Buzz by Olumide Iyanda
Email: oiyanda@yahoo.com Twitter: @mightyng
Former Petroleum Resources Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke’s oily deals are finally catching up with her. Her arrest in London by the UK National Crime Agency on October 2, this year, may be the beginning of a long catwalk to prosecution. She must be cursing former President Goodluck Jonathan’s loss at the last election for her woes. I hope the following cheers her up.
- She’s got the looks
With looks that could make a blind man have whiplash, it is understandable that Dr Goodluck Jonathan found Diezani irresistible. So irresistible that he ignored damning allegations of corruption against her and insisted she was one of the best things to happen to his administration. And one of the best she was – in the beauty department. Show me a man that does not think the 54-year-old will make a trophy companion and I will point you a liar.
Of course, you need trailer-load of cash to look the way the former Minister did. Accessories by Chris Aire and other bespoke designers do not carry the same price tags as Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s headgears or Oby Ezekwesili’s crew cut. Didn’t we see the Hermes bag and bejewelled wristwatches she flashed at us while millions took part in the Occupy Nigeria campaign?
When it came to looks, Diezani was in competition with only herself in the Jonathan cabinet. A face like that is too beautiful to send behind bars.
- Stealing was not corruption under Jonathan
The immediate past administration dared Nigerians not to steal. When asked about corruption allegations against some of his Ministers, the good Dr Jonathan had this to say on a live Presidential Media Chat in 2014: “Over 70 percent of what are called corruption, even by EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) and other anti-corruption agencies is not corruption, but common stealing. Corruption is perception, not reality.”
Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Lamido Sanusi obviously didn’t get the memo. He was suspended and subsequently replaced for daring to accuse the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) under Diezani’s watch of failing to account for N20 billion. A generous President Jonathan twisted the knife when he said on national television that “The CBN governor is not an ordinary man. Within a month, he said the country lost $12 billion (N1.91 trillion). After some weeks, he said it was $20billion that was missing. Probably, if he were still there he could have mentioned another figure by now. But, because of the suspension, no other figure has come out.”
He went on to describe a parliamentary probe of Diezani as “more of politics than work.” Need we say more?
- OPEC can’t be wrong
In spite of campaigns by meddlesome busybodies in the oil industry and media, Diezani was elected president of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on November 27, 2014 on the recommendation of President Jonathan. Her election came at a time when member nations were reeling under the impact of falling oil prices. It was a case of the stone the builders rejected and a prophet without honour at home rolled into one as she became the first woman to head the international oil cartel. We must also not forget that she was elected president of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) on December 16, 2014.
The underlying message in the appointments was made by the inimitable Dame Patience Jonathan at a PDP women’s campaign rally for her husband in Lagos. Taking a jab at the then opposition APC, the former President’s wife said: “Even the corruption they are accusing Petroleum Minister of, what of them (APC)? They keep saying that she is this, that she is that. Why did they make her (Diezani) the President of OPEC if truly she is corrupt? Such international appointment. Why didn’t they say she is corrupt?”
Raucous she may be, but Mrs Jonathan spoke the mind of the OPEC hierarchy about what the organisation thought of Diezani’s credentials.
- She is royalty
Diezani is not just the first female Nigerian oil Minister, first female OPEC President, first female Executive Director of Shell in Nigeria and the first and only woman to hold an Honorary Doctorate Degree (Management Sciences) from the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA); she also has royal blood flowing in her veins. Her late father, Frederick Abiye Agama, was the Ogbotom Edede of the Epie Atissa clan in Bayelsa State. Her mother, Chief Beatrice Agama, is also described as a long-standing women’s leader and advocate.
A Nigerian princess in a UK jail? With paedophiles and other society’s rejects? Someone please have a heart.
- She is sick. Seriously
Like the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti would have said, “different different sickness na im dey.” There is the type manifested by mind-boggling stealing of the commonwealth and devil-may-care impunity. There is also the type that requires medical treatment. Diezani’s family, lawyers and close associates say she suffers from the latter. Specifically, she is said to have what is believed to be breast cancer.
A recent statement by her family lawyer, Oscar Onwudiwe, disclosed that “Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke has been receiving treatment for cancer in the UK which started while she was in office. The health crisis has unfortunately exacerbated in recent times. She completed months of chemotherapy just last week and she is scheduled to undergo surgery next week in London.
“The family has been bearing this challenge with prayers and as much grace and fortitude as possible; and would plead with all reasonable Nigerians to pray for her recovery so that she can face this allegation and give account of her stewardship. Yes, she can—and very well, too.”
For bearing the pain of cancer secretly while serving her fatherland, Diezani should be accorded some sympathy. Even if the coincidence of embattled former Presidential Adviser on the Niger Delta and Chairman of the Amnesty Programme, Kingsley Kuku, also having leg surgery after power changed hands on May 29 makes the explanation look like an afterthought.
