Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum resources, is no longer the woman she used to be. The multi-million dollar jewelry and multi-million dollar houses are fading into history as she comes to terms with the new realities of her life.
TheCable understands that with her UK property worth over £11 million now treated as “proceed of crime” and subject to forfeiture, she has had to “step down” her taste: she now lives in a rented flat in the same London building housing the $2.8 million property allegedly bought for her by Jide Omokore and Kola Aluko, her business associates.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has frozen accounts linked to the former minister, including those belonging to family members and known associates. This makes it virtually impossible for her to access money from any source and she is now living off the goodwill of those who still remember her.
Nigerian courts have already forced Alison-Madueke to forfeit her property at Banana Island, Lagos. It reportedly has 24 apartments, 18 flats and six penthouses valued at $37.5 million.
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She was also recently forced to forfeit about N7.6 billion “hidden” in a Nigerian bank, in addition to the temporary forfeiture of property worth $21,392,224 across Nigeria.
TheCable’s REMI SULOLA went round London, UK, to take pictures of the property listed against her name by the US justice department in the asset forfeiture case.
Alison-Madueke is expected to report to the Charring Cross Police Station close to Trafalgar Square on September 20 as part of the conditions of her bail after her arrest by the British National Crime Agency in 2015.
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£2,800,000 Property at Marylebone Road
THE £3,250,000 property at Buckinghamshire
£1,730,000 Property at 39 Chester Close North
£3,750,000 Property at Prince Albert Road
20 comments
Your comment..What I find very unbecoming in tis graft war is d sheepish, uncultured n senseless manner in which its being fought,are u saying dat every property n money dis woman had was crime/corruption proceeds,this is a woman dat was already made from Shell petroleum,a non pushover,a director,n d family had properties in London ever before she became a minister for transport,so how can u strip her even of her sweat earned monies n properties in d name of graft war? Lets be real dis is sheer wealth grabbing,I’m not saying she may not have bought properties while in office,but one should draw a distinction clear distinction btw properties from corrupt proceeds n those she had with her hard earned money as a successful senior director in shell petroleum.U cant tell me she had no life before taking d political office,she was very very comfortable from what I learnt,so why paint it as if all she had was stolen?though I’m not particularly any fan of hers,but have u pondered to ask What EfCC /govt rather had done with all supposed recovered loot?they just announce it not then dats all, does efcc give whole n full account of recovered monies?I don’t think so,the properties seized from supposed looters,are they duly accounted for,?wot u hear is dat they have forfeited it to f govt.n d next thing somebody buys it,weda its sold among themselves,or another just colonised it,only time will tell,most Efcc chairmen own more houses than governors,they own many properties,even their staff,I think if d war agst graft would stand,it has to be holistic,,sincere n transparent,a blind man cant lead a blind man,if not it would be like d case of d kettle calling d pot black,Besides,HE WHO COMES TO EQUITY MUST COME WITH CLEAN HANDS. Tnx
Element of stealing doesn’t manifest in one day, probabily she’s had the habit sinse in school days
Can you separate what she earned from what she took? She deserves everything coming her way! She’s the scapegoat as far we know, everything she has was ill gotten! This politicians do everything excessively as though they are immune. 2015 proved they are not immune – especially the less smart ones. I hope the government changes like this every now and then a handful of them can get what they deserve!
Blatant defendant of a thief can also pass for a thief. It is beyond my imagination that we can still have people defending someone who had not denied the link to these properties whose values could have changed the fortune of her people to the envy of others. I was in Bayelsa state, right inside the Creeks lately, and I can tell you, it was a poverty-strikened area, where you can only get transported to a community through the natural water ways in a 3hours journey, what could have been done in less that 20mins if a linked road of 30km has been constructed. That the likes of Diezani, Goodluck Jonathan etc came from this place and get nothing done on ground when they are in power says a lot about the parochialism of the Nigerian Politicians
As much as Christ enjoined us to forgive, the forgiveness relates tonus as individuals and not as a country. The country does not belong to an individual but our collective right. She was supposed to be our servant. Working for us. Making sure things are as they should be. But she blew the opportunity away as she allowed selfish and greedy list for material things elude her. In answering one of our sister who claims that she worked for Shell, we don’t have problem with that. The EFCC crosschecked the date of purchase, the means by which they were purchased, the agents and all the dates . From EFCC record, I am sure that all what she got was when she ascended the office of Minister of Petroleum. Whatsoever she got throughout her tenure as Minister is considered a proceed of crime and therefore, subject to forfeiture.
