Diezani Alison-Madueke denies ownership of $52.8m repatriated to Nigeria

Diezani Alison-Madueke, former Minister of Petroleum Resources, has denied any involvement in the $52.8 million recently repatriated to Nigeria from the United States.

In a statement issued through her lawyer, Prof. Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Alison-Madueke clarified that the money, which has been linked to her in media reports, actually belongs to Nigerian oil magnate Kola Aluko.

The former minister explained that the funds originated from a vessel seized by the U.S. government from Aluko, which was later sold, with the proceeds returned to Nigeria.

Alison-Madueke described claims linking her to the funds as false, asserting that she has no connection to the purchase, use, or sale of the seized vessel. She condemned those spreading the allegations, calling their actions an attempt to damage her reputation.

The statement reads in part: “We note with concern the recent deliberate attempt to link her with what has been described as a civil forfeiture of a yacht Galactica, the sale of which was said to have yielded $52.8m to the US government; which sum has since been repatriated to Nigeria.

‘This is a clear example of the mischievous and cruel sport of tarnishing the image of the lady through a bouquet of consistent, persistent and unrelenting cocktail of falsehoods and misinformation.

“The purveyors of this line of misinformation term it “name-and-shame”. To sell the storyline, the architects ensured they attached Diezani’s name to a recovered yacht which is not in any way linked to her.

“They now falsely termed it “Diezani loot”. Nothing of the sort ever happened. She was never involved in the purchase, use and sale of the said yacht.

“The yacht Galactica, from information readily available in the public domain and in open sources, was purchased by Mr Kola Aluko who had used the vessel until he agreed to its forfeiture to the United States of America.”

She, therefore, advised those peddling unfounded, defamatory information and indefensible narratives about her to find better use of their time and leave her alone.