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Diezani Files Suit Seeking To Vacate Bench Warrant Against Her

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Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum resources, has asked a federal high court in Abuja to set aside the bench warrant issued against her on July 24, 2020.

According to NAN, Alison-Madueke, in a motion on notice by Mike Ozekhome, her counsel, sought an order extending the time within which she could seek leave to apply for the order discharging the bench warrant.

The former minister, through the request, wants to strike out her name as “a defendant in charge number; FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018″.

The motion, which has FRN as complainant/respondent, had Alison-Madueke as the sole defendant/applicant.

The former minister, in a five-ground attached with the motion, filed before Mobolaji Olajuwon, the judge, said the bench warrant was issued without jurisdiction, and ought to be set aside ex debito justitiae.

She argued that it was issued in breach of her right to a fair hearing as guaranteed by Section 36 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as altered).

She further argued that she had neither been served with the charge sheet and proof of evidence in charge number: FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018, nor was there any other summons whatsoever in respect of the criminal charge pending against her before the court.

Alison-Madueke submitted that the court was misled into issuing the bench warrant against her based on suppression or non-disclosure of material facts.

“I have consistently and severally been invited for interviews by the UK national crime agency (NCA), many of which have been serially adjourned or postponed to future dates due to no fault of mine,” she said.

The former minister further alleged that almost contemporaneously, with the raid on her residence by officers of the NCA, the officials of the EFCC also broke into and raided her private residence in Abuja and carted away several documents and many items of value.

“All this was done in my absence and without any prior invitation or notice to that effect,” she said.

Alison-Madueke said she had either read in the media or been informed by close associates and relatives, about several forfeiture orders said to have been made in respect of certain monies and property in some charges or other civil proceedings all of which were usually ascribed and allegedly said to belong to her in the media.

“That I have till date has never been served with any court processes in respect of all the aforementioned charges or forfeiture proceedings in Nigeria, to enable me to respond, or defend,” she added.

She alleged that the EFCC usually collaborates with the NCA with regard to matters involving her, but had bluntly refused to do so in this particular case and in the Nigerian forfeiture cases that relate to her.

She prayed the court to vacate the order of bench warrant against her and struck out her name from the charge in the interest of justice.

Meanwhile, the hearing date was yet to be fixed at the time of filing the report.

Recall that;

The federal government, through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), had, in an ex-parte motion, sought a bench warrant against Alison-Madueke.

Ijeoma Ojukwu, the presiding judge, who granted the order on July 24, 2020, after the anti-corruption lawyer moved the motion, directed that the former minister should be arrested by local or international police anywhere she was sighted within or outside the country.

The development followed the inability of the EFCC to extradite her back to the country from the United Kingdom where she resides to stand the money laundering trial preferred against her.

However, the case was reassigned to Olajuwon following the transfer of Ojukwu to the Calabar division of the court in 2021.

BIG STORY

FULL LIST: Tinubu Appoints IBB’s Son, Muhammad Babangida Chairman Bank Of Agriculture, Others As Heads Of Govt Agencies

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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed Muhammad Babangida, the son of the former military President, as chairman of the revamped Bank of Agriculture.

President Tinubu approved the appointment today, along with seven others. Some of them will serve as chairmen or directors-general of Federal agencies.

Muhammad Babangida, 53, is an alumnus of the European University in Montreux, Switzerland, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Public Relations and Business Communication. He later attended Harvard Business School’s Executive Program on Corporate Governance in 2002.

Others appointed by the President are:

Lydia Kalat Musa (Kaduna State) Chairman, Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGFZA).

Jamilu Wada Aliyu (Kano State) Chairman, National Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC).

The Hon. Yahuza Ado Inuwa (Kano State) is the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) chairman.

Sanusi Musa (SAN, Kano State) is the Chairman of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution(IPCR).

Prof. Al-Mustapha Alhaji Aliyu (Sokoto State) is the Director-General of the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA).

Sanusi Garba Rikiji (Zamfara State) is the Director-General of the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN).

Mrs Tomi Somefun (Oyo State) is the Managing Director of the National Hydro-Electric Power Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC).

Dr Abdulmumini Mohammed Aminu-Zaria (Kaduna State) has been appointed Executive Director of the Nigerian Integrated Water Resources Management Commission (NIWRMC).

 

Bayo Onanuga

Special Adviser to the President

(Information & Strategy)

July 18, 2025

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Buhari Never Wanted To Congratulate Saraki, Dogara After Emerging Senate President, Speaker — Femi Adesina

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Femi Adesina, who served as Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, revealed that Buhari was initially unwilling to congratulate Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara after they controversially became Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2015.

Adesina shared this in a tribute to Buhari, reflecting on his early experience as the president’s media aide and the difficulty of balancing loyalty with professional duty.

He explained that the incident happened just nine days after he took up the role of presidential spokesman.

According to Adesina, Saraki and Dogara emerged as leaders of the National Assembly against the preference of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Although their emergence was viewed as defiant, it still adhered to constitutional norms.

“I told the President we needed to congratulate them. He balked. But I stood my ground. He said no, I also said no. I said it would portray him as undemocratic,” Adesina wrote.

He noted that Buhari later agreed to issue the statement, making only a small addition to the final version.

“At the end of the day, he reasoned with me and the statement was written, with him just adding one word,” he stated.

“Keeping to his word is part of the famed integrity. Argue with me. If you have a better point, I’ll agree with you.”

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Road To 2027: Everyone Afraid Of Atiku — Dele Momodu Claims As He Joins ADC

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Dele Momodu, the publisher of Ovation International, has said that “everyone is afraid” of former vice-president Atiku Abubakar.

He made this remark while giving reasons for leaving the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to join the African Democratic Congress, ADC.

Momodu also confirmed that he would be backing Atiku in the 2027 presidential election.

During an appearance on Channels TV on Thursday, Momodu stated that his endorsement of Atiku stems from a strategic understanding of Nigeria’s political dynamics.

He said: “Everybody is afraid of Atiku, and that is exactly why I, Dele Momodu, support him.

“The fear the ruling party has for him shows he remains the most formidable opposition figure today.

“When everyone is trying to discredit or silence a man, it means he’s the one they truly fear.”

Momodu previously ran for president in 2011 and took part in the PDP presidential primaries in 2022.

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