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Ex-Minister Diezani in court to recover seized assets

Published

2 months ago

January 30, 2023

Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has asked a Federal High Court, Abuja, to vacate an order granted to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for final forfeiture of her seized assets.

Alison-Madueke sought an order extending the time within which to seek leave to apply to the court for an order to set aside the EFCC’s public notice issued to conduct the public sale on her property.

The anti-corruption agency had planned to conduct a public sale of all assets seized from Alison-Madueke beginning from Jan. 9 as contained in its public notice following various court judgments/orders issued in favor of the commission as final forfeiture orders against property and personal effects of the former minister.

But in the motion marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/21/2023 dated and filed Jan. 6 by her lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, before Justice Inyang Ekwo, the ex-minister sought five orders from the court.

While Alison-Madueke is the applicant, the EFCC is the sole respondent in the suit.

The former minister who argued that the various orders were made without jurisdiction, said these “ought to be set aside ex debito justitiae.”

She said she was not given fair hearing in all the proceedings leading to the orders.

“The various court orders issued in favor of the respondent and upon which the respondent issued the public notice to conduct a public sale of items contained in the public notice most of which court the interest of the applicant 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 argued that she was neither served with the charge sheet and proof of evidence in any of the charges nor any other summons howsoever and whatsoever in respect of the criminal charges pending against her before the court.

She further argued that the courts were misled into making several of the final forfeiture orders against 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 honorable 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 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.

But the EFCC, in a counter affidavit deposed to by Rufai Zaki, a detective with the commission, urged the court to dismiss Alison-Madueke’s application.

Zaki, who was a member of the team that investigated a case of criminal conspiracy, official corruption and money laundering against the ex-minister and some other persons involved in the case, said investigation had clearly shown that she was involved in some acts of criminality.

He said Alison-Madueke was therefore charged before the court in charge no: FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018.

“We hereby rely on the charge FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018 dated 14th November 2018 filed before this honorable court and also attached as Exhibit C in the applicant’s affidavit,” he said.

The EFCC operative, who said he had seen the ex-ministers motion, said most of the depositions were untrue.

He said contrary to her deposition in the affidavit in support, most of the cases which led to the final forfeiture of the contested property “were action in rem, same were heard at various times and determined by this honorable court.”

He said the courts differently 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 argued that one Nnamdi Awa Kalu represented the ex-minister in reaction to one of the forfeiture applications.

“We humbly rely on the judgment of Hon. Justice I.LN. Oweibo dated 10th September 2019 shown in Exhibit C of the applicant’s affidavit,” he said.

The officer said that contrary to her, the final forfeiture of the assets which were the subject of the present application was ordered by the court in 2017 and that this was not set aside or upturned on appeal.

According to him, the properties have been disposed of through due process of law.

Upon mentioning the matter on Monday, Alison-Madueke’s counsel, Oluchi Uche, told Justice Ekwo that they were just been served by the EFFC on Friday and they would need time to respond to the counter affidavit.

Farouk Abdullah, who appeared by the anti-graft agency, did not oppose and the judge adjourned the matter until May 8 for a hearing.

Alison-Madueke was Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister during President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.(NAN)

Related Topics:court Diezani Seized assets

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Breaking: Appeal court restores Adeleke as Osun State governor

Published

34 mins ago

March 24, 2023

Trends Admin

The court of appeal sitting in Abuja on Friday reinstated Ademola Adeleke as governor of Osun State.

A three-member panel of justices faulted the election tribunal that ealier ruled that the 1st and 2nd respondents (Gboyega Oyetola and the All Progressives Congress) proved their allegation of over-voting.

According to the panel of judges which issued its verdict, Adeleke is the duly elected governor of the state.

The Osun governorship election tribunal, in January, held that Oyetola was able to prove that there was over-voting in some of the polling units.

The majority judgment of the tribunal ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Adeleke and issue a fresh one to Oyetola as the duly elected governor of Osun.

Dissatisfied with the ruling, Adeleke appealed the judgment at the court of appeal.

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Naira scarcity: CBN begins allocation of more cash to banks

Published

8 hours ago

March 24, 2023

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday began cash allocation to banks to ease the scarcity.

A director confirmed the development to The Nation.

The source said: “We have commenced the release of cash to the banks.

“We hope to see a marked improvement in the availability of cash in the next few days”.

The source said the CBN felt the pains of Nigerians as the cash crunch bit harder.

“We also have family members who were affected by the lack of cash.”

The CBN may have bowed to the added pressure by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), which announced on Wednesday that workers would down tools in a week’s time.

Labour, which last week gave a seven-day ultimatum to the government to end the naira crisis, directed workers to stay off work and picket CBN offices in state capitals from Wednesday.

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Keyamo seeks arrest of Peter Obi over alleged incitement

Published

17 hours ago

March 23, 2023

Trends Admin

Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Mr Festus Keyamo (SAN) has petitioned the Department of State Services, demanding the arrest and prosecution of the Labour Party presidential and vice presidential candidates, Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed, respectively, for allegedly making comments capable of causing rebellion.

In the petition addressed to the Director-General DSS and dated March 23, the minister who is chief spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, said in a post-election period such as this, there was a need to soothe frayed nerves, lower the temperature and begin the healing process.

“The President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, issued a statement to this effect a few days ago.

“However, it appears the presidentila and vice-presidential candidates of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed are not prepared to toe this conciliatory path for the sake of peace and national cohesion, whilst exercising their rights to pursue duly laid down constitutional means of addressing their grievances,” he stated.

Keyamo noted that since the declaration of the presidential election results, the duo have been hopping from one media house to the other making incendiary comments and claims about the declaration of the President-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC.

According to him, “These comments and claims are made, not just within the boundaries of exercising their rights to freedom of speech and the freedom to air their grievances publicly, but they have since crossed the line to call for the outright truncation of democracy by insisting on the adoption of other processes outside the contemplation of our Constitution.

“In some cases, their privies have even called for the establishment of an Interim Government.

“The latest of such are the comments made by Datti Baba-Ahmed on behalf of himself and Mr. Peter Obi on Channels TV on Wednesday, March 22, wherein he threatened that if the President-elect was sworn in on May 29, it would ‘signal the end of democracy’.

“Posing as an accuser, a judge and a jury all by himself, he unilaterally declared the duly elected President-elect as ‘unconstitutional’ and, in a subliminal manner, threatened mayhem if the President-elect was sworn in on May 29.

“I also have it on good authority that Mr. Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed have camped some youths in a popular hotel in Abuja with the sole aim of instructing them to push out inciting messages everyday on social media in order to cause panic and fear within the federation and to incite people to riot and social unrest.

“It is noteworthy that Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed have submitted elections petitions to the courts for adjudication, but their conducts and utterances amount to a subversion of the processes they have instituted in court and a subversion of our Constitution and the laid-down processes for addressing disputes and grievances.

“These conduct and utterances are a build-up to something more sinister and it is important you rein them in now!

“In the circumstance, I submit this petition in my personal capacity as a patriotic Nigerian to invite/arrest, interrogate and after investigation, if necessary, charge both individuals to court for their conduct which amounts to incitement and treasonable felony.”