By Desire Emmanuel with Agency Reports
A court in the United Kingdom has heard recordings of a former Nigerian oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, allegedly confronting two oil tycoons from whom she is accused of accepting bribes after their relationships had broken down, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported on Wednesday.
Prosecutors allege that Alison-Madueke was provided with “a life of luxury” in the United Kingdom, which they say was paid for by those who sought lucrative oil contracts from the Nigerian government.
In one of the conversations recorded on her phone, Alison-Madueke could be heard saying: “I will be happy to escort all of you to jail along with myself.”
She denies five counts of accepting bribes and a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery.
Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday, February 25, heard how a Samsung phone belonging to the former minister was seized by UK investigators during her arrest in London in 2015.
On it were recordings from the previous year of two conversations Alison-Madueke had had, first with Olajide Omokore and then with Kolawole Aluko.
The two oil moguls are not on trial, but prosecutors allege they paid bribes to Alison-Madueke during her time as Nigeria’s petroleum resources minister between 2010 and 2015.
The conversations were said to have taken place when Alison-Madueke allegedly believed both Omokore’s wife and Aluko were telling people they knew of information that could “take her down.”
In the first recording, from April 2014, Alison-Madueke could be heard telling Omokore: “We who are managing the thing have kept quiet. We’ve kept quiet… while people like your wife are busy singing all over the place.”
Raising her voice, the former minister said: “I do not react well to being blackmailed.”
The court also heard a second conversation, recorded one month later, between Alison-Madueke and Aluko, who could be heard being searched before the meeting began.
On the recording, she expressed concern that Aluko’s “lavish, lascivious lifestyle” had attracted attention on the internet.
“As far as everybody’s concerned, you’re a playboy,” she told him, accusing him of “parading” his relationships with people including British supermodel, Naomi Campbell.
“Naomi Campbell, these are not the people for you to be parading… Other men do these things, but they don’t parade them. They do them quietly because the time for parading these things was not now.”
The former minister told Aluko she had already spoken about his “general behaviour, acquisition of assets, among others, asking you to be careful because intelligencer will start following you.”
Alison-Madueke said she was “really annoyed” to hear “this take her down, and information that you have on me.”
“I will be happy to escort all of you to jail along with myself,” she added. “You will be shocked what I will do because when it comes to that, I will come out and tell the Nigerian people this is what happened.
“Oh yes, I will blame myself… but I will come out openly and say it so they can judge me openly. And then all of us go and sit on the gate. Let us see who survived, me or you.”
On the recording, Aluko could be heard saying: “I never ever mentioned your name or any other name.”
He told Alison-Madueke he had placed some material in a safety deposit box, including “whatever I thought could save me, what could save me from jail”.
He described himself as having “a million flaws” but being “loyal like a dog.”
Previously, the defence lawyer for Alison-Madueke told the court his client had not requested or received any financial advantage from the men and that they have not been charged or extradited.
Also on trial is oil industry executive, Olatimbo Ayinde, who denies one count of bribery relating to Alison-Madueke and a count of bribery of a foreign public official.
Alison-Madueke’s brother, former bishop Doye Agama, denies conspiracy to commit bribery.
The trial continues.
