Former Petroleum
Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke has reacted to allegations against her
by the Nigerian government and security agencies.
In a statement she signed and forwarded to media houses on Saturday,
Diezani said she finally chose to respond to “inaccurate press reporting
given the level of deliberate inaccuracies.
“I am now forced to respond because it is clear that the EFCC is taking
advantage of my silence to try me by media and to convict me in the eyes
of the public on false reports.”
The lengthy statement reads in parts “THE $153.3MILLION ALLEGATION: I am
deeply disturbed and bewildered by recent media reports claiming that
by virtue of an order of the Federal High Court, I have forfeited to the
Federal Government, the sum of $153.3m which I purportedly stole from
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
“I wish to state that I cannot forfeit what was never mine. I do not
know the basis on which the EFCC have chosen to say that I am the owner
of these funds as no evidence was provided to me before the order was
obtained and they have not in fact served me with the order or, any
evidence since they obtained it.
“Let me re-state categorically as I have always maintained, for the
record, I have NOT and WILL NEVER Steal Money from OR DEFRAUD the
Federal Government of Nigeria. I am willing to respond to any charges
brought against me that follow duly laid down procedures. However, in
their typical manner and style, the EFCC have gone to the media to
attempt to prosecute their case as trial by TV and other media, rather
than go through the onerous but tried and tested means of the Judicial
Court process.
“In the face of the obvious falsification of facts and misinformation,
it is only right and proper that the EFCC should publish the details of
the $153.3M lodgements, the bank account numbers and the account
beneficiaries, showing proof of my link to them. Having also alleged
that the said $153.3M was ‘wired’ from NNPC, the EFCC should also
publish details of the NNPC accounts from where the said $153.3 million
was taken from, with proof that I authorized such a
transaction/transactions acting either in my private capacity or, as The
Honourable Minister of Petroleum.
“MALABU: With regards to the various news reports published in both the
online and print media, insidiously inferring that I was indicted by
Italian prosecutors for, as they put it, ‘ sharing in the Loot’ of the
$1.3bn OPL 245 oil block deal that involved Malabu and the Joint Venture
Multinational partners, ENI(AGIP) and Royal Dutch Shell. Let me once
again State for the record, that this is another figment of the author’s
imagination, which given the persistent bid to ensure my destruction
and stick all of the Sins of the Corruption plagued Oil and Gas Sector
of over the last 30years upon my head, probably emanated from the EFCC
itself!
“In 2010, shortly after I was appointed as Minister of Petroleum
Resources, the issue of OPL 245 was brought to my attention. I looked
into the case and immediately became aware of the inherent and long
standing sensitivities around this issue. It became clear from the onset
that this case was not within the direct purview of the Minister of
Petroleum Resources but in the main was centred around issues of Law. By
this time there was already an ICSID(International Centre for
Settlement of Investment Disputes) investigation and claims against the
FGN running into billions of dollars. Therefore, we took directives from
the Chief Legal Officer of the Nation; the Attorney General and
Minister of Justice. In all of these matters due process was followed to
the letter at all times.
“I wish to categorically state that I have never held any discussions on
this matter, with any individuals or entities outside of official
channels. As Minister of Petroleum Resources, I did not participate in
any activity relating to financial payments on the Malabu matter, other
than those statutorily mandated to the Minister of Petroleum Resources
by the Petroleum Act. My role in this matter was a purely statutory one
as required by Law in the Petroleum Act
“THE ALJAZEERA REPORT – $18MILLION MANSION: On the 13th of June 2016,
the EFCC once again took their well-trodden path to the media. This time
claiming that they had ‘discovered’ a mansion in Asokoro, Abuja, worth
$18million (approx. N9billion) which they purported to belong to me. The
EFCC went to the extent of bringing in Aljazeera, an International TV
Station, to air a damaging documentary against me in this regard,
showing a particular residential building in Asokoro, Abuja, which they
told Aljazeera belonged to me. The EFCC Chairman Ibrahim Magu,
personally took the Aljazeera reporter to the building, alleging that it
belonged to me. It has since become apparent that the house belongs to a
company owned by Mr Kola Aluko.
“If this is not a witch hunt or a personal vendetta against me, how is
it that one of our Country’s premier investigative agencies were unable
to avail themselves of facts that are freely available in the public
domain.
“Since the EFCC claims that the alleged $18million Asokoro property
belongs to me, then they should kindly produce the ‘Authentic’
Certificate of Occupancy and Land Registry information and any other
relevant information, as proof of my ownership of the property.
