A Federal High Court in Abuja has granted former Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke permission to amend her legal challenge against the final forfeiture of her assets.
The New Daily Prime reported that Alison-Madueke was previously ordered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice Inyang Ekwo approved the request on Monday after Alison-Madueke’s lawyer, Godwin Inyinbor, moved the motion, which was unopposed by EFCC’s counsel, Divine Oguru.
During the hearing, Inyinbor informed the court that they had already submitted the amendment request and duly served the defendant.
With no objection from the EFCC, Justice Ekwo ruled in favor of the application.
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The judge directed Alison-Madueke to submit and serve the revised legal documents within five days, while the EFCC was given 14 days from the date of service to respond. The case was adjourned to March 17 for further proceedings.
Earlier on November 21, 2024, Justice Ekwo had set this date to consider the motion for amending the suit.
Alison-Madueke, represented by Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Chief Mike Ozekhome, filed the case against the EFCC, seeking an extension of time to apply for an order nullifying the agency’s public notice for the sale of her assets.
In a motion filed on January 6, 2023, she argued that the forfeiture orders were issued without proper jurisdiction and should be overturned.
She also claimed she had been denied a fair hearing in the legal process leading to the confiscation.
“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, as altered, and other similar constitutional provisions,” she said.
She contended that she had never received the charge sheet, proof of evidence, or any summons related to the criminal allegations before the court.
Additionally, she claimed that the courts were deceived into issuing multiple final forfeiture orders on her
“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.
”The court has the power to set aside same ex debito justitiae, as a void order is as good as if it was never made at all.
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“The orders were made without recourse to the constitutional right to fair hearing and right to property accorded the applicant by the constitution.
“The applicant was never served with the processes of court in all the proceedings that led to the order of final forfeiture,” she said, among other grounds given.
EFCC in a counter-affidavit sworn to by its investigator Rufai Zaki, requested the court to reject her application.
Zaki, who was part of the team that examined allegations of criminal conspiracy, corruption, and money laundering involving the former minister and others, stated that the findings established her involvement in unlawful activities.
As a result, he said, Alison-Madueke was arraigned under charge number FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018.
“We rely on charge FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018, dated November 14, 2018, which was filed in this honorable court and is also included as Exhibit C in the applicant’s affidavit,” he stated.
The EFCC official refuted many of the claims in Alison-Madueke’s lawsuit, arguing that her affidavit misrepresented facts.
Contrary to her assertions, he explained that the cases leading to the forfeiture of the disputed properties were legal actions in rem, properly adjudicated by the court.
He further stated that the court had directed the commission to publish notices in newspapers, inviting any interested parties to challenge the forfeiture before issuing a final ruling.
Zaki mentioned that a lawyer named Nnamdi Awa Kalu had represented the former minister in response to one of the forfeiture proceedings.
“We rely on the ruling delivered by Hon. Justice I.L.N. Oweibo on September 10, 2019, as reflected in Exhibit C of the applicant’s affidavit,” he said.
He emphasised that the court had ordered the final forfeiture of the assets in question as far back as 2017, and this decision was never overturned or nullified on appeal.
According to him, the properties were subsequently disposed of through legal procedures.
The anti-graft agency had scheduled a public auction of assets seized as proceeds of corruption, following court orders mandating their permanent forfeiture to the Federal Government.
The sale of the confiscated assets, including those linked to Alison-Madueke, commenced on January 9, 2023.
The EFCC’s suspended chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, previously disclosed that $153 million and more than 80 properties had been recovered from the former minister.
She was accused of fleeing to the United Kingdom and remaining there after leaving office as petroleum minister—a position she held from 2010 to 2015 under former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
This asset-related case is separate from another lawsuit in which she is demanding N100 billion in damages for what she describes as defamatory publications by the EFCC.
