Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has attributed her post-office legal troubles partly to efforts she made to confront entrenched interests and corruption within Nigeria’s oil and gas industry while serving in government.
Speaking in an interview with the BBC shortly after her acquittal by a London court on bribery charges, Alison-Madueke said her reform efforts in the petroleum sector antagonised powerful individuals whom she described as “cabals” operating within the industry.
The former minister argued that investigators from the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) failed to fully appreciate the complexities of Nigeria’s oil sector before pursuing the case against her.
According to her, authorities focused on allegations against her without sufficiently examining the broader circumstances surrounding her tenure and the measures she introduced to curb corruption.
“I wish they had taken a step back and looked with a little more depth at the actual truth of the situation on the ground,” she said.
Alison-Madueke maintained that some of the resistance she faced stemmed from attempts to reform a sector long dominated by vested interests.
She also reflected on the challenges of being the first woman to serve as Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources and later as President of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
“I was the first female to enter this sort of position as petroleum minister and as head of OPEC in a very misogynistic society,” she said.
The former minister was cleared last week by a jury at Southwark Crown Court in London of five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery following a trial that began in January.
Alison-Madueke also raised concerns over the handling of evidence she believed could have strengthened her defence.
She claimed that documents and receipts removed from her Abuja residence in 2015 by security operatives were no longer available during the legal proceedings.
According to her, the records would have demonstrated that certain expenditures made on her behalf had subsequently been reimbursed.
Asked who should bear responsibility for the collapse of the prosecution’s case, Alison-Madueke said accountability was shared among multiple parties.
“There is a bit of blame everywhere,” she stated.
She called on Nigerian authorities to review the procedures and practices employed in high-profile investigations and prosecutions, while also urging greater sensitivity in the handling of cases that have political dimensions.
The acquittal of Alison-Madueke, alongside her brother, Doye Agama, and oil executive Olatimbo Ayinde, brought to a close one of the most prominent corruption trials involving a former Nigerian public official in the United Kingdom.
Alison-Madueke served as Minister of Petroleum Resources under former President Goodluck Jonathan from 2010 to 2015 and remained one of the most influential figures in Nigeria’s oil industry during that period.