Why UK court cleared Alison-Madueke of bribery charges

My acquittal has ended years of “unjust vilification”- says Ex-Petroleum minister

Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, was on Wednesday cleared of bribery charges in a UK trial, her defence lawyers said in a statement.

 “Diezani Alison-Madueke was cleared of six charges of bribery at Southwark Crown Court on 17 June 2026, after a five-month trial,” defence lawyer Jonathan Laidlaw said in a press release.

The trial was brought by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), which targets serious organised and international crime, after a years-long investigation concerning alleged offences between 2011 and 2015.

Laidlaw told the jury at the London court in January that there was a “gross delay” in the charges being brought, resulting in “a great deal of material which would have established her innocence” being denied.

She had been accused of accepting “financial or other advantages” from individuals linked to two energy companies that had secured contracts with Nigeria’s state-owned petroleum corporation when she was the country’s oil minister.

Alison-Madueke had also been accused by prosecutors of enjoying a “life of luxury” funded by those interested in the lucrative oil and gas contracts.

Her lifestyle was described as involving chauffeur-driven cars, a private jet flight to Nigeria, and refurbishment work and staff costs at several London properties.

Her defence maintained that records proving her innocence had “disappeared” and that she could no longer access papers at home in Nigeria as British police had retained her passport since her first arrest 11 years ago.

President of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) between 2014 and 2015, Alison-Madueke has been involved in numerous legal cases worldwide, including in the United States.

She has been on bail in Britain since she was first arrested in October 2015. In 2023, she was formally charged with accepting bribes, which she denied.

She had a British address at the time of the alleged offences, according to the prosecution.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, the former minister of petroleum resources, says her acquittal on bribery charges has ended years of “unjust vilification”.

Reacting to the verdict in a video, the former minister thanked God and all those who stood by her during the trial, describing the experience as “very arduous and long, almost 11 years.

 “I’m just thankful to God. It’s been a very, very arduous and long, almost 11 years. It’s been traumatic not just for me but for my family, for friends, for all those who have stayed and supported, for my 93-year-old mother in Port Harcourt, for my son, and for all those who love us, friends and family. We’re surrounded by friends here. So it has been a hard journey,” she said.

“But I tell you this, God will always do as God wills, and God will be God. God is not a man that he should lie. So when he promises you something, he will see it through.

 “It has been almost 11 years I’ve been here. I did my job to the best of my ability, but like I said, God is not a man that he should lie. God is God, and we thank him.”

Also, in a statement issued by Bolouere Opukiri, her representative, Alison-Madueke said ” a decade of unrelenting and unjust vilification, condemnation, and scrutiny has finally concluded.”

“I give thanks to Almighty God for His faithfulness and for the complete vindication I have received. I am grateful to my legal counsel for their diligence and to my family and friends for their steadfast support and encouragement throughout this period,” the statement reads.

“I am profoundly relieved. My name has been cleared, and this ordeal has come to an end.”

Allison-Madueke said she would speak about the events of the past decade and her future plans “in due course” but, in the meantime, would focus on embracing what she described as the freedom she had been unjustly denied for many years.

The former minister’s bribery allegations started when she was first arrested in London in October 2015, just months after leaving office as a cabinet member, but was later released on bail.