determination made by the relevant authorities.
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