Former Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Rear Admiral Alison Amaechina Madueke, has petitioned the court for an injunction restraining his ex-wife, Diezani Alison-Madueke, from using his first name (Alison) and surname (Madueke) following the dissolution of their marriage.
Admiral Madueke, who was Nigeria’s Chief of Naval Staff from 1993-1994 under General Sani Abacha, prayed the court to grant an order directing the respondent (Diezani) to adopt and revert to her pre-marital surname (Agama) and issue publications in newspapers of national circulation in both Nigeria and the United Kingdom of a notice of her discontinuation of the use of the petitioner’s first name and surname.
The petition, in the High Court of Lagos, suit no LD/15144HD/2024, sought that the ex-wife desist from using the petitioner’s name, which poses a significant risk of legal and financial harm to the petitioner as the respondent faces criminal trials in Nigeria and UK.
The petition stated that they stopped living together in May 2015 after her ministerial appointment and in November 2021, citing irretrievable breakdown of marriage, Diezani filed a petition for dissolution of marriage (Suit No. NSD/MG345/2021) at the High Court of Nassarawa State, Nassarawa Judicial Division, sitting at Mararaba Gurku and on April 13, 2022, Judgment was delivered in Suit No. NSD/MG345/2021 by Hon. Justice A.A. Ozegya, dissolving the marriage between the Petitioner and the Respondent on the ground that the marriage has broken down irretrievably.
The retired naval officer in his petition, stated that the respondent faces public allegations of corruption and financial misconduct, for which trials are ongoing for both.
The persistent portrayal of the respondent as the spouse of the petitioner is creating embarrassment, a misleading impression and tarnishing the reputation, integrity, and public image of the petitioner.
Even though the marriage has been dissolved and is now legally finalized, the respondent, more than two years later, continues to use the Petitioner’s first name (Alison) and surname (Madueke) as her own without any justification or consent from the Petitioner, which falsely suggests to the public continuing relationship between the parties though same has since legally ended.
According to the statement, the petitioner instructed his solicitors to address a letter to the respondent, requesting her to cease the ongoing use of his first name and surname.
Messrs Foundation Chambers sent a formal letter, dated 14th December 2023 urging the Respondent to revert to her pre-marital name (Diezani Kogbeni Agama) following the legal dissolution of the marriage.
Before his appointment as Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Madueke was Military Governor of Anambra State from January 1984 to August 1985, and Imo State Military Governor from 1985 to 1986.
DEziani, the second wife of the former top Naval officer, was the first female director of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC). Under late President Umaru Musa yar’Adua, she became Nigeria’s Minister of Transportation on July 26, 2007 and in 2008 as Minister of Mines and Steel Development. In 2010 under President Goodluck Jonathan, DEziani became Nigeria’s first female Minister of Petroleum Resources.