Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to stop the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from selling her seized properties.
Through her legal team, led by Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Alison-Madueke is also requesting the court to order the EFCC to recover any of her assets that may have already been sold. She argues that the anti-graft agency violated her right to a fair hearing by proceeding with the sale of her properties without giving her a chance to defend herself.
The former minister claims that the EFCC issued a notice in 2023 and went ahead with a public auction of her assets, despite obtaining forfeiture orders from various courts. She insists that she was never served with any charges, evidence, or summons related to any criminal case.
Alison-Madueke accuses the EFCC of misleading the courts to secure the forfeiture orders. “In many cases, the final forfeiture orders were made against properties which affected the Applicant’s interest, the courts were misled into making the final order of forfeiture against the Applicant, based on suppression or non-disclosure of materials facts,” she stated.
She further argues that the courts that granted the forfeiture orders lacked the jurisdiction to do so. According to her, she was out of Nigeria for medical treatment since 2015 and was not aware of any legal proceedings against her.
“The Applicant did not have any access to newspapers circulating within Nigeria during this period as she was not in Nigeria at all material times relevant to this suit,” she told the court.
She also points out that while the EFCC claims the seized properties were linked to unlawful activities, she has never been convicted of any crime. “Only a court of law can declare an act as constituting unlawful activities and there was no such order that had declared the alleged conduct of the Applicant to be unlawful,” she added.
Additionally, Alison-Madueke has three pending cases against the EFCC in Lagos. She argues that since these legal challenges are ongoing, no valid sale of the properties should take place, as it could be overturned later.
However, the EFCC has opposed her request. In a counter-affidavit filed by one of its detectives, Oyakhilome Ekienabor, the agency states that criminal proceedings were initiated against the former minister in different courts. It cited cases such as FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018, filed in November 2018, and HC/ADYL/56c/2017, filed in July 2017 at a High Court in Adamawa State.
The EFCC insists that the sale of her properties was conducted in line with final forfeiture orders issued by Justice C.A. Obiozor on July 9, 2019, and Justice I.N. Oweibo on September 10, 2019. It also states that before the assets were forfeited, it published notices in newspapers for any interested parties to step forward.
“The final forfeiture orders pursuant to which the sale of the properties was conducted, are still in force and have not been set aside. The forfeited properties were disposed of in accordance with the due process of law,” the EFCC noted.
At the court session on Monday, Mr. Godwin Iyibor, representing Alison-Madueke, asked for time to respond to the EFCC’s counter-affidavit, which he said was served to him on March 14. Meanwhile, EFCC lawyer Mr. Divine Okoro told the court that the agency faced some challenges, which delayed its response within the 14-day deadline.
Justice Inyang Ekwo adjourned the case to March 27 for a definite hearing. He noted that the case had been in court since 2023 and warned that no further delays would be accepted.
It is also recalled that Alison-Madueke previously filed a N100 billion defamation suit against the EFCC. She claimed that the agency had published damaging reports about her, portraying her as a looter of public funds. In that lawsuit, she argued that the publications subjected her to “public ridicule, odium, contempt, derision, and obloquy.”
