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Former Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke said her 13-year ordeal in the United Kingdom that culminated in her being acquitted of six bribery-related charges on Wednesday ruined her reputation.
The 65-year-old former Shell executive disclosed this in an Interview with BBC.
Alison-Madueke was acquitted by the Southwark Crown Court in London.
The ex-minister’s bribery allegations commenced when she was first arrested in London in October 2015, just months after leaving office as a cabinet member, but she was later released on bail.
After her acquittal, Alison-Madueke told the BBC that her life was restricted because of the allegations and subsequent trial.
She said the 13-year investigation by the UK’s National Crime Agency, NCA, “could have been handled a lot differently.”
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“I’ve not been allowed to travel. I’ve not been allowed to work. They destroyed my reputation and my integrity,” she said.
Alison-Madueke said she was treated like a criminal even though she knew she did nothing wrong.
She said, “When your freedom is taken away from you…it has a very deep impact upon you psychologically.
“I knew that I had never done anything nefarious and I had never done any of the heinous things I was being accused of doing.”
The ex-minister slammed the NCA for targeting her because she was a “low-hanging fruit”.
“The long arm of the law when you go into other countries, particularly in politically motivated cases, needs to have a lot more sensitivity,” she stated.
