US restores $1 million stolen by ex-governor of Nigeria

The United States and the Nigerian government on Thursday, inked a deal for the return stolen money of about $1 million by late Deprieye Alamieyeseigha, a former governor in Nigeria .

Mr Alamieyeseigha, who was governor of Bayelsa in South-south Nigeria in 1999, was removed from office by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly in December 2005 to face trial.

Mr Alamieyeseigha was arrested in London in September 2005 over corruption allegations but managed to jump bail and returned to Nigeria.

He later died in October 2015.

Funds linked to him in the UK and the US were also seized thanks to joint cooperation.

At the signing of the agreement for the repatriation of funds seized from him by the US government, in Abuja on Thursday, the US ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Leonard, said the funds would be deployed to funding healthcare services in Bayelsa State.