‘UK Court Destroyed My Reputation, Integrity’, Ex-Minister Diezani Speaks After Acquittal

Following her discharge and acquittal on bribery charges by a London court, Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has accused British authorities of damaging her reputation and integrity during a 13-year investigation she described as “painful and traumatic.”

Speaking in an interview with the BBC, Alison-Madueke said the lengthy probe by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) had taken a significant toll on her life and could have been handled differently.

“I’ve not been allowed to travel. I’ve not been allowed to work. They destroyed my reputation and my integrity,” she said.

“When your freedom is taken away from you…it has a very deep impact upon you psychologically.”

The former minister alleged that she became a target for British investigators because she was a “low-hanging fruit.”

Alison-Madueke argued that the NCA failed to consider her efforts to combat corruption in Nigeria’s oil sector and overlooked the powerful interests she said she challenged while in office.

“I was the first female to enter this sort of position as petroleum minister and as head of OPEC in a very misogynistic society,” she said.

She added that the agency should have “taken a step back and looked with a little more depth at the truth of the situation on the ground.”

Alison-Madueke maintained that she had always proclaimed her innocence because she knew she had “never done anything nefarious” or committed any of the offences alleged by investigators.

Her trial commenced in January after UK authorities charged her in August 2023 over an alleged £100,000 bribe.

Prosecutors accused the former minister of receiving luxury goods and access to high-end properties from oil industry figures in exchange for awarding multi-million-pound oil and gas contracts while in office.

However, Alison-Madueke claimed that documents which could have supported her defence disappeared after being seized from her residence in Abuja.

“Those items were taken away by our intelligence forces from my home in Abuja in 2015,” she said, referring to boxes of receipts she claimed showed that oil executives had been reimbursed for payments made on her behalf.

“I have no idea what happened to them.”

Former President Goodluck Jonathan, who appointed Alison-Madueke, told the court in a written statement that it was not unusual for third parties to make payments on behalf of ministers undertaking official duties abroad.

Asked who should bear responsibility for the shortcomings in the case against her, Alison-Madueke said, “There’s a bit of blame everywhere.”

“The Nigerian authorities need to look into the processes and practices that they deploy in these cases,” she added.

The former minister faced the allegations alongside Olatimbo Ayinde, an oil executive, and Doye Agama, her brother and a Pentecostal archbishop based in Manchester. Both men were also acquitted.

In 2023, the United States Department of Justice announced the recovery of $53 million in assets linked to two oil businessmen named in the trial, alleging that Alison-Madueke used her influence to direct lucrative oil contracts to companies they owned.

Responding to the allegation, she told the BBC, “I was never given the opportunity to fight that because I wasn’t even charged.”

She insisted that the contracts in question followed established procedures and due process.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had also announced in 2022 that it recovered about $153 million and more than 80 properties allegedly linked to the former minister.

When asked about the forfeited assets, Alison-Madueke said they had not been directly traced to her.

“The assets that have been forfeited were not actually traced directly to me,” she said.

“I don’t know what has happened to these matters at all. It’s now that I’ll have the freedom to find out what exactly has gone on there.”

Following her acquittal, Alison-Madueke said she would speak more extensively about the events of the past decade and outline her future plans “in due course.”