Alison‑Madueke says her anti‑corruption work has upset oil‑sector cabals.

By Adegboyega Adeleye

Diezani Alison‑Madueke, former Minister of Petroleum Resources, said that her anti‑corruption initiatives in Nigeria’s oil sector and the powerful interests affected by those reforms were factors in the legal and political challenges that arose after she left office.

In a BBC interview conducted shortly after a London court cleared her of all bribery allegations, she criticized the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) for not adequately grasping the realities of Nigeria’s oil industry before initiating legal action.

Alison‑Madueke claimed that investigators viewed her as “low‑hanging fruit,” overlooking the anti‑corruption measures she implemented as petroleum minister and the adversaries she created in the process.

“I think that being such a low‑hanging fruit in terms of opposition and the accusations they were throwing at me throughout that period, I wish they had taken a step back and looked with a little more depth at the actual truth of the situation on ground,” she said.

Additionally, the measures she pursued to counter corruption in the oil sector were not well received by many domestic cabals.

I was the first female to