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Diezani Alison-Madueke prays court to vacate bench warrant against her
Diezani Alison-Madueke prays court to vacate bench warrant against her
A former minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has prayed a Federal High Court Abuja to set aside the bench warrant issued against her on July 24, 2020.
Ms Alison-Madueke, in a motion on notice brought by her counsel, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, before Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon, sought court order extending the time within which she could seek leave to apply for the order discharging the bench warrant.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Alison-Madueke served as minister between 2010 and 2015 in the President Goodluck Jonathan government.
The ex-minister, who sought an order granting leave to apply for the order, also urged the court to strike out her name as “a defendant in charge number; FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018 between the Federal Republic of Nigeria V. Diezani Alison Madueke, pending before this honourable court.”
The motion, which has FRN as complainant/respondent, had Alison-Madueke as sole defendant/applicant.
It was brought pursuant to Sections 36 (1) and (8), 35 of the 1999 Constitution (as altered); Section 1, 113, 114, 382 (4 & 5) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015; and under the inherent powers of the court as preserved by Section 6(6A) of the 1999 Constitution.
NAN reports that the Federal Government, through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had, in an ex-parte motion, sought a bench warrant against Ms Alison-Madueke.
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Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, who granted the order on July 24, 2020, after the anti-corruption lawyer moved the motion, directed that Alison-Madueke should be arrested by local or international police anywhere she was sighted within or outside the country.
The development followed the inability of the EFCC to extradite her back to the country from the United Kingdom, UK, where she resides to stand the money laundering trial preferred against her.
The case was, however, reassigned to Justice Olajuwon following the transfer of Ojukwu to the Calabar division of the court in 2021.
The ex-minister, in a five-ground attached with the motion, said the bench warrant was issued without jurisdiction, and ought to be set aside ex debito justitiae.
She argued that it was issued in breach of her right to fair hearing as guaranteed by Section 36 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as altered).
She further argued that she had neither been served with the charge sheet and proof of evidence in charge number: FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018, nor was there any other summons howsoever and whatsoever in respect of the criminal charge pending against her before the court.
Ms Alison-Madueke submitted that the court was misled into issuing the bench warrant against her based on suppression or non-disclosure of material facts.
“The ex-parte application for an order of bench warrant against the defendant/applicant was 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,” she concluded.
In the affidavit she personally deposed to, Ms Alison-Madueke, averred that she had resided in the UK since May 22, 2015, when she voluntarily travelled for medical treatment.
According to her, before then, she had served as Honourable Minister for Transportation and Honourable Minister for Mines and Steel Development under the Umaru Yar’Adua administration between 2007 and 2009.
She said before she served in the government, she had held the position of executive director in the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, being the first woman to be so appointed to that position in the country, in the history of the corporation.
“That during the course of my service as minister of Petroleum Resources, I spearheaded the enactment and implementation of the Nigerian Local Content Development Act.
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“This made provisions aimed at encouraging and securing the participation of Nigerian companies in the provision of services in both the downstream service sector and the upstream exploration and development sector of the Oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria.
“For the first time in Nigeria’s 90 plus years of oil exploration and producing history, an unprecedented number of Nigerian companies began doing very highly technical work within the industry. resulting in current figures of over 100,000 direct jobs from over 9,600 operators and service companies, as well as over 400,000 indirect jobs.
“Thus ensuring current Nigerian content level of over 54 per cent, in the downstream service sector,” she said.
The ex-minister said she also re-drafted the critical Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, in order to achieve a much higher degree of transparency and accountability in the sector and a fairer and more equitable national distribution of petroleum profits, to increase Nigeria’s percentage share of the lucrative deep offshore exploration profits.
She said these were among many other implemented policies she did.
Ms Alison-Madueke, however, said that towards the end of the tenure of the administration of President Jonathan, she was diagnosed of the most aggressive form of breast cancer — Triple Negative Cancer.
“I hurriedly flew into England on 22nd May, 2015, in order to undertake a critical course of treatment, which consisted of two operations, eight months of intensive chemotherapy and five weeks of radiotherapy and I have remained in England ever since then, where I have undergone intensive medical care and treatment.
“In the course of receiving my treatment and only one week after completing, the eight-month course of treatment in my extremely aggressive chemotherapy (during which time I was erroneously put into a near fatal coma.
“On October 2, 2015, I was invited by the UK National Crime Agency (NCA), to the Charing Cross Police Station, London, where I was questioned for several hours and subsequently released on police bail.
“That prior to that time, the officers of the NCA had invaded my personal residence and conducted a search, carting away with them several documents and other valuable items.
