Diezani Seeks To Leverage UK Acquittal In Asset Recovery Suit As Court Adjourns Case To October

July 1 () — The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, granted former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, leave to present fresh evidence of her recent acquittal by a United Kingdom court in her ongoing legal battle to recover assets forfeited to the Federal Government.

Justice Inyang Ekwo granted the application after counsel to the former minister, Godwin Iyinbor, moved a motion seeking permission to file a supplementary affidavit informing the court of the June 17 judgement of the Southwark Crown Court in London, which discharged and acquitted Alison-Madueke of criminal bribery allegations.

The application was not opposed by counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mofesomo Oyetibo, SAN, prompting the court to grant the request and adjourn proceedings until October 6 for the hearing of both the commission’s preliminary objection and the substantive suit.

Alison-Madueke, who served as petroleum minister between 2010 and 2015, is challenging the EFCC’s forfeiture and planned disposal of assets allegedly linked to her.

In the amended originating motion marked FHC/ABJ/CS/21/2023, she contends that the anti-graft agency violated her constitutional rights by initiating forfeiture proceedings and issuing public notices for the auction of her properties without securing a criminal conviction against her.

At Wednesday’s proceedings, both parties first regularised their court processes before Iyinbor sought leave to move the motion filed on June 25. He told the court that the application was intended to bring to its attention a “fresh and material development”—his client’s acquittal by the Southwark Crown Court—which, he argued, bears directly on the issues before the Nigerian court.

The application also requested that the supplementary affidavit be deemed properly filed and served.

Responding, EFCC counsel Oyetibo acknowledged receipt of the application and remarked that it merely sought to inform the court of Alison-Madueke’s acquittal in the United Kingdom.

Although he initially described the motion as one capable of wasting the court’s judicial time, he confirmed that the commission was not objecting to it after Justice Ekwo sought clarification.

The judge subsequently granted the application as prayed.

Justice Ekwo further directed that at the next sitting on October 6, the court would hear the EFCC’s preliminary objection alongside the substantive suit.

In a 10-ground argument filed in support of the application, constitutional lawyer Mike Ozekhome argued that the UK court’s decision constituted a significant development that occurred after Alison-Madueke had filed her amended originating motion on February 19, 2025.

According to the filing, the acquittal is relevant to the issues before the Nigerian court, particularly those relating to the absence of a criminal conviction, observance of fair hearing, due process, and the legality of permanently depriving an individual of property without complying strictly with statutory safeguards.

Ozekhome stressed that the former minister was not asking the Nigerian court to treat the UK judgment as binding or to sit on appeal over the foreign court’s decision. Rather, he argued, the application merely sought to place before the court a material fact that emerged after the commencement of the proceedings and which could assist in the fair and just determination of the case.

He maintained that the development was unavailable when the earlier court processes were filed and therefore could not have been included at that stage.

Ozekhome also submitted that the court possessed the discretionary power to admit such additional evidence where it would aid substantial justice and that the EFCC would suffer no prejudice if the application was granted.