Diezani Alison-Madueke

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On The Trail Of Madam Diezani (Part 2) | By: Dele Momodu

Missed the Part 1 of this article? Click HERE
Fellow Nigerians, what you are about to read is an abridged version of what is probably the most anticipated story of the year. It has now given birth to a big bouncing baby christened The Boss newspaper, an online publication. The Diezani Alison-Madueke story has graced the cover of the first edition of what I believe will be a catalyst for unbiased investigative reporting in Nigeria. The Boss had long been conceptualised as a Leadership newspaper to occupy the void created by lack of true and credible investigative journalism in some traditional and online media. The original plan was to launch in December or early January.
But the Diezani Alison Madueke story changed all that. It was too compelling to restrict to the Pendulum column alone.  And here we are with what promises to be an exciting addition to the media landscape in Nigeria and beyond featuring an enthralling cover story that will educate and entertain the readers.
After that effervescent introduction in Thisday, in which Nigeria’s most influential newspaper published the meeting between this reporter and the embattled former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, everyone requested for details of the encounter. Some unbelieving Thomases even suggested the story was pure fiction, or at the very best “faction” to borrow Kole Omotoso’s coinage.
They wondered why a more comprehensive interview could not be published, garnished with clear crispy pictures of Madame Diezani. It was obvious many had read the story in a hurry and did not assimilate the carefully worded tale of a woman in deep pain and anguish for variety of reasons. Of course there were insinuations that it was a public relations stunt but mercifully most readers thought it was a well-balanced story. It even went viral.
That meeting obviously impacted on her decision to open up eventually, two days after episode one. A call came through on Friday November 6, 2015, from a female aide of Mrs Alison-Madueke to request for a meeting the following day at 2.30pm at a location yet to be determined. The appointment was immediately approved. Later in the evening, this ubiquitous aide made yet another call shifting the appointment forward by a few hours to 11am the same Saturday. My response again was yes.
A text message flew into my phone very early Saturday morning. It contained the address and full postcode of a new venue different from the one of two days earlier. The venue turned out to be a popular restaurant near Regent’s Park, famous for its breakfast.
I was a bit surprised and disappointed at the choice of location. I was hoping she was going to give me access to her now famous apartment which was said to have been bought at a most staggering amount, or the new multi-billion dollar home that was rumoured to have triggered the alarm leading to her arrest, claims she would dismiss as tales by moonlight. After waiting for about 20 minutes or so, I heard some footsteps and the once most powerful woman in Nigeria surfaced. She looked slightly better than at our last meeting and I sprang to my feet as we exchanged pleasantries. I mentioned to her that she looks better and she said she’s been resting and gaining strength in preparation for her radiotherapy. She ordered full English breakfast while I settled only for cappuccino. But when the meal arrived she didn’t eat it because she has lost appetite for food generally and was more on fluids. She then asked for American coffee, water and fresh lime instead. She also ordered for tea at some point. Most of the time we spent talking, she coughed intermittently into a napkin and dabbed her mouth with it but she was clearly determined to pour out her obviously heavy mind despite the discomfort I could notice she was struggling to endure. 
There were several off-the-record interludes. More than anything we were both careful not to discuss in detail matters which might impact on the cases and legal problems now bedevilling her. Getting and persuading her to talk in detail about a lot of issues was therefore very difficult. There were other reasons. First, was her obvious paranoia of the Nigerian press. She’s been bruised, battered and blistered, especially in print and on social media. She’s been scandalised, summarily tried and precipitously convicted by the media, according to her. On top of her problems, she’s having a running battle with the most dreaded form of cancer of the breast and she’s had to undergo surgeries to remove the lumps and later some chunky tissue. The treatments have not been that successful and it’s been a ding-dong affair for this once ebullient and elegant lady. 
We had to give assurances of not sensationalising her story if granted access. Of course it has never been our practice to do so and thus this was not a problem.  We promised not to embellish her stories in any way or reveal off-the-record discussions which were truly personal and confidential and had nothing to do with her travails. There was a strict proviso that no form of recording would be allowed and we had to adopt the novelistic style. The result of that covenant is what you’re reading today.
We knew it was going to be very difficult getting pictures in her present not too genial or glamorous condition. That was practically tough on our first meeting as she was just returning from her hospital rounds and looked totally exhausted. We however succeeded in getting a few pictures this time some of which we are revealing for the first time today in The Boss newspaper.
This is a story like no other and it cannot be told like any other. It is a tale from the super highway of power and the fast lane of confusion. Mrs Alison-Madueke had the world not just at her feet but firmly in her palm. She could apparently turn a certified pauper into a certificated billionaire within the twinkle of an eye. In short, she could make and unmake. Diezani was the subject of many fables. And this is the crux of the matter. Her closeness to President Jonathan was a subject of many speculations and I fired my first shot from that direction:
“Is it true that a sister of yours has a kid or kids for President Jonathan?” I asked. “That is totally untrue as I don’t have any such sister or relative!” she said.  She wondered how people could fabricate such blatant lies.
