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Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke
Hearing in a lawsuit filed by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was stalled on Monday as Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja did not sit.
Diezani sued the anti-graft agency, seeking to reclaim her assets forfeited to the Federal Government.
The matter was scheduled for hearing on Monday but it did not hold as the judge was said to have gone for a seminar at the National Judicial Institute in Abuja.
The case was consequently adjourned till November 21, 2024.
Diezani was alleged to have escaped to the United Kingdom 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.
Following the corruption allegations levelled against her, the EFCC sought a permanent forfeiture order to conduct a public sale of all the assets seized from her for being proceeds of crime.
Diezani, through her counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), sued the EFCC in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/21/2023, dated and filed January 6, 2023, where she sought five orders from the court.
In the motion, the ex-petroleum minister sought an order from the court to extend the time for her to seek leave to apply for an order to set aside the anti-graft agency’s public notice issued to conduct a public sale on her property.
She argued that the various orders were issued without jurisdiction and “ought to be set aside ex debito justitiae.”
She also claimed that she was neither served with the charge sheet and proof of evidence in any of the charges nor any other summons regarding the criminal charges brought against her.
Diezani maintained that the courts were misled into making several final forfeiture orders on her assets through suppression or non-disclosure of material facts.
“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, and this honourable 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.
“The orders were made without recourse to the constitutional right to a 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 argued.
Dezieani also said that she was not given a fair hearing in the proceedings that led to the issuance of the orders.
She argued that the orders were issued in breach of her right to a fair hearing.
“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.
Meanwhile, the EFCC, in their counter-affidavit deposed to by Mr Rufai Zaki, a detective with the commission and a member of the team that investigated the case of criminal conspiracy, official corruption and money laundering preferred against Dezieani and other persons in the case, prayed the court to dismiss her application.
Zaki said the investigation conducted by his team clearly showed that the former minister was involved in some acts of criminality.
Adopting their contentions in charge number: FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018, dated November 14, 2018, the anti-graft agency claimed most of the depositions in Dezieani’s suit were untrue.
Hinging his argument on an attached document in the applicant’s affidavit marked Exhibit C, Zaki said contrary to her deposition in the affidavit filed in support of the suit, most of the cases which led to the final forfeiture of the contested property “were action in rem, same was heard at various times and determined by this honourable court.”
He added that the courts ordered the commission to do a newspaper publication inviting parties to show cause why the said property should not be forfeited to the Federal Government before final orders were made.
Zaki said one Nnamdi Awa Kalu represented the ex-minister in reaction to one of the forfeiture applications.
“We humbly rely on the judgment of Justice I.L.N. Oweibo dated 10th September 2019, shown in Exhibit C of the applicant’s affidavit,” he said.
The officer said contrary to Diezani’s claim, the final forfeiture of the assets, which were subject to the present application, was ordered by the court in 2017, adding that this was not set aside or upturned on appeal.
According to him, the properties had been disposed of through due process of law.