“That since then, I have consistently and severally been invited for interviews by the NCA, many of which have been serially adjourned or postponed to future dates due to no fault of mine,” she said.
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The former minister further alleged that almost contemporaneously, with the raid on her residence by officers of the NCA, the officials of the EFCC also broke into and raided her private residence in Abuja and carted away several documents and many items of value.
“All this was done in my absence and without any prior invitation or notice to that effect,” she alleged.
She said she had either read in the media or been informed by close associates and relatives, about several forfeiture orders said to have been made in respect of certain monies and property in some charges or other civil proceedings all of which were usually ascribed and allegedly said to belong to her in the media.
“That I have till date never been served with any court processes in respect of all the aforementioned charges or forfeiture proceedings in Nigeria, to enable me respond, or defend myself,” she said.
Ms Alison-Madueke alleged that the EFCC, which had been filing the said charges or forfeiture proceedings, knew very well she resides in the UK; and had indeed on an occasion, in the past, actually served a particular document on her through the NCA.
According to her, the above document served on the NCA by the EFCC has to do with properties in the UK, which they purported to belong to me.
She alleged that the EFCC usually collaborates with the NCA with regard to matters involving her, but had bluntly refused to do so in this particular case and in ail the Nigerian forfeiture cases that relate to her.
She alleged that the anti-graft agency’s application was made against her in extreme bad faith in order to inconvenience and humiliate her.
She said since residing in the UK, she had been living openly and had never made any attempt to conceal her identity, location and/or home address, from any persons, or authorities, whether abroad or in Nigeria.
“The NCA is fully aware of my location in the UK,” she added.
The ex-minister alleged that she was subjected to unfair media trial and internet space – lynching without being afforded any opportunity to defend herself against the diet of lies continually fed to the public about her by the EFCC.
She, therefore, prayed the court to vacate the order of bench warrant against her and struck out her name from the charge in the interest of justice.
Meanwhile, hearing date was yet to be fixed as at the time of filing the report.
NAN reports that Justice Olajuwon had also, on Jan 24, 2022, issued arrest warrant against Ms Alison-Madueke.
The order followed a complaint by the EFCC’s lawyer, Faruk Abdullah, that all efforts by the agency to get the ex-minister extradited when the matter was before Justice Ojukwu were unsuccessful.
He said that the arrest warrant was needed to further give the International Police, INTERPOL, the impetus to bring the defendant to Nigeria to answer to charges against her.
Mr Olajuwon then granted the application and adjourned the matter sine die pending when the ex-minister is arrested and produced in court.
NAN had on January 30, reported that in another suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/21/2023 and filed before Justice Ekwo, Alison-Madueke is also seeking an order to vacate the earlier order granted to the EFCC for final forfeiture of her seized assets.
Diezani Alison-Madueke prays court to vacate bench warrant against her
NAN
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metro
Kano Police Trace 12 Stolen Vehicles, Arrest 10 Suspects
Kano Police Trace 12 Stolen Vehicles, Arrest 10 Suspects
The Kano State Police Command has arrested 10 suspected members of an alleged interstate car theft syndicate and recovered 12 vehicles linked to the group.
Commissioner of Police Ibrahim Adamu Bakori disclosed this on Wednesday during a briefing at the Tarauni Area Command.
According to him, five suspects were first arrested in Adamawa on September 7, leading to the recovery of a Mercedes-Benz GLK 350. Further investigation resulted in the recovery of 10 additional vehicles from Kano and neighbouring states.

Five more suspects were arrested on September 12 at Kwankwasiyya City Quarters, Tarauni, where police allegedly recovered a stolen Toyota Hilux.
Bakori said preliminary findings showed that the suspects allegedly operated across Kano, Katsina, Bauchi, Gombe and other states. He said the group allegedly stole vehicles, hid them at different locations and moved them across state borders for resale.
The commissioner noted that 11 of the 12 recovered vehicles were unregistered, making it difficult to trace their owners.
He urged vehicle owners to register their vehicles and display valid number plates, while warning that unregistered vehicles could make criminal investigations more difficult.
Bakori said investigations were ongoing and efforts were underway to arrest other suspected members of the syndicate.
Kano Police Trace 12 Stolen Vehicles, Arrest 10 Suspects
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metro
Osun Govt Vows to Prosecute Those Behind Recent Killings
Osun Govt Vows to Prosecute Those Behind Recent Killings
The Osun State Government has vowed to prosecute anyone found responsible for the recent killings and violent clashes across the state.