The Money this single woman stole is capable of giving us world class highway from Maiduguri to Lagos, lagos to Sokoto, Sokoto to Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt to Kano, Kaduna ,Jos and all major road networks.
We should not look at her condition above the other Nigerians. She has contributed in making this country what it is today.
If I may ask, of what benefit is this wealth to her among her poor compatriots? What is wealth when many of your country men are poor? How will she feel in the midst of her people?
Any one that sympathise with those who stole our common wealth are not patriotic enough. How many of us realise that Deziani Allison Madueke is richer than Nigeria, had EFCC not intervened?
This EFCC is sending signal to all those Politicians to be careful. The moment they leave office, they will cough out all what they stole.
I pity the Imams and the Pastors who do not preach the genuine word that pricks our heart but instead, by their deceitful sermons, have gone to encourage the prosperity gospel and the likes of Deziani are the products of such sermons. Shame to those deceitful workers.
As Long as EFCC is given the right atmosphere to operate, sanity shall be restored in our Nation. Nigeria shall be great again. Keep it up EFCC…
I will even suggest that EFCC begins to beam its light on Mega Pseudo Christians organisation termed “Church”. The genuine church of Christ can never be polluted. We are redeemed to Perform godliness and respond to our society appropriately.
Every genuine Christian is a law abiding citizen and therefore good fellow.
The fundamental question to be answered is when were these properties acquire? Were there acquired when she was a director of Shell Petroleum? Or they became hers after she was appointed a minister of the federal republic of Nigeria? Where it is established that the properties were acquired after she became a minister and when serving as a minister of the federal republic of Nigeria, then they must be classified as proceeds of financial crime. What is more, the British and American investigators are not like their counterparts here. They must have taken all these factors into consideration. And do not forget that the properties were bought for the minister by her aids/P.A’s when she was and acting as a minister.
Sorry dear, any property from Diezani or any other suspect put forward for forfeiture most have date and cost of acquisition attached whereas the request will be denied by the court. There is nothing personal in doing so. The judges and lawyers are not stupid include Diezani’s lawyers both in Nigeria and abroad. Two, all money recovered by EFCC are in recovery account with CBN. None between EFCC and other agencies fighting grafts can make a withdrawal from it. It will be budgeted for and shared between the three tiers of Government. Federal alone will no spend it. It’s like revenue. You sound very educated and I will admonish you stop toying such line of argument. Though I agreed with you corruption is still rampant in our country but not the way you look at it. Cheers
My sister, it is not easy to distinguish between her personal money and the one she took illegally from Nigeria’s purse. Everything is now lumped together. For instance, you went to a wedding. As the couple were dancing and being sprayed with money, from nowhere, you ran to the podium, collected from the floor, all the money that was sprayed for them and put inside your pocket. Naturally, relations and friends of the couple will accost you to retrieve the money you illegally took from the dance floor. It is also natural that they will want to collect all the money you have in your pocket. When you tell them you had money in your pocket before you picked the one on the dance floor, naturally again, nobody will believe you. Even if they believe you, how are they going to distinguish between the money you had and the one you took because the money is now lumped together. Mind you, the money had not been counted…..it was still on the floor and you took it. That is why we must refrain from engaging in corruption. It is bad. Lets therefore, rally round President Buhari’s administration and support this ultimate war against corruption.
This is just what we have seen. What about the undiscovered stolen wealth of Nigeria. All we are talking about here does not amount to $21 billion that was reported as withdrawn from the Government account. EFCC are yet to get to the real stolen money. We enjoined Magu to do a thorough job and get to the chunks of the stolen wealth of the country. Magu, please ride on
I believe Magu Will ride on
She doesn’t deserve the ill treatment.
How much did she earn as a staff of Shell? I am not surprise that she also used her office to loot from Shell. How much is the worth of her family asset? What EFCC has discovered is just a flash in the palm. She needs to be thoroughly investigated.
