The Federal High Court in Abuja has set October 6 as the date for the hearing of former Petroleum Resources Minister Diezani Alison‑Madueke’s legal challenge against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is attempting to sell her seized properties.
During Monday’s session, Justice Abubakar Umar allowed Mrs. Alison‑Madueke, represented by counsel Mr. Godwin Iyibor, time to respond to legal papers served by the EFCC.
In a lawsuit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/21/2023, filed by a team led by Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, the former minister demanded that the court compel the EFCC “to retrieve from persons (natural or corporate), to whom it had sold off any of the properties.”
She alleges the EFCC violated her fundamental right to fair hearing by launching a public auction of assets they claimed were linked to her, following a 2023 notice.
She further argued that the properties were seized based on final forfeiture orders obtained through “misrepresentations and concealment of facts.” She maintained:“
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 thus 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.”
Mrs. Alison‑Madueke contended that she was never served with any charge or summons in the proceedings leading to the forfeiture and that no criminal conviction supports the EFCC’s claims. Notably, she pointed out:
“Till date, the Applicant has not been convicted of any unlawful activities to warrant the forfeiture of her properties and assets.”
She also noted that at all relevant times, she was abroad seeking medical treatment, and therefore had no access to Nigerian newspapers or legal notices.
In its counter-affidavit, the EFCC stated that criminal charges had indeed been filed against her since 2017, including cases in Abuja and Adamawa.
The EFCC cited final forfeiture orders issued by Justice C.A. Obiozor (July 9, 2019) and Justice I.N. Oweibo (September 10, 2019), and asserted that the seized assets were sold “in accordance with the due process of law.”
The EFCC emphasized that “the final forfeiture orders pursuant to which the sale of the properties was conducted, are still in force and have not been set aside.”
They also confirmed they adhered to newspaper publication requirements to alert interested parties.
Earlier, Mrs. Alison‑Madueke had filed a N100 billion defamation lawsuit against the EFCC, accusing the agency of spreading damaging and false reports that had harmed her reputation (File No. CV/6273/2023).
