Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, 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.
In an interview with media personality, Dele Momodu, Diezani Alison-Madueke refuted claims that she embezzled Nigeria’s money while in office, denying 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.
I did not steal Nigeria’s money- Diezani Alison-Madueke cries out
When asked about 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.”
