I Sacrificed All For Nigeria—Diezani

Immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has expressed her disappointment over allegations of money laundering she is being accused of by most Nigerians.

Dieani said she is specifically pained that her very “good friend” and former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido, alleged that $20billion developed wings under her watch as Minister.

She said Sanusi, who is now the Emir of Kano, had the ambition of becoming president of African Development Bank, AfDB, but was thwarted by loyalists of the immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan. According to Diezani, this may have angered the Emir and made him go after her.

The former Minister told Dele Momodu’s The Boss newspaper that she challenges her accusers to come up with facts implicating her.

Diezani, who is presently battling with cancer said, “If there is one issue I must pursue in this world, it is the biggest lie of this money.”

She asked, “How can $20billion disappear just like that? Where did it disappear to? Is it possible that such an amount would not be traceable?”

Diezani lamented that, “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.”

According to her, “I worked hard to halt the rampant business of round-tripping. When I brought in Reginald Stanley to clean up the place, I requested for a list of the defaulters. There were about 92 of them and I made sure we sanctioned them.

“You can imagine the threat to my life but I was ready to defend the economic interests of my country. In fact, we were able to reduce the oil subsidy by about half. No one has applauded our effort.”

Though Sanusi did not eventually achieve his dreams of becoming the AfDB president, according to Diezani, but former Minister of Agriculture, Akinwunmi Adesina, was elected into the position in May 2015.