The former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke may have finally lost in her bid to recover the 2,149 pieces of jewellery and a customised gold iPhone, valued at $40m as a Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday ordered the permanent forfeiture of the items.
In a ruling on Tuesday, Justice Nicholas Nicholas Oweibo held that Diezani, through her lawyer, Awa Kalu (SAN), failed to show cause why the items should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had told the judge that the jewellery and iPhone were reasonably suspected to be acquired with fraud proceeds.
The anti-graft agency said the items were beyond Diezani’s legitimate earnings.
The pieces of jewellery were recovered by the EFCC in homes traced to Mrs Alison-Madueke who is now a fugitive in London. She fled Nigeria after the 2015 elections as the EFCC moved to put her on trial for alleged corruption.
In the application brought before Justice Oweibo, the EFCC said the expensive items, comprising wristwatches, necklaces, bracelets, bangles, earrings and more, were reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities of the former minister.
