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By Our Reporter from NAN reports

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to reject former Minister of Petroleum Resources Diezani Alison-Madueke’s attempt to rely on her acquittal by a London court in her legal battle over assets forfeited in Nigeria.

The anti-graft agency, in a further counter-affidavit filed before Justice Inyang Ekwo, argued that the June 17, 2026 acquittal of Alison-Madueke by the Southwark Crown Court in the United Kingdom was irrelevant to the issues before the Nigerian court.

The EFCC urged the court to dismiss the former minister’s application seeking to place the UK judgment before it as fresh evidence in the suit, which has been pending since 2023.

The commission maintained that the proceedings before the Southwark Crown Court were not connected to the substantive case before Justice Ekwo.

“The proceedings before the Southwark Crown Court, London, United Kingdom, and the purported acquittal of the applicant therein, are in respect of a proceeding that is not being prosecuted before any Nigerian court and have nothing to do with the substantive suit before this honourable court,” the EFCC stated in the counter-affidavit sworn by Oyakhilome Ekienabor, a litigation officer in the law firm representing the commission.

The development marks a shift from the EFCC’s earlier position when it did not oppose Alison-Madueke’s application to introduce the UK judgment.

At the previous proceedings, the former minister’s counsel, Godwin Iyinbor, had moved an application seeking leave to file a further and supplementary affidavit to bring the London acquittal to the attention of the court.

EFCC’s counsel, Mofesomo Oyetibo, SAN, did not oppose the application at the time, prompting Justice Ekwo to grant it on July 1.

Following the filing of Alison-Madueke’s further affidavit, however, the EFCC filed its counter-affidavit on October 5, challenging the relevance of the new evidence.

The commission accused the former minister of introducing “irrelevant facts” into the proceedings and attempting to expand the scope of the suit.

It argued that there was nothing in the public sale notice indicating that any of the properties listed for auction belonged to Alison-Madueke.

The EFCC also maintained that the relevant forfeiture order concerned only items of jewellery and did not extend to other categories of assets or properties.

The former minister’s legal battle centres on her challenge to the EFCC’s moves to auction properties and personal effects allegedly connected to her.

Through her lead counsel, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, Alison-Madueke argued that the EFCC’s actions had exposed her to serious proprietary consequences without a conviction, fair hearing or strict compliance with statutory provisions governing forfeiture, management and disposal of assets.

Her lawyers contended that her acquittal by the Southwark Crown Court constituted a subsequent material development that should be considered by the Nigerian court, particularly in determining issues concerning conviction, due process and the propriety of irreversible deprivation of her property.

The former minister was acquitted in Britain on June 17 after a jury returned not-guilty verdicts on five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery.

British prosecutors had alleged that she received lavish benefits from oil and gas industry figures seeking favourable treatment and lucrative contracts in Nigeria during her tenure as petroleum minister between 2010 and 2015.

Alison-Madueke denied the allegations and maintained that she neither accepted bribes nor exercised direct control over the award of government contracts.

Despite the UK acquittal, she continues to face legal battles in Nigeria over assets that the EFCC says were subject to forfeiture orders.

At Tuesday’s proceedings, Alison-Madueke’s counsel, Queen-Ubokutom Uwe, informed the court that the EFCC had served her client with its further counter-affidavit.

She also reminded the court of the application seeking to regularise the processes filed by the former minister.

EFCC counsel Paul Mgbeoma expressed readiness to proceed, while noting the frequency of the new filings in the matter.

Justice Ekwo subsequently fixed November 11 for hearing of the pending applications.

The outcome of the hearing will determine whether Alison-Madueke’s London acquittal can form part of the evidence considered by the Nigerian court in the ongoing dispute over the forfeited assets.