The corruption trial involving former Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources and ex-OPEC President, Diezani Alison-Madueke, took a dramatic turn on Monday with new testimony from a former driver employed by businessman Kola Aluko.
Mr. Sandro, who worked for Aluko’s company, described in detail how he chauffeured Alison-Madueke and Aluko in luxury vehicles, including a Rolls Royce, to high-end London stores such as Harrods and Selfridges.
He testified that he often waited for hours while the pair shopped, later collecting receipts and dropping them off either at Alison-Madueke’s St John’s Wood residence or Aluko’s £35 million apartment at the exclusive One Hyde Park complex.
Cash Pickups and Alleged Payments
The most striking revelations came when Mr. Sandro recounted being instructed to collect large sums of cash from FBN Bank, Finsbury Square.
He said the transactions began with envelopes containing £10,000–£15,000, handed over by a bank cashier identified as Mr. Tunji.
According to Sandro, the money was then divided in the back seat of the Rolls Royce, with portions allegedly earmarked for bills and payments to Jide Omokore, Chairman of Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Nigeria Limited.
Mr Sandro further testified that this happened more than a dozen times with ever increasing sums.
Over time, the sums grew larger. On one occasion, Sandro claimed he delivered £100,000 in cash to Alison-Madueke’s London residence, handing it to a young man known as Abu.
He told the court that it was a much larger parcel than expected, raising questions about whether this could be a critical piece of evidence for the prosecution.
High-Level Meetings
Sandro also testified that he once drove Alison-Madueke and then-President Goodluck Jonathan to a meeting in North West London with Aluko.
Afterward, he dropped Aluko back at One Hyde Park. He further recalled transporting Alison-Madueke’s husband to the airport, and noted that tensions later emerged between Alison-Madueke and Aluko, though he often avoided listening to their private conversations.
Unpaid Wages and Sudden Departure
The driver revealed that he was frequently underpaid or not paid at all, eventually being left owed two and a half months’ salary. His final encounter with Aluko came when he drove him to the airport, where Aluko abruptly left the UK.
While the trial’s spotlight remains firmly on Alison-Madueke and Aluko, observers noted that Olatimbo Bukola Ayinde, CEO of Dutchford Exploration and Production, continues to face charges but has kept a low profile, slipping out of court quietly after proceedings.
Alison-Madueke, alongside oil executive Ayinde, an ally of President Bola Tinubu, and her brother, 69-year-old Doye Agama, are facing bribery charges connected to the same case.
The jury will ultimately decide whether Sandro’s testimony, linking luxury shopping trips, cash pickups, and alleged payments, constitutes the “smoking gun” in one of Nigeria’s most high-profile corruption cases.
Aluko, a Nigerian businessman with close ties to former Petroleum Minister Alison-Madueke, has long been at the centre of international corruption investigations.
In 2015, British authorities sought his arrest through Switzerland as part of a money laundering probe linked to Nigeria’s oil revenues.
By 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice filed civil forfeiture proceedings, alleging that Aluko and fellow oil magnate Omokore conspired to bribe Alison-Madueke.
Prosecutors claimed the pair used proceeds from questionable oil contracts to purchase multimillion-dollar properties in London, Los Angeles, and New York, as well as luxury cars and yachts.
Nigerian authorities also indicted Aluko in 2017 in connection with a multi-million naira oil fraud case, accusing him of benefiting from Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts’ controversial oil deals.
Despite these indictments and asset seizures, Aluko has never been criminally convicted. His name, however, continues to surface in corruption trials, including the current London proceedings against Alison-Madueke, where witnesses describe him as a key player in cash deliveries and lavish spending.
