The corruption trial of Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former Minister of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria and a past president of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is scheduled to begin in London, the United Kingdom’s capital, on Monday, 26 January 2026.
Alison-Madueke, 65, is facing five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, linked to her time overseeing Nigeria’s oil sector between 2010 and 2015 during the presidency of Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s former head of state and government.
Prosecutors allege she accepted “financial or other advantages” from people connected to two energy companies between 2011 and 2015. The alleged benefits include the use of several London properties, refurbishment work on those properties, and staff costs connected to them.
The indictment also lists items and services said to have been provided, including furniture, chauffeur-driven cars, a private jet flight to Nigeria, and £100,000 in cash, which is about $137,000. Other allegations include payments said to cover school fees for her son, goods from luxury retailers such as Harrods and Louis Vuitton, and additional private jet flights.
According to the indictment, accepting the alleged benefits amounted to an improper performance of her duties as oil minister, a role that is central to Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and one of the world’s major oil producers. Okay News reports that the case is expected to draw significant attention because of the scale of the contracts involved and the international nature of the allegations.
Alison-Madueke appeared in a London court last week for preliminary steps ahead of the trial, including technical proceedings and the selection of a jury. The trial is expected to last between 10 and 12 weeks.
Two other individuals, Doye Agama and Olatimbo Ayinde, are also facing prosecution on bribery charges connected to the case.
Alison-Madueke has been on bail since she was first arrested in London in October 2015, and she has denied the allegations.
The United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA), which investigates serious and organised crime and cross-border criminal activity, said she was formally charged in 2023.
At the time, the NCA said it suspected she abused her position in Nigeria and accepted financial rewards in return for awarding contracts worth several million pounds.
Also in 2023, the NCA said it provided evidence to prosecutors in the United States that supported the recovery of assets valued at $53.1 million allegedly linked to the case. The assets included luxury real estate in the United States, including properties in California and New York, as well as a 65-metre superyacht, the Galactica Star, according to an announcement by the United States Department of Justice on Wednesday, 27 March 2024.
Alison-Madueke was born in 1960 in Port Harcourt, a major oil-producing city in Rivers State, southern Nigeria. She studied architecture in the United Kingdom and the United States before joining Shell, one of the world’s largest energy companies, through its Nigerian subsidiary.
She later moved into public service and held several senior roles in Nigeria’s federal government, including minister of transport in 2007 under Umaru Yar’Adua, Nigeria’s former president. She later served as minister of mines and steel development before being appointed minister of petroleum resources in April 2010 after Jonathan became president following Yar’Adua’s death.
In 2014, she became the first woman to serve as president of OPEC, the Vienna-based oil producers’ group that coordinates petroleum policies among member countries, a position she held for about a year.
