Diezani Alison-Madueke has denied
claims made by the Buhari-led government and the EFCC that she embezzled
Nigeria's money while she was in office.
The former Minister of Petroleum
Resources had a no-holds barred interview with media personality, Dele Momodu,
where she refuted claims that she embezzled Nigeria's money while in office.
Mrs Diezani denied allegations
that she made oil magnates like Chris Aire, Kola Aluko, Tonye Cole, Igho
Sanomi, and many others rich after she had intimate relations with them. She
made it clear that she is a married woman and was never in such habits.
The former Minister denied
vehemently allegations that $20billion disappeared from the coffers of NNPC
when she was in office. She dared anyone with proof to come forward to
substantiate the claims that she stole from the Nigerian government.
She went on to express her
displeasure at Nigerians who have villified and attacked her person, despite
the fact that she used her office to make many of them rich and not the
foreigners as it was in the past. She pointed out that before her tenure, the
petroleum industry was exclusively to enrich Foreigners and a few Nigerians but
when she came in, she identified Nigerians who could do the job and decided to
empower them. She wondered why she would be villified for this.
In the interview, the former
Minister denied claims of having a running battle with former first lady,
Patience Jonathan. She said she had much respect for Mrs Jonathan as she was
the wife of her boss. She also refuted claims that one of her sisters got
intimate with former president Goodluck Jonathan and had children for him.
Read excepts from the interview
as recounted by Dele Momodu below
“Is it true that a sister of
yours has a kid or kids for President Jonathan?” I asked.
“That is totally
untrue as I don’t have any such sister or relative!” she said. She wondered how
people could fabricate such blatant lies.
I soon followed with what I
regarded as an upper-cut: “It was said that you and the former First Lady, Dame
Patience Jonathan were in permanent conflict; why was it so?”
She responded
that their relationship was cordial enough and she gave the former First Lady
the respect she should give the wife of her boss. She went further to say that
“What people don’t know is that we’ve been family friends for long. My mum, Mrs
Beatrice Agama, has always played the role of a godmother in the Niger Delta
and all the militants love and respect her. I come from a royal and privileged
background and lacked nothing.”
She said she was not unaware of
certain insinuations about an intimate relationship with the former President
but she never bothered her head about them because some people had made up
their minds to spread those ugly tales about her. “If you are in the corridor
of power, you must expect anything, including mud and even bricks being thrown
at you.”
“You’ve been linked to so many
young guys who made so much money from you and later absconded or turned
against you… What was between you and Chris Aire, Kola Aluko, Jide Omokore,
Tonye Cole, Dapo Abiodun, Wale Tinubu, Igho Sanomi and others?” I queried her.
Madame Diezani’s response was
calm and unruffled: “I vehemently deny any intimacy or liaison with any of
these gentlemen.” She noted that she is happily married like most of them are
happily married and asserted that she is not the Scarlet Lady that people paint
her to be. She sees those rumours as insults on accomplished women who cannot
be seen in sensitive positions without running riotous with some men. She said
it was important to put in context how she met most of them:
“I was the Chairman of the
Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board and I did my job to the
best of ability and intentions. My boss and I were determined to empower
Nigerians, especially the young ones, who had the brains and guts to dare.” She
pointed out that her firm belief and desire to empower Nigerians stemmed from
the manner that she and her parents and siblings were unceremoniously dumped
out of Shell Camp where her father worked and lived while she was young.
The memory was apparently
traumatic as I could notice her wiping her eyes with another handkerchief. She
said “I remember that day vividly. It
was definitely one of the worst days of my life. We were not even allowed to finish eating
before they hurriedly packed our belongings, threw them into trucks and drove
us into an uncertain, unknown future.”
She continued “I was determined
that what my father fought for, which was to ensure that Nigerians had a
greater say in the scheme of things in Shell and thus in the petroleum industry
would be championed and achieved by me in Government.”
She noted that in every
government, some people must land the big jobs which every human being would
love to have. She said “I chose to empower mostly Nigerians and took the power
away from foreigners who used to dominate the sector. That was why we pushed
for the Nigerian Content Bill, which mercifully we got through. So you cannot
expect some forces not to hate me but I was shocked that Nigerians themselves
were ready to crucify me mostly on rumours and not verifiable facts. Most
leaders before me have suffered a similar fate so I take some comfort from that
experience.”
