Posted by Times Online, UK on
A Nigerian state governor facing trial in Britain for allegedly laundering £1.8 million returned home to a hero's welcome after absconding through the Channel Tunnel.
A Nigerian state governor facing trial in Britain for allegedly laundering £1.8 million returned home to a hero's welcome after absconding through the Channel Tunnel.
Forfeiting a £1.25 million bail bond, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, the governor of Bayelsa state, disguised himself as a woman and used forged documents to take a train from London to Paris. He then flew to Douala, a port in Cameroon, which neighbours Nigeria.
There, a speedboat was waiting to whisk him back to Nigeria, where he enjoyshas immunity from prosecution. When he drove in triumph into Yenagoa, the state capital, thousands of supporters lined the streets to cheer him.
Mr Alamieyeseigha's odyssey earned him the title of 'master of deception" in one newspaper, which also published a photomontage of him wearing a red dress, sparkling necklace and lipstick. A British security source said: 'Our borders are not too secure."