The immediate past Minister of
Petroleum Resources, Diezani
Alison-Madueke, was on Friday
arrested in London, PREMIUM
TIMES can exclusively and
authoritatively report.
The former minister, who was
one of the most powerful officials
of the President Goodluck
Jonathan administration, was
arrested Friday morning by the
UK National Crimes Agency,
alongside four other people.
The identities of the four other
people arrested along with her
could not be immediately
ascertained.
PREMIUM TIMES learnt she was
arrested for offences related to
bribery, corruption and money
laundering.
Two top British officials in
London confirmed the
development to this newspaper.
They requested not to be named
because they had no permission
to speak on the issue.
When contacted, 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, 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 Crimes 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.”
It is not clear whether the former
minister was arrested based on
request from the Nigerian
government.
President Muhammadu Buhari
had on September 27 hinted that
those who misappropriated
billions of naira belonging to
Nigeria’s state oil company, the
Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation would soon be
prosecuted.
Mr. Buhari 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.
The President did not, however, say how soon
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 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 Mr. Buhari was sworn-in
as president.
A controversial minister
Mrs. Alison-Madueke was first appointed into
the federal cabinet in 2007.
A former director at Shell Petroleum
Development Company of Nigeria, she was
appointed Minister of Transport by late
President Umaru Yar’adua. In December 2008,
she was redeployed to the mines and steel
development ministry.
After former Vice President Goodluck
Jonathan became acting president, Mrs.
Alison-Madueke was appointed Nigeria’s first
female petroleum minister in February 2010, a
position she held till May 29, 2015 when Mr.
Jonathan left office.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s tenure as petroleum
minister turned out one of Nigeria’s most
controversial, amid unending allegations of
corruption.
Under her watch, dubious oil marketers stole
trillions of naira of oil subsidy money. She
retained her position after the House of
Representative investigated the scandal and
indicted the minister.
Probes by independent audit firms, including
the KPMG and Pricewaterahousecoopers,
confirmed billions of dollars of oil money
were missing, the most notable being $20
billion in 2014.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke also supervised an
awfully corrupt NNPC, which several shady
deals had been exposed by PREMIUM TIMES
several investigations and confirmed by
government and independent auditors.
Long before her stint in the oil and gas sector,
Mrs. Alison-Madueke was investigated by the
Nigerian Senate on allegation she paid N30.9
billion to contractors while she held office as
transportation minister.
In 2009, the Senate also indicted Mrs. Alison-
Madueke and recommended her for
prosecution for allegedly transferring N1.2
billion into a private account of a toll
company without due process.
Regardless of the mounting criticisms against
her stewardship, Mrs. Alison-Maduke got
elected in November 2014 as the first female
president of oil cartel the Organisation of
Petroleum Exporting Countries.
The former minister consistently denied any
wrongdoing.
In June, after leaving office, she rejected all
allegations of embezzlement, saying she never
stole from Nigeria.
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