A suit filed at a federal high court in Abuja by a former minister of petroleum resources Diezani Alison-Madueke to challenge the order obtained by the EFCC for final forfeiture of her seized assets, suffered setback on Monday.
The case was fixed for mention before Justice Inyang Ekwo.
However, the court did not sit because Justice Ekwo was said to be attending a seminar at the National Judicial Institute (NJI) in Abuja.
The matter was subsequently fixed for November 21.
Diezani sued the EFCC through her counsel Mike Ozekhome (SAN). She sought an order extending the time to seek leave to apply to the court for an order to set aside the EFCC’s public notice issued to conduct a public sale on her property.
In the motion dated and filed on January 6, 2023, by her lawyer, the former minister sought five orders from the court.
Diezani, who argued that the various orders were made without jurisdiction, said these “ought to be set aside ex debito justitiae.”
She alleged that she was not given a fair hearing in the proceedings leading to the orders.
“The various court orders issued in favour of the respondent and upon which the respondent issued the public notice were issued in breach of the applicant’s right to fair hearing as guaranteed by Section 36 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, as altered, and other similar constitutional provisions,” she said.
The former minister argued that she was neither served with the charge sheet and proof of evidence in any of the charges nor any other summons regarding the criminal charges pending against her before the court.
She further argued that the courts were misled into making several final forfeiture orders against her assets through suppression or non-disclosure of material facts.
But the EFCC, in a counter-affidavit deposed to by one of its detectives Rufai Zaki, urged the court to dismiss her application.
Former EFCC chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa said earlier that $153 million and over 80 property were recovered from the ex-minister.
