Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria's former petroleum minister, says she was set up. The powerful people she fought while cleaning up the oil sector made sure she became a target.

Speaking to the BBC days after a London court cleared her of all bribery charges, Alison-Madueke said the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) treated her as "low-hanging fruit" without understanding the realities of Nigeria's oil industry.

"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'd taken a step back and looked with a little more depth at the actual truth of the situation on ground," she said.

"Also, the things that I tried to do to put in place in terms of pushing back and fighting corruption in the oil sector, which hadn't gone down well with many of the cabals in the sector at home."

Alison-Madueke served under former President Goodluck Jonathan from 2010 to 2015. She was the first woman to hold that position and also the first female head of OPEC.

"I was the first female to enter this sort of position as petroleum minister and as head of OPEC in a very misogynistic society," she added.

Last week, a jury at Southwark Crown Court acquitted her of five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. The trial started in January. Her brother, Doye Agama, and oil executive Olatimbo Ayinde were also acquitted.

Alison-Madueke also claimed that evidence that could've helped her defence disappeared. She said boxes of receipts taken from her Abuja residence in 2015 by Nigerian intelligence forces would've shown that payments made on her behalf were reimbursed.

"Those items were taken away by our intelligence forces," she said.

When asked who should take the blame for the failed prosecution, she said: "There's a bit of blame everywhere."

"The Nigerian authorities need to look into the processes and practices that they deploy in these cases," she said. She also said that "the long arm of the law when you go into other countries, particularly in politically motivated cases, needs to have a lot more sensitivity."

The acquittal ended one of the most watched corruption trials involving a former Nigerian official in the UK.

  • Diezani Alison-Madueke was Nigeria's petroleum minister from 2010 to 2015 under President Goodluck Jonathan.
  • She was the first woman to hold that position and the first female president of OPEC.
  • A London jury acquitted her of 5 counts of accepting bribes and 1 count of conspiracy to commit bribery.
  • The trial at Southwark Crown Court began in January 2026.
  • Her brother, Doye Agama, and oil executive Olatimbo Ayinde were also acquitted.
  • She claims boxes of receipts taken from her Abuja home in 2015 by Nigerian intelligence could've helped her defence.