Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court in Abuja, has fixed October 23, 2023 for hearing in the suit filed by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke, challenging the order obtained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for final forfeiture of her seized assets.
The Court fixed the date on Wednesday, June 21, after Allison-Madueke’s lawyer, Benson Igbanoi, and the EFCC’s counsel, M.D. Baraya, regularised their processes in the suit.
The anti-graft agency had planned to conduct a public sale of all the assets seized from the former Minister, regarded as proceeds of crime and ordered by court to be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government. The auctioning exercise, conducted on the seized assets believed to include Diezani’s property, started on January 9, 2023.
The suspended chairman of EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, recently revealed that $153 million and over 80 properties had been recovered from Allison-Madueke.
Diezani Allison-Madueke was alleged to have escaped to the United Kingdom and remained there after her exit from public office as Petroleum Minister, an office she held between 2010 and 2015 under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
However, in the suit filed, Allison-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 a public sale on her property