A FORMER Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has filed a motion to amend her lawsuit challenging the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) order for the final forfeiture of her seized assets.
This development comes after Mobolaji Olajuwon, a judge of the Federal High Court (FHC), Abuja, ordered the final forfeiture of her properties, including Abuja homes and cars, in October 2022.
Alison-Madueke’s amended suit is now before Inyang Ekwo of the FHC, Abuja.
At the resumed hearing, the EFCC was absent, and Ekwo inquired if Diezani’s counsel, Godwin Iyinbor, had received documents from the EFCC. Iyinbor confirmed the receipt.
Iyinbor informed the court that they had filed a motion to amend their processes, and the EFCC had been duly served.
As a result, the judge, Ekwo, adjourned the matter until February 17, 2025, to hear the motion.
The ex-minister is seeking to extend the time to appeal the EFCC’s public notice for the sale of her properties, claiming she wasn’t given a fair hearing in the proceedings.
In the previous sitting, through her lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, she sued the EFCC, seeking to extend the time to appeal the sale of the assets.
In the motion dated and filed on January 6, 2023, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/21/2023, Alison-Madueke claimed she wasn’t given a fair hearing in the proceedings leading to the orders and argued that the various orders were made without jurisdiction.
She requested five orders from the court, including setting aside the EFCC’s public notice for the sale ¹.
However, the EFCC disputed her claims, stating that most of the allegations in her suit were untrue.
The EFCC urged the court to dismiss her application.
Rufai Zaki, the detective handling the case, claimed the ex-minister was involved in criminal activities, prompting charges in 2018.
Zaki said Alison-Madueke’s lawsuit contained false claims, contradicting her affidavit.
He argued that the cases leading to the final forfeiture of her assets were heard and determined by the court at various times, labelling her assertions as untrue.
The EFCC had obtained orders for the final forfeiture of her properties, including Abuja homes and cars, valued at $2.5 million, and also traced over $2 billion and $487.5 million in cash and properties linked to her.
In 2021, the EFCC said it recovered $153 million and 80 houses valued at $80 million from Alison-Madueke.
The former EFCC chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa, stated this in the April edition of the EFCC Alert, a monthly publication of the commission.
Bawa said the commission was still pursuing another case of $115 million INEC bribery by the fleeing ex-minister, who had been outside the shores of the country since leaving office in 2015.
He noted that efforts were ongoing to extradite her to answer for her crimes in the country.
A reporter with the ICIR
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