Diezani was granted an appeal by the court to challenge the forfeiture order.

 

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja has granted former Minister of Petroleum Diezani Alison-Madueke permission to amend her suit challenging the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) order for the final forfeiture of her seized assets.

 

Justice Ekwo approved the amendment request after Diezani's lawyer, Godwin Inyinbor, moved the motion, which Divine Oguru, the EFCC's counsel, did not oppose. The court mandated the former minister to submit and deliver the revised procedures within five days, while the EFCC was given fourteen days to reply. The matter has been postponed until March 17 for further discussion.

 

Alison-Madueke filed a suit against the EFCC, seeking to override the anti-graft agency's public announcement regarding the sale of her forfeited assets. In her motion that was filed on January 6, 2023, she claimed that the orders that led to the forfeiture were issued without jurisdiction and should be rescinded.

 

“The various court orders issued in favour of the respondent and upon which the respondent issued the public notice were issued in breach of the applicant’s right to fair hearing as guaranteed by Section 36 (1) of the 1999 Constitution,” she stated.

 

She claimed that she was not given the charge sheet or summons for the criminal charges that were still pending against her. In addition, she claimed that the courts were misled into granting forfeiture orders because of the concealment of material facts.

 

“The several applications upon which the courts made the final order of forfeiture against the applicant were obtained upon gross misstatements, misrepresentations, non-disclosure, concealment, and suppression of material facts,” she contended.

 

Rufus Zaki, an EFCC agent who was responsible for investigating Diezani for alleged criminal conspiracy, corruption, and money laundering, urged the court to reject her application. He declared that the former minister was prosecuted in case number FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018 and that the forfeiture cases were properly resolved in court.

 

Zaki asserted that the court had sent public notices to interested parties to contest the forfeiture before making final rulings, in contrast to Diezani's claims. He cited a judgment by Justice I.L.N. Oweibo dated September 10, 2019, in which a lawyer, Nnamdi Awa Kalu, had represented the ex-minister in response to one of the forfeiture applications.

 

Additionally, he stated that the final forfeiture of the assets was ordered in 2017 and has not been reversed on appeal. In his opinion, the property has already been disposed of through legal procedures.

 

After final forfeiture orders, the EFCC started selling the seized assets on January 9, 2023. According to Abdulrasheed Bawa, former EFCC chairman, $153 million and over 80 properties were recovered from Diezani.

 

According to the allegations, the former minister who served under former President Goodluck Jonathan between 2010 and 2015 fled to the United Kingdom, where she has remained since resigning.

 

The asset-related case is not part of Alison-Madueke's separate lawsuit against the EFCC for alleged defamatory publications against her.