UK court acquits ex-petroleum minister Diezani of bribery charges

A London, United Kingdom court on Wednesday acquitted former Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, of all six bribery charges brought against her by the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency.

Alison-Madueke, who served under former President Goodluck Jonathan from 2010 to 2015, had been standing trial at Southwark Crown Court on five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery.

The 65-year-old former minister denied all allegations throughout the proceedings.

Reuters stated that the prosecutors alleged that between 2011 and 2015, Alison-Madueke received various benefits and enjoyed what they described as “a life of luxury” funded by oil and gas industry figures seeking favourable treatment and lucrative contracts in Nigeria.

The former minister, who also served as President of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in 2014, maintained that she neither accepted bribes nor exercised direct influence over the award of government oil and gas contracts.

According to Reuters, after deliberating for more than 46 hours, the jury returned unanimous not-guilty verdicts on all six counts against her.

The verdict marks a significant setback for British authorities, whose investigation into allegations of corruption involving Alison-Madueke began more than a decade ago.

Also acquitted were oil industry executive Olatimbo Ayinde and Alison-Madueke’s brother, Doye Agama.

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Ayinde, 54, had faced one count of bribery relating to Alison-Madueke and another count of bribing a foreign public official. Agama, 69, was charged with conspiracy to commit bribery in connection with payments allegedly made to his church.

Both men denied the allegations and were cleared by the jury.

The acquittal brings to an end a high-profile corruption case that drew considerable attention in both the United Kingdom and Nigeria.

Alison-Madueke was formally charged by the NCA in August 2023 over allegations that she received illegal payments in exchange for approving oil and gas contracts worth millions of pounds while serving as Nigeria’s petroleum minister.

In October 2023, a UK court granted her bail of £70,000 after prosecutors argued that she posed a potential flight risk.

As part of the bail conditions, she was required to observe a nightly curfew, wear an electronic monitoring tag and provide a £70,000 surety.

In January 2025, Nigeria and the United States signed an asset repatriation agreement covering $52.88m in assets known as the Galactica assets, which authorities had previously linked to Alison-Madueke.

The agreement provided for the return of the funds to Nigeria for designated development projects.