The Federal High Court in Abuja, yesterday, postponed the hearing of a suit filed by former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, challenging the orders obtained by the EFCC for final forfeiture of her seized assets.
The matter, which was scheduled on number 15 on the cause list, could not proceed due to the absence of the presiding judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo. The court subsequently fixed Dec. 7 for hearing of the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/21/23.
Recall that Justice Ekwo had, on June 21, fixed yesterday for a hearing of the case, after the lawyer who appeared for Alison-Madueke, Benson Igbanoi, and EFCC’s counsel, M.D. Baraya, regularised their processes in the suit.
The anti-corruption agency had planned to conduct a public sale of all the assets seized for being proceeds of crime as ordered by courts to be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government
The auctioning exercise, conducted on the seized assets believed to include Diezani’s property, started on January 9. The immediate-past chairman of EFCC, AbdulRasheed Bawa, had revealed that $153 million and over 80 properties had been recovered from Alison-Madueke.
She was alleged to have escaped to the United Kingdom, (UK), and remained there after her exit from public office as the petroleum minister, an office she held between 2010 and 2015 under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
However, the ex-Minister, in her suit, sought an order extending the time within which to seek leave to apply to the court for an order to set aside the EFCC’s public notice issued to conduct public sale on her property.
In the Motion, dated and filed on Jan. 6 by her lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, (SAN), the former minister sought five orders from the court. While Mrs. Alison-Madueke is the applicant, the EFCC is the sole respondent in the suit.
The former minister, who argued that the various orders were made without jurisdiction. According to her, she was not given a fair hearing in all the proceedings leading to the orders.
But the EFCC, in a counter affidavit deposed to by Rufa’i Zaki, a detective with the Commission, urged the court to dismiss her application, saying the investigation had clearly shown that she was involved in some acts of criminality. He said Alison-Madueke was therefore charged before the court in charge no: FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018.
The EFCC operative, who said he had seen the ex-minister’s Motion, said most of the depositions were untrue. The Commission had equally filed a money laundering suit against the ex-minister and accused her of fleeing the country for the UK in order to escape justice.
The lawyer, in a document filed along with a Motion ex-parte, said it sought to question Diezani, without success, in relation to many allegations against her. This, he said, includes “her role as the Minister of Petroleum Resources and her role in the award of Strategic Alliance Agreement (SAA) to Septa Energy Limited, Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited and Atlantic Energy Brass Development Limited by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
He said it also wanted Diezani to respond to questions about “her role in the chartering of private jets by the NNPC and Ministry of Petroleum Resources and her role in the award of contracts by NNPC to Marine and Logistics Services Limited”, amongst others
He said it equally wanted the ex-Minister to speak on several items, documents and Jewelleries recovered from her house at No: 10, Chiluba Close, off Jose Marti Street, Asokoro, Abuja, and some identified properties that were linked to her in Nigeria, UK, USA, UAE and South Africa.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke is also standing trial before the Westminster Magistrates Court in the UK over an alleged £100,000 bribe.