I soon followed with what I regarded as an upper-cut: “It was said that you and the former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan were in permanent conflict; why was it so?” She responded that their relationship was cordial enough and she gave the former First Lady the respect she should give the wife of her boss. She went further to say that “What people don’t know is that we’ve been family friends for long. My mum, Mrs Beatrice Agama, has always played the role of a godmother in the Niger Delta and all the militants love and respect her. I come from a royal and privileged background and lacked nothing.”
Now wait for the next shot!  “You’ve been linked to so many young guys who made so much money from you and later absconded or turned against you… What was between you and Chris Aire, Kola Aluko, Jide Omokore, Tonye Cole, Dapo Abiodun, Wale Tinubu, Igho Sanomi and others?” I queried her.
Madame Diezani’s response was calm and unruffled: “I vehemently deny any intimacy or liaison with any of these gentlemen.” She noted that she is happily married like most of them are happily married and asserted that she is not the Scarlet Lady that people paint her to be. She sees those rumours as insults on accomplished women who cannot be seen in sensitive positions without running riotous with some men. She said it was important to put in context how she met most of them:
“I was the Chairman of the Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board and I did my job to the best of ability and intentions. My boss and I were determined to empower Nigerians, especially the young ones, who had the brains and guts to dare.” She noted that in every government, some people must land the big jobs which every human being would love to have. She said “I chose to empower mostly Nigerians and took the power away from foreigners who used to dominate the sector. That was why we pushed for the Nigerian Content Bill, which mercifully we got through. So you cannot expect some forces not to hate me but I was shocked that Nigerians themselves were ready to crucify me mostly on rumours and not verifiable facts. Most leaders before me have suffered a similar fate so I take some comfort from that experience.”
We soon moved the discussion to the many allegations of financial impropriety under her tenure, especially the alleged disappearance of $20billion and other wasteful spending authorised by her.  She observed that she could not go into any real details because of the criminal investigations in Nigeria and England as well as the civil case here.  However she told me she would try and provide general details about these matters because it was important to shed some light on her own involvement from the vantage point of someone actually in Government who believes these things simply cannot happen.
She was visibly angry at the mention of the $20billion: “If there is one issue I must pursue in this world it is the biggest lie of this money. How can $20billion disappear just like that? Where did it disappear to? Is it possible that such an amount would not be traceable? 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…”
“Rather 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.
“There were those who said the then Governor of Central Bank must have been angry at me because of the way the Presidency treated him. In all honesty, he was being blocked from seeing the President by some of Oga’s people (presidential aides) but it had nothing to do with me. I was the one who even told Oga about the development and Oga said he would meet him in London on one of his trips. Unfortunately my boss fell ill and was rushed to King Edward Hospital and the meeting was aborted.”
“Sanusi and I had been friends. There was no way I would have done anything bad to him. He even came to my house to inform me about his interest in heading the African Development Bank and we discussed for about two hours. I promised to support him and I spoke to Oga about it. We were together on the Reconciliation Committee that looked into the accounts of NNPC. Yes there were gaps but not on the alarming scale being circulated. Markafi (former Governor of Kaduna State) did a thorough job. You know he is a very sound accountant.”
What about the allegations that she owns choice properties everywhere?  “It is so sad that anyone could say such about me. Let me say something to you, I live with my husband in the same house we’ve lived since we married in 1999. Ask anyone who knows us. Our house in Abuja was bought in 2007 by my husband and as an architect and lover of interior décor I did it up to our own taste. It is not over the top because I have good taste and appreciate bargains. I shop in regular shops like B & Q to do up all the places where I live. Anyone who tells you I have houses anywhere should feel free to publish them. That was how they said I bought an expensive property in Vienna. I went to court and I won the case. I never saw the house before except in picture. The house I stay in London is rented. As a woman I love to look good. Some of my dresses and jewelleries are often dumped on me by those I buy from and I pay them when I can…” Read the full story at www.thebossnewspapers.com
THE CHESS PLAYER CALLED PRESIDENT BUHARI
If you think you can predict and pre-empt President Muhammadu Buhari, please forget it. With his recent moves, it is obvious he is the master of the game. I wish to commend him on his Ministerial appointments and encourage him to ignore the harsh criticisms that greeted the portfolios assigned to some of the Ministers.
The most controversial is that of Mrs Kemi Adeosun and I totally disagree with those saying she lacks the experience or exposure to run the Finance Ministry. Leadership is about the ability to manage people and resources. It would have been impossible for Ronald Reagan and even Barack Obama to thrive in our clime with our type of attitude. Just imagine if David Cameron and Ed Milibands were Nigerians. Mrs Adeosun should not be distracted. Some of those clamouring for youth participation in governance should be proud of her towering achievements and meteoric rise.
What can I say about Mr Efficiency, Babatunde Raji Fashola? President Buhari has acknowledged brilliance and rewarded hard work by making this great man our de facto Prime Minister.
Congratulations to all Nigerians.
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Entertainment

