London police nab ex-Petroleum Minister, Diezani

The London police yes­terday arrested former Petroleum Resources Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

The former Transport Minister’s arrest was, however, from Saturday Sun sources linked to an allegation of bribery in the UK.

While the news broke online, Saturday Sun called someone close to her and who acts as her unof­ficial media aide in Abuja to con­firm the development. The source pleaded to be given time to verify. However, he called back some 10 minutes later to confirm that the powerful oil woman of the Presi­dent Goodluck Jonathan’s admin­istration has been taken in by the police.

He stated that what he could not ascertain as at the time of speaking with him was the reason for her arrest.

But an online report indicated that Diezani was arrested along­side four other accomplices in the act of bribery by the UK National Crime Agency. What would not be determined was the identities of the four other arrested persons as at the time of filing the report yesterday evening.

In addition, Premium Times, an online news platform, reported: “Two top British officials in Lon­don confirmed the development. They requested not to be named because they had no permission to speak on the issue.

“The British High Commission in Nigeria confirmed that some arrests were made Friday but de­clined to disclose the identities of those involved.”

Joseph Abuku, Press and Public Affairs Officer of the High Com­mission, said: “This morning, five people between the ages of 21 and 60 were arrested on suspicion of bribery and corruption offences. The crimes are being investigated by the National Crime Agency.

“The National Crime Agency does not confirm identity at ar­rest nor provide information that could be used to corroborate the identity of an arrested individu­al.”

As at press time, it is not clear whether the former minister was arrested based on request from the Nigerian government.

President Muhammadu Buhari had said at a meeting with Presi­dent Xi Jinping of China in New York that his administration was determined to fully sanitize Nige­ria’s oil industry and make it to­tally free of corruption and shady deals. He had also vowed to begin the prosecution of those involved in shady deals in the oil sector in a matter of weeks.

The President did not, however, say specifically when the prosecu­tions would start or if indeed inves­tigations had been concluded and whether culpable individuals had been identified.

The NNPC under the immediate past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan was alleged to be involved in several shady deals, many of which have been can­celled by the present government.

However, Mrs. Alison-Madueke, accused of several corrupt deal­ings, has stayed away from Nigeria since Buhari was sworn in as presi­dent.

It would be recalled that Mrs. Allison-Madueke had secured a court order to stop the House of Representatives from summoning her when the lawmakers launched a probe into an oil deal worth a whopping N9 trillion in May 2013.

Beside this, Mrs. Allison-Ma­dueke had admitted before the Senate Committee on Finance in another probe that she spent a whopping N3.5 billion on kerosene subsidy without appropriation, in flagrant violation of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution. In 2014, the House of Representatives also ordered an investigation of an al­leged squandering of billions of naira from government funds by the former petroleum minister on the maintenance of a private jet.

The lawmaker, who tabled the motion for approval, Samuel Ade­jare, representing Lagos State, said the allegation was based on “reli­able evidence” indicating that Mrs. Alison-Madueke has committed about 500,000 Euros (N130 mil­lion) monthly to maintain the air­craft, solely for her personal needs and those of her immediate family.

In her defence, Diezani described the allegation against her as a mere fabrication. According to her, leas­ing jets is more cost-effective than buying them as is often done in the highly technical and competitive oil industry around the world.

Months after, she was clouded by another scandal as it was re­ported that N70m donated by her to the Peoples Democratic Party in Bayelsa State pre-election period, caused division between the then Chairman, Col. Sam Inokoba (retd) and members of the State Working Committee.

The members of the SWC later sus­pended the chairman for alleged mis­conduct and diversion of the N70m gift. Still battling to clear her name from that scandal, Diezani was again accused of $20b theft.

Diezani’s popularity plummeted after investigations by Price Wa­terHouse Coopers revealed that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corpo­ration (NNPC) could not account for $20 billion oil money under her watch.

She disregarded speculations that she met with former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, for a “soft landing” from the then in-coming Buhari government. In an attempt to exonerate herself from the alle­gations, Diezani reportedly said that darts were being thrown at her be­cause she stepped on some big toes.