By Ikugbadi Oluwasegun
The London’s Southwark crown court has acquitted former Nigerian Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke from the six counts bordering on bribery charge.
British authorities began their investigation into corruption allegations against Alison-Madueke more than a decade ago.
Alison-Madueke, the first woman to be Nigeria’s Minister for Petroleum Resources between 2010 and 2015 under the then-President Goodluck Jonathan, stood trial charged with five counts of accepting bribes and a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery.
Prosecutors alleged Alison-Madueke, 65, was given “a life of luxury” in London from oil and gas industry figures seeking lucrative contracts in Nigeria, which allegedly has long grappled with mismanagement and corruption.
But the former Minister, who also briefly served as President of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and had long faced allegations of corruption, said she never took any bribes and had no real influence over the awarding of contracts.
Her lawyers argued the spending cited by the prosecution was reimbursed, by the Nigerian state for official business.
Following the trial at london’s southwark crown court that began in January, Alison-Madueke was acquitted after more than 46 hours of Jury deliberation.