The government also denied allegations that it was protecting those suspected of killing Olalekan Oyeyemi amid a leadership dispute in the state chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
Speaking on Wednesday, the Special Adviser to Governor Ademola Adeleke on Security Matters, Samuel Ojo, said the administration would allow security agencies to investigate the cases without interference.
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Following the recent violence, Adeleke called an emergency security meeting attended by commanders from the police, DSS, Army, NDLEA, Immigration, Correctional Service, Civil Defence and Amotekun.
Deputy Governor Kola Adewusi represented the governor at the meeting.
Ojo said the security chiefs agreed to intensify efforts to stop further killings and restore peace across Osun.
He also dismissed claims that the government was shielding suspects in Oyeyemi’s murder, saying the police and DSS had been directed to thoroughly investigate the case.
Meanwhile, two NURTW leaders, Gbedegesin and Kareem Akeem, had alleged that Oyeyemi was killed because some union leaders opposed his proposed emergence as the next state chairman.
Transportation Commissioner Sesan Oyedele, however, denied that the government endorsed Oyeyemi for the position. He said the union leaders only informed him of their decision to choose the deceased.
About five people have reportedly been killed between August 24 and September 15 in Ikire, Ile-Ife and Osogbo in incidents linked to motor park disputes and alleged cult-related clashes.
Osun Govt Vows to Prosecute Those Behind Recent Killings
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metro
57-Year-Old Man Arrested Over Sexual Abuse of Stepdaughter in Edo
57-Year-Old Man Arrested Over Sexual Abuse of Stepdaughter in Edo
The Edo State Police Command has arrested a 57-year-old man, identified as Kadiri Edenokun, over the alleged defilement of his six-year-old stepdaughter in Jattu, Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State.
The suspect was reportedly taken into custody after the alleged abuse of the child was brought to the attention of the authorities, prompting the police to commence an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the case.
Police sources said the suspect allegedly admitted during interrogation that the incident occurred on more than one occasion. However, the allegation remains under investigation, and Edenokun has not been convicted of any offence.
The case has renewed attention on the problem of child sexual abuse in Edo State, particularly allegations involving adults who have regular access to children within homes and other familiar environments.
The Edo State Government disclosed in August that more than 70 cases of child defilement had been recorded in the state between January and July 2026. The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Eugenia Abdallah, said children between the ages of two and 10 were among those affected.
The commissioner also said that more than half of the cases reported during the period involved fathers of the affected children, highlighting concerns over sexual abuse occurring within family settings.
The state government has continued to work with relevant agencies on cases of sexual and gender-based violence, including the provision of medical, psychosocial and protective support to survivors.
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The Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development has also been involved in providing temporary protective care and other forms of assistance to children and young people affected by sexual violence.
In a separate case reported recently, the ministry provided an update on a 16-year-old girl who was allegedly sexually abused and became pregnant. The ministry said the survivor was placed in a government shelter and was receiving support while arrangements were being made for her welfare and education.
The police have also reported a number of arrests involving alleged sexual offences against minors across Edo State.
The Commissioner of Police, Patrick Daaor, said the command arrested several suspects in August in connection with sexual and gender-based violence. Some of the suspects were subsequently charged to court, while investigations into other cases continued.
Among the cases reported by the command were allegations involving girls aged 13, 15 and 11. Police also reported investigations involving alleged defilement of minors in Okpella and other parts of the state.
At its August operational review, the Edo Police Command said 12 suspects had been arrested in connection with sexual and gender-based violence during the month. The command also reported arrests linked to kidnapping, armed robbery, cultism, human trafficking and other offences.
The latest case involving the six-year-old girl is expected to be subjected to further investigation to establish the circumstances surrounding the alleged abuse and determine whether sufficient evidence exists to support criminal charges.
The child has reportedly been placed under appropriate care and is receiving medical attention with the involvement of the Edo State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.
Child protection advocates have consistently stressed the importance of promptly reporting suspected cases of child abuse and sexual violence, particularly where the alleged perpetrator is a family member, caregiver or another adult with access to the child.
Under Nigerian law, allegations of defilement involving children are treated as serious criminal matters, with the relevant authorities responsible for investigating reported cases and presenting evidence before a court where prosecution is warranted.
The police are expected to complete their investigation and take appropriate legal steps based on the evidence gathered.
Edenokun remains an accused person at this stage, and any determination of criminal responsibility will ultimately be made through due process and, where applicable, by a court of law.
57-Year-Old Man Arrested Over Sexual Abuse of Stepdaughter in Edo
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