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Nigerian Woman Jailed in U.S. Nabbed in Lagos Using New Name, Extradited To America

Florence Enwerim Onyegbu, a Nigerian female fugitive condemned to three years and ten months in jail for violating US law by offering and receiving illicit money in a health care situation, has been extradited to the US by the Nigerian government.

 

Onyegbu was extradited to the United States on Thursday to face the criminal charges for which she was convicted and sentenced to jail.

 

She was arrested in the United States on February 12, 2011, and sentenced to three years and ten months (46) in prison after pleading guilty to a breach of US law relating to the offer and payment of illicit remuneration in a health care situation.

 

Onyegbu was supposed to report for service of her sentence on April 4, 2011, but she didn’t show up, therefore she was charged with failure to surrender for service of sentence in violation of US law on March 4, 2013.

 

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arranged Onyegbu’s extradition after the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) requested help for her detention.

 

The EFCC confirmed her extradition in a statement, saying that its investigations revealed that she had changed her name from Florence E. Onyegbu to Janet Boi in an attempt to remain hidden, but operatives of the anti-graft commission swooped on her at her residence in the Ojodu area of Lagos State, where she was hiding, on February 21, 2022.

 

According to the EFCC, she was arrested with a national identity card bearing the name Janet Boi and a Texas driver’s license bearing the name Florence Enwerim Onyegbu.

 

“The Commission, on March 22, 2023, handed over Onyegbu to the FBI, following an extradition order granted by Justice Z. B. Abubakar of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on December 2, 2022,” the agency said.

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