A former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has filed a libel suit against the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over series of defamatory statements against her and claims that she is corrupt.
Diezani, who served as petroleum minister under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, is demanding N100bn as compensation for damages.
A team of her lawyers, led by Mike Ozekhome, SAN, in a writ of summons filed on her behalf at a federal high court sitting in Abuja, on May 26, 2023, is also demanding public apology by both the EFCC and the AGF, to be published in three national newspapers.
She demanded the apology for the “false, injurious, malicious and libelous publications” against her since 2015 when she left the country.
According to her, the statements issued by the EFCC, which she listed, were intended to lower her reputation and integrity.
She said they did indeed lower her reputation and integrity in the estimation of right-thinking members of the society within and outside Nigeria and also brought her into “public ridicule, odium, contempt, derision and obloquy”.
Diezani listed the defamatory reports to include:
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• A publication on December 16, 2021, “Diezani: EFCC uncovers additional $72.8 million in Bank”
• A publication on August 8, 2017, “Unbelievable!!! EFCC traces N47.2 Billion, $487.5 Million to ex-Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke”
• A publication, “By virtue of an order of the Federal High Court of Nigeria sitting in Abuja, Diezani Alison Madueke, had forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria, the sum of $40,000,000.00 (forty million dollars) only, which jewelleries were found and recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in the premises of the Respondent (Alison-Madueke) and reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of the Respondent’s unlawful activities”, made by the court on January 24, 2022, relying on the “false information” made available to the court by the EFCC in a court process dated and filed on July 4, 2019, and widely published in the media.
• A publication titled “By virtue of an order of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, sitting in Abuja, the Prosecution Counsel to liaise with the office of the Attorney General of the Federation towards the extradition of the Defendant”, made by the court on October 28, 2020, relying on the “false information” made available to the court by the EFCC in a court process dated and filed on November 13, 2018, and widely published in the media.
• Claims and publication made by the EFCC on December 16, 2021 to the effect that it had uncovered an additional $72.8 Million in a bank purportedly belonging to her.
• A “false and defamatory statement” made by the EFCC and concerning her on or about February 17, 2022 to the effect that she should be extradited for stealing a sum of $2.5 billion belonging to the Nigerian government.
• A “false and defamatory statement” made by the EFCC concerning her on or about August 8, 2017, to the effect that she has embezzled the sum of 2Billion belonging to the Nigerian government.
