Former Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to halt the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from selling off properties seized from her.
In a suit filed through her lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), she also urged the court to compel the EFCC to recover any properties it had already sold to individuals or corporate entities.
Diezani argued that the anti-graft agency had violated her right to a fair hearing by auctioning her assets without proper legal procedures. She claimed the EFCC relied on forfeiture orders obtained from various courts without affording her an opportunity to defend herself.
“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,” she stated.
She insisted the orders were secured from courts lacking jurisdiction and that she was not served with any legal documents related to the forfeitures.
“The Applicant did not have any access to newspapers circulating within Nigeria during this period as she was not in Nigeria at all material times relevant to this suit,” she added, noting that she had been receiving medical treatment abroad since 2015.
Diezani further argued that since she had not been convicted of any crime, the EFCC had no legal grounds to seize her properties. “Only a court of law can declare an act as constituting unlawful activities, and there was no such order that had declared the alleged conduct of the Applicant to be unlawful,” she said.
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She revealed that she had three pending cases challenging the forfeiture orders in Lagos courts and maintained that any sale of the assets should be halted until the cases are resolved.
However, the EFCC, in a counter-affidavit filed by its detective, Oyakhilome Ekienabor, insisted that the properties were forfeited based on valid court orders.
The Commission stated that extensive investigations into Diezani’s tenure as a public official led to criminal proceedings against her, citing cases filed in 2017 and 2018.
It argued that the sale of the assets followed due process, as final forfeiture orders issued by Justices C.A. Obiozor and I.N. Oweibo in 2019 remained in force. “The final forfeiture orders pursuant to which the sale of the properties was conducted are still in force and have not been set aside,” the EFCC said.
During Monday’s proceedings, Diezani’s lawyer, Godwin Iyibor, requested time to respond to the EFCC’s counter-affidavit, which he said was only served on March 14.
EFCC’s counsel, Divine Okoro, explained that delays had prevented the Commission from filing its response witiin the required timeframe.
Justice Inyang Ekwo adjourned the case to March 27 for a definite hearing, warning that no further delays would be tolerated.
It will be recalled that Diezani previously filed a ₦100 billion defamation suit against the EFCC, accusing it of publishing materials that portrayed her as a treasury looter.