Group Calls For Suspension And Prosecution Of Minister Of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke Over Corruption Allegations
The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) a group of about twenty (20) civil-society, community-based and other non-governmental organizations with the objective of fighting corruption and corrupt persons by any means possible at all levels in Nigeria has call for the suspension and Prosecution of Diezani Allison Madueke, the Minister of Petroleum.In a petition addressed to President Jonathan signed by its Chairman, Debo Adeniran, said; “We are aware of so many calls to urgently commence a probe into the various allegations of corrupt practices levelled against the person of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke; such allegations which include reckless abuse of office, wastage of the nation’s resources under the guise of performing her official functions, engagement in questionable deals, connivance with some oil and gas multinationals to rob Nigeria of large chunk of money, direct stealing of the nation’s money, using her position and siphoning the nation’s earnings to foreign lands for personal interests and so on.
It would be recalled that an online publication, Economic and Financial Times (copy of publication attached for your reference) reported a shocking revelation by a free daily newspaper in Vienna, Austria called “Heute”, of a secret mansion villa worth 20 Million Euro bought by the Oil Minister, Mrs Alison Madueke. The headline reads “Ministerin aus Hungerland Kauft sich 20-Millonen-Villa in Wien” (Female Minister From ‘Hungerland’ Buys Herself 20 Million Euro Villa In Vienna).”
According to CACOL; “ Another online publication, DailyPost (copy of publication attached for your reference) also revealed how Mrs. Deziani Alison-Madueke`s family were travelling around the globe in private jet, funded from the nation’s coffers, which she claimed was broke and could not afford fuel subsidy, while the Nigerian masses suffer. Photos obtained from DailyPost Nigeria, revealed Diezani Alison-Madueke’s sons, living like Kings in America, complete with private jet travels, luxury ship vacations, frolicking with local and international superstars. More so, the House of Representatives instituted an investigation into the allegations of corruption made against the said Minister based on an allegation involving a whooping N59 trillion fraud in the award of oil blocks. The probe was in response to a petition by five oil producing communities in Delta State.”
According to the allegations, the NNPC, which the minister sits atop its board, collaborated with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Limited in an N58.9trn illicit oil deal that allegedly shortchanged the oil-producing communities in Delta State. The communities namely — Itsekiri ethnic nationality, Ijaw ethnic nationality, Urhobo ethnic nationality, Isoko ethnic nationality and Ndokwa ethnic nationality that were led by Chief Emami Ayiri, Chief Aribogha Johnny, Olorogun Jaro Egbo, Zino Onaemor and Emmanuel Orwti respectively, claimed that Alison-Madueke secretly transferred production rights in OMLs 26, 30, 34, and 42 to Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited, allegedly owned by one Mr. Jide Omokore, which neither tendered for, nor bided for the blocks, just two days before the 2011 dissolution of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
CACOL also said; “Furthermore, an online publication Saharareporters, in its publication of August 19, 2013 detailed the report of a group, which accused Alison-Madueke, of squandering millions of dollars of public funds to rent private jets for the conduct of her official activities. In a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) (a copy is attached for your reference), the group, known as Crusader for Good Governance,” demanded that Mrs. Alison-Madueke be investigated for her habit of spending extravagant sums to rent private jets for her official trips. According to the petition, she has spent some N2 billion on private jet rentals. The group also accused her of spending $300, 000 on an average international trip outside of Nigeria and spends as much as $500, 000 on trips to such destinations as China, Malaysia and several North American countries.
“The most recent is the missing $20 billion from the coffers of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). It would be recalled that the former of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido had raised an alarm sometimes last year that a whopping $48.9 billion was not remitted by the Corporation into the Federation Account and after much reconciliation among the NNPC, the CBN, and other agencies, it was resolved that the missing amount was $20 billion which the NNPC has not been able to account for till today.
“Mallam Lamido further alleged that public officials in the NNPC are looting the country blind in the name of subsidy payments and exposed the failure of NNPC to remit foreign exchange to the Federation Account at a time of rising oil prices; the similar concerns that have also been raised by the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives NEITI, the KPMG audit carried out under Minister Olusegun Aganga when he was in the Finance Ministry and the Mallam Nuhu Ribadu Committee.
More so, NNPC claimed N310.4 billion as subsidy on kerosene from 2009 to 2011, even though it had received and acknowledged, in 2009, the directive under President Yar’Adua to eliminate the kerosene subsidy and kerosene is still being sold for over N50 in many of the filling stations across the country. NNPC, under the watch of Mrs. Madueke, also claimed to have paid $8.49 million as fuel subsidy between April 2012 and December 2013 when its returns to the Federation Account after March 2012 show that there was no payment on fuel subsidy.”
“Your Excellency, we are not unaware of your approval of the forensic audit of the NNPC accounts to unearth the whereabout of the missing $20bn and the recent suspension of some directors of the Corporation. It must however be noted that if Your Excellency would be taken serious with the issue of fighting corruption in the oil sector, Mrs. Alison-Madueke should also be asked to step aside to enhance the credibility of whatever report the forensic audit would come up with. CACOL is skeptical, as well as other well-meaning Nigerians that the continue stay of Mrs. Madueke in office may influence the report of the audit. She should not be the judge in her own case,” it said.
Accorurdibng to the group it said its demands are; All persons and institutions that have been indicted in the $20bn missing oil money should be prosecuted accordingly; All persons and institutions that have been involved in the fuel and kerosene subsidy scam should be investigated and prosecuted. These include, but not limited to, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Alison-Madueke and her Finance Ministry counterpart, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; the Board Members, Managing Director and Management of NNPC and its subsidiaries and all public officials indicted in the Report by the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee; The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Alison-Madueke should be investigated and prosecuted for spending N10bn to charter and maintain a jet for her personal use within two years and her involvement in the N58.9trn illicit oil deal that allegedly shortchanged the oil-producing communities in Delta State.
Also that; “To demonstrate your commitment and seriousness to the fight against corruption in Nigeria, CACOL urges Your Excellency, to as a matter of national interest suspend the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, as she awaits prosecution for her crimes against the Nigerian people.”