Is it because she’s a woman that she has been so stripped? How many of the men has been so exposed? Are they saint’s.Until they start mentioning the men and their loots,i see this as witch haunting out of envy.
Judging from her privilege position as oil minister, she may have done oil deals that fetched her such money. A cent or two cents commission in oil deals runs into millions of dollars. They should indicate if she stole from NNPC purse or used her position to broker deals and made good profit. And stop calling everything a loot.
If she stole from the purse, then she deserves this. If its genuine business deals they’re simply envious. She’s a smart woman. And I empathize with her in a man’s world of injustice.
Is a minister supposed to brokers deals to enrich him/her personally or the nation?
Deziani Alison Madueke will remain stinking rich as it is impossible to recover all her loot. Her so called transformation from landlady to tenant is just a sham, probably to attract sympathy, which appears to be working. Initially, she intended to attract sympathy from her medical condition. Now this.
With more diligence I assure you that more loots will be recovered from that woman
This war against corruption is a good one. But I still feel its a tip of the iceberg. Efcc should move into none English speaking countries Germany,france, Arab countries and Nigerians will Marvel. This is a country that can’t even take care of her citizens medically, no good schools for the poor, yet the poor are more, we have schools for the poor and that of the rich,can’t provide good roads that can stand the test of time like late Sam mbakwe of IMO state did.where are we going really ???????
No man has held public office in the country xan swear with the god of iron or thunder but will swear with Bible or Quaran not even Buhari with tge rot of PTF
When persons of Denziani character from a community like Bayelsa state and the likes GEJ ,cannot feel and see the huge infrastructural deficit in the creeks of Bayelsa.They only see corruption a gold ornamental .These crimes against Nigerian State.Those praise singer are more evil than the Deziani.Those wealth in London and foreign land,how does it develop Bayelsa creeks and the people of Nigeria?This wickness by our ministers,governors and former presidents,and all goverment functionaries will punshied by lord KARMA.The president of Nigeria in person of Muhammad Burial ,is doing his best to make Nigeria leadership postion answerable to the laws of the land.
The likes of DEIZAINI ,please wake up from your slumber return our collect wealth back to Nigeria.
These colonial masters used Africans as slaves yet you leaders travel to Europe and used our common wealth to keep their economy running .Our leaders wakeup from your slumber.This looting is madness of the century by black leaders.
How many leaders in the UK,Europe,America,China and Japan owns a mansion in Nigerian our currupt leaders are only practising black wicrafting ,”where a wicth or wizard takes his loot to the coven”and cannot not use it in the real world.
Methink we should be careful calling her all sorts of bad names. This beautiful woman needs to be treated fairly. Surely, I believe strongly that she is innocent until proven guilty. In law, one million suspicion does not make a fact. Let us sift the chaff from the wheat! Time will tell.
People should be objective in their response to the news about this dishonourable minister of ours. Corruption has no other name or colour it is simply a great crime against humanity. Allison Madueke knows what she was doing when setting up all those oil swap deals with the likes of Aluko and Omokhore, see how the whole deal shortchange Nigeria? Also have we forgotten the fraud called fuel subsidy? Billions of naira and dollars was spent yet no fuel to show. The reason is simply CORRUPT elite filling their pocket with our common wealth, so I get distressed when I see people trying to defend the idefencible. How much was Diesani’s salary and benefit at Shell? The company is still much around and this figure could be ascertained? Was she the only one who serve as a director in Shell? Compare her lifestyle with the others and you will instantly see that the ministerial portfolio was her licence to print dollar.
I support wholeheartedly our presidents war on all this crooked political elite. We need to rise up against them and I believe the first place to start is the National Assembly where all the looters in chief’s like ex-governors, ministers, custom mens, generals and their ilk are residing frustrating genuine intention of the Buhari led administration to bring orruption to bare minimum so that for once in a generation we can achieve meaningful development. Finally, we should educate ourselves, US government and its agencies are not known to do a hatchet job, hence the indictment must have been arrived at after a very compelling prima-facie case has been established against her and her henchmen Aluko and Omokhore.