Monday, 16 November 2015

Five Reasons Nigerians Want Diezani Probed


Nigeria’s former minister of petroleum Diezani Alison-Madueke has been under media attack lately especially after the Boss Magazine had a one-on-one with her in London.

Diezani was arrested in October by the
United Kingdom National Crime Agency
over allegations of bribery and corruption
under investigation.

But lately, the ever radiant minister stricken
with a deadly cancer of the breast has
most of the allegations against her.

However, she has faced backlash from
Nigerians on the heinous allegations.
Some Nigeria’s in the attack both offline
and online have made comments like: “ God
should heal Diezani so that she can return
money looted from Nigeria.”

Others have asked, who would steal such
money and not have cancer?

Accusations against the former petroleum
minister include:
1. The alleged disappearance of $20 billion
under the former minister’s watch
In 2014, the former governor of Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Lamido Sanusi
alleged that a whooping $20 billion was
missing from the coffers of the Nigerian
government account.

Also, probes by some audit firms – KPMG
and PriceWaterhousecoopers confirmed that
a substantive billions of dollars were
missing.

But in her recent interview with the Boss
Newspapers, the allegation by Sanusi, the
Emir of kano is “the biggest lie”.

She rather queried: “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…”

Even here interviewer, Dele Momodu said
the former minister was visibly angry at the
mention of the missing $20 billion.

2. Private jet scandal
During her tenure as Nigeria’s minister of
petroleum, Diezani was accused of illegally
spending billions of Naira on private jets.
The money was said to have been stolen
from the coffers of Nigerian government.


3. N2.2 billion bribery scandal
In 2011, there were allegations against the
former petroleum minister over N2.2 billion
bribe given in exchange for the
authorization for the importation of
gasoline by oil marketers.

4. Payment of N30.9 billion to contractors
without due process In 2008, the senate ordered a probe into the payment of N1.2 billion to contractors
in December 2007 without following due process.

The money, was said to have been paid
within a period of five days during her
tenure as a minister of transport.

5. Transfer of N1.2 billion to a toll
company Just a year after the senate order, Diezani
was again indicted by the senate with a
recommendation for her prosecution over
N1.2 billion which was alleged to have
been transferred in to the private account of
toll company.

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