An Ex-minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke has filed a libel suit against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).
The suit, marked CV/6273/2023, accused the EFCC and the AGF of publishing false and defamatory reports about her character, including allegations of corruption and dishonesty.
The writ of summons was filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja on May 26, 2023, by Madueke’s legal team led by Mike Ozekhome, SAN.
Madueke claimed that her integrity and character, which were of “paramount importance to the success of her political endeavours,” have been severely damaged as a result of the publications.
The former petroleum boss sought redress for the harm caused to her reputation and character.
She brought to light a concerning issue regarding the online presence of libellous publications on the websites of the anti-graft agency saying: “Websites …continue to host the libellous publications in permanent form …and are being accessed and read in every part of the world through the Google search engines.
“The false and unfounded publications made against the claimant by the 1st and 2nd defendants and contained in the 1st defendant’s online defamatory publications against the claimant were also circulated and disseminated to the whole world on internet website pages and in various links.”
Madueke denied the allegations made by the defendants against her stressing they were completely false and born out of malice.
She explained that the impact of these reports has been negative, causing her to be gravely shocked and exasperated upon reading the online and hard-copy publications.
As a result, the Ex-minister prayed that the court ordered the EFCC and the AGF to retract the publications and tender an unreserved apology to her in three national newspapers. These publications have been false, injurious, malicious, and libelous against her since 2015 when she left the country, she added.
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