“FAMILY HOME – YENEGOA, BAYELSA STATE: On the 9th November 2016, the
EFCC visited our Family home in Yenegoa (Bayelsa State) as pre-agreed
and they were escorted around the premises. I was therefore completely
shocked to once again see my name sensationally splashed across the
Front Pages of Newspapers and widely circulated on the internet.
“It is accepted Tradition across the length and breadth of Nigeria, for
people to own Country/Village homes. Given the size of the land and the
location of the compound, the buildings thereon cannot by any stretch of
the imagination be a “Multi-Billion Naira” palatial estate, as the news
mongers would want to portray.
“The EFCC were taken on a tour of the compound which consisted of A Main
house, and two outhouses – An Obi (meeting bungalow) and a staff
quarters(BQ) building – above which we built 3 guest rooms and a
parlour. The only other 2 structures are the gate and generator houses.
Construction began in late 2011 and was handled in phases. During the
visit the EFCC was given the bill of quantities, which up until the time
construction stopped in early 2015, due to my illness, was at
approximately N394million which was declared in the code of conduct
documentation, attached (the costs were partially funded by a loan – the
work is still uncompleted and the contractor is still being owed).
Building costs escalated as a result of delays in construction and
external factors such as the extreme flooding of late 2012, that covered
most of our areas in the Niger Delta.
“$700 Million Cash Found In My House: Stories were circulated by
unscrupulous agents of calumny that the EFCC found a mind boggling
$700million in cash in my home in Abuja. Would the videos of this $700
million cash discovery not have made good viewing? Or should those who
recovered this money not tell the public where exactly the money has
been kept? Perhaps the Central bank should corroborate that it is in
custody of these monies allegedly found in my house? But then, it is now
patently apparent that Nigerians are no longer easily led to believe
fables and sensational untruths.
“THE MISSING $20 BILLION: In late 2013, NNPC was accused by the then CBN
governor, of misappropriating first $49.8billion, then it changed to
$12billion and finally it was said to be $20billion. And in the
twinkling of an eye that accusation was turned around and directed at
me, personally. I was accused of stealing/misappropriating the
unfathomable amount of $20 billion.
“In a CNN TV Interview in March 2015, the former CBN Governor stated
that “there was this gap of $20 billion after reconciliation between
what NNPC exported and what it repatriated to the federation account and
I raised a number of issues that I think have not yet been discussed
and addressed sufficiently. One of them is billions of dollars being
paid in kerosine subsidy without appropriation by the National Assembly
and against a presidential order and we don’t know who authorised these
payments yet. Nobody has owned up to say I authorised these payments, I
made a mistake, it will stop…”. He, went on to say that…. “…It could be
$20 billion at the end of the day, after reconciliation they could
account for 10 or 12…”. So, as he pointed out, there was indeed a
reconciliation that at first stage had begun to close the purported gap.
“He had stated severally that a large portion of the $20billion was
constituted of illegal approvals for Subsidy payments that I had given
and that the late President Yar’adua had directed that the said subsidy
payments should be stopped and that I did not comply with President
Yar’adua’s directive. I have said it before but let me say it again.
President Yar’adua’s directives were made in a presidential memo dated
June 10, 2009, to the late Petroleum Minister, Rilwanu Lukman, not to
me. I was not the Minister of Petroleum Resources at that time. My
tenure as Petroleum Minister began in April, 2010. Those directives were
not complied with by Rilwanu Lukman, not Diezani Alison-Madueke.
“I made several attempts when we came into office in April 2010, to get
to the real truth of the matter. Even before we came in the GMD who
served under Rilwanu Lukman, Alhaji Barkindo, who is today the Secretary
General of OPEC, had written to the then Minister of Finance, Alhaji
Muhktar, to enquire for clarity on the matter, to no avail. Finally, I
had to write to President Jonathan to get to the truth of the matter.
President Jonathan pointed out that although he and President Yar’adua
had wanted to cancel the entire issue of subsidies, the unions had
objected and therefore the payment of subsidy had never been stopped. He
directed that in the meantime we continue the payments but with the
proviso that we prepare for complete deregulation as soon as
possible(Annex-2C), which I of course moved to implement on Jan 1st,
2012.
“Today, we all know that the PWC report that was published cleared me of
any wrong doing and no one up till now has been able to controvert the
PWC report, nor has anyone been able to show that the $20 billion is
actually, or was ever, missing. In addition, the Makarfi-led committee
in the Senate of The Federal Republic of Nigeria, in a series of
publicly-held hearings, also vindicated me on the matter of the
purportedly missing funds.”
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