Diezani denies ownership of seized $18m mansion, distances self from unauthorized media reactions
Nigeria’s former Petroleum Resources Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has lashed out at a report in Al Jazeera which claimed a property in Asokoro Abuja was seized from her describing the report as unprofessional and deliberately designed to cause sensation.
Al Jazeera’s video report on ‘Nigeria Corruption’ claimed that EFCC seized a property in Abuja worth $18 million from Diezani. The same report claimed jewelry, furniture and a bulletproof gym worth $2 million were recovered from the building. Diezani dismissed this report as false as according to her she never owns the said property neither had she ever laid claim to the said property.
Below are excerpts from the reaction issued by her counsel Dr Chike Amobi and made available to newsmen.
‘The VANGUARD online newspaper ofJune 14, 2016 contains a publication of a statement purportedly issued by our client, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, CON, the immediate past Honorable Minister of Petroleum Resources of The Federal Republic of Nigeria, ostensibly in reaction to a recent broadcast by AL JAZEERA television station which cast aspersions on the person of our client. We are informed and believe that several other “reactions” which purport to have originated from our client have also been published and are currently circulating in both print media and on the world wide web.
We wish to make it categorically clear that there is neither a scintilla nor a modicum of truth to the information being mischievously peddled by AL JAZEERA TV station. We also wish to state that none of these “reactions” to the AL JAZEERA broadcast, which are attributed to our client, actually originated from our client. Specifically, our client neither owns nor claims any ownership interest in the identified “$18 million house in Asokoro” with its reported “$2 million worth of furnishings” and “bullet proof gym”. Furthermore, our client did not “steal” any money to facilitate the procurement of the said property or for any other purpose whatsoever. On the contrary, as Honorable Minister of Petroleum Resources, our client did her utmost best to protect the interests of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. However, in their haste to achieve undeservedly high ratings from publishing sensational stories, the producers of the AL JAZEERA TV program mischievously neglected to conduct a cursory investigation of readily available property records which would have revealed the names and identities of the true owners of the property. Additionally, the purported reaction of our client to the obviously false story wherein she was quoted as saying that even “market women in Bodija market” also own jewelry is manifestly untrue. Anyone who knows or have spent any time with our client would readily attest to the fact that she neither thinks nor speaks in that manner. We therefore find it disturbingly worrisome that someone would take the time to publish these seemingly favorable statements and attribute them to our client without seeking and obtaining our client’s consent to, nor imprimatur on the statements.
While strongly condemning the irresponsible journalism of AL JAZEERA for broadcasting these verifiably false statements about our client, our client also wishes to distance herself from these “reactions” ascribed to her by the publishers VANGUARD NEWSPAPERS which neither originated from her, nor from persons authorized to speak on her behalf. We urge you to kindly disregard these messages as acts of mischief makers.
We hereby express our client’s profound gratitude for the overwhelming show of support and encouragement she continues to receive from the Nigerian public and request that you please continue to lift her up in your prayers especially during these very challenging times. She remains steadfast in her belief that after all the facts of her stewardship as a public servant are examined, it will become clear to all and sundry that her overriding intention during her period of service was to protect the best interest of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a task she executed to the best of her ability’.