Diezani's family confirms she is down with cancer.

The family of ex Petroleum resources Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke have confirmed that she is down with cancer and will be undergoing surgery next week. Below is a statement by the 54 year-old’s lawyer, Barrister Oscar M. Onwudiwe.
  

THE TRUTH VERSUS THE MEDIA HYSTERIA AGAINST THE MADUEKE FAMILY 

1.   In this era of cyber terrorism, decency dictates that one should response to false and defamatory allegations with silence. But there is a limit to how much any reasonable person can bear the tactics of these cyber terrorists. We all know that what makes a lie fly is the little truth contained therein. This happens to be the weapon used by most online news media to feed their weird obsession with defaming highly placed people. 

2.   The Madueke family is appalled at the ongoing media frenzy against Mrs. Diezani 

3.   However, it is clear that here is  a deliberate and vicious campaign to demonise members of the Madueke family, with all manner of frivolous allegations. For example, an online news media gleefully published that Mr. Ugonna Madueke “owns at least three properties in the United States.” It even called the properties “POSH” and went on to state the addresses. THEY LIED. 

4.   Mr. Ugonna Madueke has NO PROPERTY ANY WHERE in the United States and has NEVER OWNED ONE. The USA is a country which runs on transparency, accountability and technology. A little honest effort by the online news media would have provided in a few minutes the true ownership of the properties at issue.

5.   For historical accuracy, the Madueke family avers without any fear of contradiction that 11711 Scooter Lane (a three bedroom town house) in Fairfax, Virginia, was acquired by the Madueke family in 1997 when Ugonna was only 10 years old. Ugonna’s siblings lived in this property while attending George Mason University in Virginia, USA. Records available to the appropriate authorities in the United States can also show that 13116 Silver Maple Court in Bowie, Maryland, USA belongs to an uncle of the Madueke siblings and was purchased in 1995 when Ugonna was only 8 years old. As a student of the University of Maryland in 2002, Ugonna stayed with his uncle at the said address. All of this was before Mrs. Diezani was appointed to government office. No Madueke or a distant relation has anything to do with the ownership of No. 4227 Summit Manor Court in Virginia. 

6.   It is evident that what the online news media did was to turn on an internet search engine and maliciously reported that every property where Ugonna Madueke has ever lived in the United States or used as his address must belong to him. The description of the properties as POSH was the icing on the propaganda cake. This is not only unprofessional, as it offends the tenets of journalism, it is clearly not in resonance with good conscience. 

7.   The online news media also reported that Ugonna and his cousins registered a company by name Hadley Petroleum Solutions Limited which they have been using to deal in Nigerian crude oil sales. As young men bubbling with enthusiasm and fantasy, they registered a company but after two years of no jobs, the company folded up. The company never had a bank account, let alone being a trader of Nigeria’s crude oil. They lied.

8.   The online news media took its campaign to the in-laws of the Maduekes. It claimed that Mrs. Beatrice Agama, the 81 year old mother of Mrs. Diezani Madueke, owns a house in the United Kingdom. A LIE! Mrs. Agama has no house or property in the United Kingdom. She has been staying in a rented two-bedroom flat from where she is receiving medical attention for a broken femur. Her son, Timi Agama who has been living in the UK for decades, used to have a house in the UK long before his sister was appointed to government and he sold it long ago. Since then, he has no house in the UK. Archbishop Doye Agama of the Apostolic Pastoral Congress in Manchester, who is in his 60s, is a successful professional and consultant well known amongst his peers, but he does not own Unit 8 Quebec Building in Manchester which the online newspaper ascribed to him.

