Former Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has been acquitted of all bribery charges by a jury at Southwark Crown Court in London, bringing to a close one of the United Kingdom’s most high-profile corruption trials involving a former foreign public official.
The verdict, delivered on Wednesday, marks a significant setback for British prosecutors who had pursued the case for more than a decade as part of broader efforts to combat international corruption and financial crimes.
Alison-Madueke, who served as Nigeria’s petroleum minister between 2010 and 2015 under former President Goodluck Jonathan, had faced five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. She consistently denied all allegations and pleaded not guilty throughout the proceedings.
British prosecutors alleged that the former minister received a range of luxury benefits from oil industry figures seeking favourable treatment in the award of lucrative oil and gas contracts in Nigeria.
The prosecution claimed that Alison-Madueke enjoyed access to high-end properties in the United Kingdom, luxury shopping trips, private jet travel and other benefits allegedly provided by individuals with business interests in Nigeria’s petroleum sector. Prosecutors argued that these benefits constituted bribes intended to influence official decisions.
However, the defence maintained that she neither solicited nor accepted bribes and insisted that many of the expenses cited by prosecutors were either reimbursed or incurred in connection with official duties. Alison-Madueke told the court that she had always acted impartially and in accordance with due process during her time in office.
The jury also cleared Alison-Madueke’s co-defendants, including oil executive Olatimbo Ayinde and her brother, Bishop Doye Agama, of related charges.
The three defendants had stood trial since January 2026 in proceedings that lasted nearly five months and attracted significant attention in both Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
Following the verdict, Alison-Madueke expressed relief, describing the outcome as the end of an ordeal that had lasted more than a decade.
The former minister had argued during the trial that she was unfairly targeted and made a scapegoat despite efforts to reform aspects of Nigeria’s oil sector while in office.
Legal observers say the acquittal highlights the challenges prosecutors face in proving complex international corruption cases, particularly those involving allegations of influence, government contracts and financial transactions spanning multiple jurisdictions.
The case had been regarded as a flagship anti-corruption prosecution by British authorities, including the National Crime Agency (NCA), making the jury’s decision a notable blow to investigators who had spent years building the case.
Despite the acquittal, analysts note that the verdict relates specifically to the criminal bribery charges brought before the London court and does not automatically affect separate civil or asset-recovery proceedings that may exist in other jurisdictions.
Alison-Madueke, a former president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), remains one of the most prominent figures to have faced international scrutiny over allegations linked to Nigeria’s oil industry. The London verdict now closes a major chapter in a legal battle that has spanned more than 11 years.
