Diezani, however, said that towards the end of the tenure of the administration of President Jonathan, she was diagnosed of the most aggressive form of breast cancer — Triple Negative Cancer.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Ex-minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has prayed a Federal High Court in Abuja to set aside the bench warrant issued against her on July 24, 2020, noting that she is not in hiding.
Diezani, in a motion on notice brought by her counsel, Mike Ozekhome, before Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon, sought court order extending the time within which she could seek leave to apply for the order discharging the bench warrant.
She served as minister between 2010 and 2015 in the President Goodluck Jonathan government.
The ex-minister, who sought an order granting leave to apply for the order, also urged the court to strike out her name as “a defendant in charge number FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018 between the Federal Republic of Nigeria V. Diezani Alison Madueke, pending before this honourable court.”
The motion, which has the Federal Republic of Nigeria as complainant/respondent, had Diezani as sole defendant/applicant.
It was brought pursuant to Sections 36 (1) and (8), 35 of the 1999 Constitution (as altered); Section 1, 113, 114, 382 (4 & 5) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015; and under the inherent powers of the court as preserved by Section 6(6A) of the 1999 Constitution.
The Federal Government, through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), had, in an ex-parte motion, sought a bench warrant against her.
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, who granted the order on July 24, 2020, after the anti-corruption agency moved the motion, directed that she 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 (UK) where she resides to stand the money laundering trial preferred against her.
The case was, however, reassigned to Justice Olajuwon following the transfer of Ojukwu to the Calabar division of the court in 2021.
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The ex-minister, in a motion, 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 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 howsoever and whatsoever in respect of the criminal charge pending against her before the court.
Diezani submitted that the court was misled into issuing the bench warrant against her based on suppression or non-disclosure of material facts.
In the affidavit she personally deposed to, she averred that she had resided in the UK since May 22, 2015, when she voluntarily travelled for medical treatment
Diezani, however, said that towards the end of the tenure of the administration of President Jonathan, she was diagnosed of the most aggressive form of breast cancer — Triple Negative Cancer.
Hearing has not been fixed as of the time of filing the report.
