Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria’s former minister of
Petroleum has broken her silence on a report by Al Jazeera on Monday, June 13,
2016 which claimed a property in Abuja worth $18 million had been seized from
her. The report also claimed Nigeria’s Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) recovered jewelry worth $2 million from the building.
In a reaction to the report signed by Diezani Alison-Madueke
herself and made available to press on
Monday, June 13, 2016, Alison-Madueke berated the EFCC and Al Jazeera
describing the report as representing “everything ridiculous and despicable
about professional media practice and global best practices in the war against
corruption.”
Read the full statement from Alison-Madueke below:
My attention has been drawn to a report by Al Jazeera, which
was released on Monday as a testament to the effectiveness of Nigeria’s
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in its war against corruption.
In the video report, which has been widely circulated in the
social media, there are claims about me owning a property in Abuja allegedly
worth $18 million. The report, which represents everything ridiculous and
despicable about professional media practice and global best practices in the
war against corruption, is the latest attempt to give a dog a bad name in order
to hang it. Clips of jewelry allegedly worth over $2 million were also
copiously displayed as if to feed the cravings of an audience gratified with
the notion that every wealthy Nigerian is corrupt.
This will not be the first time calculated attempts have
been made to demonise and damage my reputation in the public space. Many times,
my detractors have gotten away with these irresponsible smear campaigns because
they have become accustomed to my characteristic approach of silence in the
face of these callous attacks.
The latest in the string of propaganda attacks launched
against my person since I left government as Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister is
this Al Jazeera report, which without any court conviction anywhere in world
attempts to dress Diezani Alison Madueke in the garb of a common criminal.
This, to say the least, is the height of journalistic brigandage and a sheer
mockery of Nigeria’s anti-corruption war before the eyes of the world who are
watching and asking if the war against corruption is a circus show where
suspects are prosecuted and sentenced on the pages of newspapers and video
blogs without anything as remotely in the semblance of a trial in the courts of
law.
When did it become a crime to own a property in Nigeria?
When did it become a crime for a woman of my status to have in her possession
jewelry. Jewelry, which women all across the world, including the woman selling
tomatoes in Bodija market have in abundance in their closets? In which court of
law, anywhere in the world was I prosecuted by the EFCC and found guilty of
corruption?
With all sense of modesty, I say this only for posterity and
for the records, I have strived within my means and the blessings of God to live
a decent and accomplished life. I studied architecture in England and obtained
a bachelor’s degree from Howard University, United States of America in 1992.
When I returned to Nigeria that same year, I joined Shell Petroleum Development
Corporation. In 2002, I obtained an MBA at Cambridge University, United
Kingdom. In April 2006, I was appointed by Shell as the company’s first female
Executive Director in Nigeria. In July 2007, I was appointed by the late
President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua as Minister of Transport. The next year in
December 2008 I became Minister of Mines and Steel Development. In April 2010,
I was appointed as Minister for Petroleum Resources and served in that capacity
till May 2015. During this period as Petroleum Minister, I had the honour of
serving Nigeria and representing her in the Organization of Oil Exporting
Countries (OPEC) where I was elected first female President. All through my
career, I have strived to maintain a record of hard work, integrity and
excellence, giving my best to society, because my parents raised me in the
consciousness that a man or woman’s greatness is defined not by the amount of
wealth they have acquired but the impact of their service to God and humanity.
Coming at such a critical time in my life when I am battling
cancer, this poorly executed propaganda bares on its face like tribal marks, a
clearly malicious attempt to victimize an innocent woman in what appears an
exaggerated plot to validate and give credibility to the anti-corruption
crusade under Nigeria’s new regime. People who are battling cancer or those who
have lost their loved ones to this medical condition understand what I am going
through at this time. This is what makes me ponder at the cold-heartedness of
those who will go any length to defame and destroy in the name of propaganda.
What happened to our shared humanity?
I have absolute regard for the law and believe that people
who have breached the laws that govern societies should be made to face the
wrath of the law. But in a civilized society, a responsible government owes its
citizens absolute commitment to the principles of rule of law, equity, fairness
and justice. I have been wrongfully and maliciously maligned and those behind
this reckless action know it.
I leave them to posterity, their conscience and above all
the Almighty God who is the final judge of all.
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