Alison Amaechina Madueke,
Diezani’s husband, says when his wife took up a ministerial appointment he
advised her to maintain the family’s good name and not to focus on money.
Diezani, former minister of
petroleum resources, is facing charges of money laundering to the tune of $153
million. Though she has not been arraigned.
A federal high court ordered the
forfeiture of jewellery worth $40 million linked to her as well some of her properties
scattered across the country.
According to the PUNCH, Madueke
disclosed his advice to Diezani in his recently published book entitled,
‘Riding the storms with God on my side’.
He said before the inauguration
of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, he was approached by Goodluck
Jonathan, the then vice-president elect, who pleaded with him to allow Diezani
take up an appointment “as there were very few persons of Bayelsa origin who
had her impressive resumé”.
Madueke, who is a former chief of
naval staff, said he initially did not want Diezani to take a public office
having become the first female director of Shell Petroleum Development Company
in Nigeria and had a great career.
But the former naval chief said
when he agreed, he told her to maintain the good name of the family and not to
focus on money when she was appointed minister in 2007.
“When finally she was appointed
Minister of Transportation, I took further time to advise her on the topic of
self protection and self preservation in the bureaucracy,” he wrote.
“I finally recited the advice my
father had given me upon my appointment as military governor. ‘Go do your best,
don’t bring back money, but bring back my name’.
“Later in that administration,
she was appointed Minister of Petroleum Resources, a position she held until
the Peoples Democratic Party lost the 2015 Presidential election.”
He said towards the end of
Jonathan’s administration in 2015, Diezani was diagnosed of cancer and had to
be flown to London for treatment.
He said unfortunately, while his
wife was severely ill abroad, her condition became an issue of politics in
Nigeria.
He said Diezani lost her ability
to speak and subsequently fell into a coma owing to the complications from
cancer.
“On Sunday, July 26, 2015, I
stepped into my bedroom soon after our brunch to find that my phone was
ringing, ” he wrote in the book.
” It was my mother-in-law, Mrs.
Beatrice Agama, who was staying with Diezani while she was undertaking
treatment. She was sobbing and only managed to inform me that my wife was no
longer talking.
“I was in London by 5.30am the
following day, Monday, and went straight to see her. Diezani was in a coma. I
called an ambulance that arrived 20 minutes later, the attendants bearing a
stretcher. They had to get a wheelchair since the lift could not take the
stretcher.
“In less than 10 minutes, we were
at the emergency intensive care unit of the Harley Street Clinic. Her doctor,
Prof. Paul Ellis, a top oncologist, was out of town and had to be recalled.
“Three days later, when Diezani
finally came out of the coma, she saw me by her bedside and asked what I was
doing in London. She had reacted badly to her Friday chemotherapy treatment.
Thank God she pulled through that nightmarish incident and is now fully
recovered.”
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