She added that people seem to
forget that she is happily married to Rear Admiral Alison Madueke and would not
do anything to jeopardise her marriage or smear herself in the eyes of her
husband, children and family. She also said that some of these men were unknown
to her until she became a Minister and that although, in some cases, they later
enjoyed a cordial relationship with her, it was no more than the kind of
relationship she enjoyed with other successful Nigerian businessmen who
respected and admired her for the way she was bringing Nigerians to the
forefront of the industry:
“It is unfortunate that things
didn’t work perfectly all the time as expected and as a leader I take the blame
for those imperfections, but I’m certainly not a demon as being portrayed. I
have no doubt that I served my nation well, the reason my colleagues at OPEC
supported me despite the opposition from my own people. I still maintain that
level of relationship with my former colleagues despite not being in
government.“
I then asked why is she so
controversial?
“Controversy has nothing to do
with your qualifications or performance. As a matter of fact, people often hate
you for knowing so much and for being efficient and confident which they
mistake for arrogance. We had to confront so many challenges, including oil
theft and general insecurity but we did very well even if we did not succeed
100 percent. I must say that some of our own people delivered responsibly while
a few of them breached the faith and wasted the opportunities handed to them by
my boss, President Jonathan. Unfortunately, no one ever remembers the things
that went right but everyone remembers and tends to emphasise the things that
went wrong…”
We soon moved the discussion to
the many allegations of financial impropriety under her tenure, especially the
alleged disappearance of $20billion and other wasteful spending authorised by
her.
She observed that she could not go into any real details because of the
criminal investigations in Nigeria and England as well as the civil case here.
However, she told me she would try and provide general details about these
matters because it was important to shed some light on her own involvement from
the vantage point of someone actually in Government who believes these things
simply cannot happen.
She was visibly angry at the
mention of the $20billion: “If there is one issue I must pursue in this world
it is the biggest lie of this money. How can $20billion disappear just like
that? Where did it disappear to? Is it possible that such an amount would not
be traceable? This is more painful coming from someone I considered a good
friend who should appreciate the gravity of such allegation. I challenge anyone
to come forward with facts showing that I stole government or public money.
I’ve never stolen Nigeria’s money…”
“Rather I worked hard to halt the
rampant business of round-tripping. When I brought in Reginald Stanley to clean
up the place, I requested for a list of the defaulters. There were about 92 of
them and I made sure we sanctioned them. You can imagine the threat to my life
but I was ready to defend the economic interests of my country. In fact, we
were able to reduce the oil subsidy by about half. No one has applauded our
effort.
“There were those who said the
then Governor of Central Bank must have been angry at me because of the way the
Presidency treated him. In all honesty, he was being blocked from seeing the
President by some of Oga’s people (presidential aides) but it had nothing to do
with me. I was the one who even told Oga about the development and Oga said he
would meet him in London on one of his trips. Unfortunately my boss fell ill
and was rushed to King Edward Hospital and the meeting was aborted.”
“Sanusi and I had been friends.
There was no way I would have done anything bad to him. He even came to my
house to inform me about his interest in heading the African Development Bank
and we discussed for about two hours. I promised to support him and I spoke to
Oga about it. We were together on the Reconciliation Committee that looked into
the accounts of NNPC. Yes there were gaps but not on the alarming scale being
circulated. Markafi (former Governor of Kaduna State) did a thorough job. You
know he is a very sound accountant.”
What about the allegations that
she owns choice properties everywhere?
“It is so sad that anyone could say such
about me. Let me say something to you, I live with my husband in the same house
we’ve lived since we married in 1999. Ask anyone who knows us. Our house in
Abuja was bought in 2007 by my husband and as an architect and lover of
interior décor I did it up to our own taste. It is not over the top because I
have good taste and appreciate bargains. I shop in regular shops like B & Q
to do up all the places where I live. Anyone who tells you I have houses
anywhere should feel free to publish them. That was how they said I bought an
expensive property in Vienna. I went to court and I won the case. I never saw
the house before except in picture. The house I stay in London is rented. As a
woman I love to look good. Some of my dresses and jewelleries are often dumped
on me by those I buy from and I pay them when I can…”
She went on to explain that
virtually all the transactions in respect of which allegations of corruption
are being levelled against her went through due process and that the Group
Managing Director of NNPC was actively involved in ensuring that the best
international practices were maintained. She added that her involvement in the
conclusion of these transactions was limited and that some of the contracts had
been executed before she became Minister of Petroleum Resources. In some other
cases she only got details after the contracts had been concluded when
approached by some businessmen who complained about the terms. She usually
admonished them to forego the contracts if they felt they were not profitable
and seek other ventures within the industry.
But she emphasised that her boss
neither discriminated against nor favoured anyone. She claimed some of those
who benefited the most were even in opposition and mentioned how a renowned
opposition leader and vocal critic of the Government at the time met her on
about three occasions to discuss his interests in the business of oil.
“My boss didn’t want Nigerians to
suffer because of politics so we agreed to offer certain support to a company
we knew was owned by the opposition once we were satisfied they controlled the
market substantially and have what it takes to deliver the goods nationwide. We
were that tolerant…”
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