The verdict, delivered after more than 46 hours of jury deliberations at Southwark Crown Court, found Alison-Madueke not guilty of five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. The charges stemmed from allegations that she received cash, luxury goods, private jet flights and other benefits from oil industry figures in exchange for facilitating lucrative oil and gas contracts while serving as Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources between 2010 and 2015.

Throughout the trial, Alison-Madueke denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that she neither solicited nor accepted bribes and had no direct authority over the award of oil contracts. Her defence argued that many of the expenses cited by prosecutors were either reimbursed or paid from her personal resources.

Two co-defendants, Nigerian oil executive Olatimbo Ayinde and Alison-Madueke’s brother, Doye Agama, were also acquitted of related bribery charges.

The case, prosecuted by the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA), was regarded as one of the most significant international corruption trials involving a former Nigerian public official. British authorities had investigated Alison-Madueke since her arrest in London in 2015 before formally charging her in 2023.

Following the verdict, Alison-Madueke’s legal team welcomed the jury’s decision, describing it as a complete vindication of her position and saying she looked forward to rebuilding her public and private life after years of legal proceedings.

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