9.   As though to outdo the sensational allegations in the online publication, the mainstream media in Nigeria has been alleging that Mrs. Diezani attempted to purchase a property on Hyde Park Street in London for a whooping amount which embarrassingly ranges from 12.5 million sterling pounds to 13 billion sterling pounds. This claim is utterly false and laughable, for  the amounts mentioned are only in the imagination of the reporters. This property is quite popular. It belongs to a well-known eminently successful Nigerian entrepreneur who would also find this allegation embarrassing as the intention to sell the property has neither been contemplated nor disclosed to any person.

10.    It is worthy to note that despite all the frenzy over Mrs. Diezani Madueke, not even one reporter or journalist has tried to contact the family to verify any of the rumors they have published with reckless abandon. This may be because they know the stories are false but it feeds the mood of the moment. Hence, the silence from Diezani all along. It is worth emphasising that Mrs Alison-Madueke was never arrested or detained and her passport was never seized. She was merely invited, and she honoured it promptly.

11.               The Madueke family, like most other families, have their own challenges. For instance, 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.

12.               The Madueke and Agama families would want the decent public to know that neither Ugonna nor Somze or Abiye or anyone related to the two families was picked up or arrested or invited for questioning by anybody whatsoever. Ugonna’s father (the Rear Admiral) has been in Lagos and working in his office. The lies about his having travelled with a team of lawyers should please stop. The Madueke family has taken a decision on how to appropriately deal with those who are on a mission to soil their hard earned family name.
Signed for and on behalf of the Madueke and Agama families.
Barrister Oscar M. Onwudiwe.
Legal Attorney
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Diezani Alison-Madueke: What’s The Noise All About? | By: Tolu Ogunlesi

“DAM,” as she’s known on social media, symbolises, more than anyone else, the impunity of the Jonathan era. Within her first year as the petroleum minister (2010 – 2011), the number of dealers licensed to import petrol rose dramatically (from fewer than 40 to 140), and Nigeria’s fuel subsidy import bill surged four-fold.
Diezani – she’s one of those famous people more memorably known by their first names than their surnames – did not face even the slightest censure from the man who had appointed her. Instead, after public protests greeted an attempt to completely remove petrol subsidies, and the government capitulated and restored some of the subsidy, she shamelessly pursued the moral high ground and proceeded to set up a number of committees to investigate the subsidy scheme, ending up sitting in judgement over a situation she was widely deemed primarily responsible for.
The missing $20 billion saga
Less than two years later, the Central Bank governor Lamido Sanusi raised an alarm about the $20 billion in oil receipts that he claimed the national oil company was unable to account for. Neither the oil company, nor the minister-in-charge Diezani, bothered to credibly allege the allegations. In her final interview as a minister, in April 2015, she insisted that “at no time in Nigerian history in the oil and gas [industry] has the [Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)] been as open and audited as it is today,” and described herself as the victim of “malicious, malevolent [and] vindictive” attacks from the vested interests whose “big toes” her “unprecedented reforms” had hurt.
Since she left the office, the new government has said that its investigations have revealed that, between 2012 and 2015, more than $19 billion – a figure nearly identical to Mr. Sanusi’s figure – in oil earnings could not be accounted for.
In 2014 she faced a probe from the Parliament over allegations she had spent millions of dollars in public funds on hiring private jets for personal use. She went to court to get an injunction halting the probe. In all of this, President Jonathan stood behind her. In arguably the most egregious instance, in a televised interview on May 4, 2014, he spent several minutes defending her, accusing the National Assembly of harassing her with endless summons, and dismissing the allegations of impropriety against her.
Privileges only “DAM” enjoyed
She was only one minister amidst more than forty, but by all estimation was a first among equals, reputed to have even more clout than Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the designated “coordinating minister of the economy” (a role that was early on half-jokingly likened to a prime ministerial position). (Considering that oil accounts for 70% of government revenues, and more than 80% of foreign exchange, it is easy to understand the power that the NNPC and oil minister wield relative to all other government bodies).
Like all powerful public servants, stories swirled around her: of her disregarding presidential directives, strolling in and out of cabinet meetings at will. In public, she maintained a perpetually unruffled, even haughty, mien, and projected the air of one who didn’t deem it necessary to give account of her actions to anyone. None of the many controversies her name was linked to appeared to shake her in any way – until the very end, when it became clear that Mr. Jonathan’s electoral loss would leave her exposed.
Even her July 2011 re-nomination as the oil minister was attended by controversy, regarding the date of her graduation from Howard University, where she studied for an undergraduate degree in architecture. In the resume she submitted to the Nigerian Senate for confirmation in July 2011, she reportedly claimed to have graduated in 1987, aged 27. Contacted for clarification by Nigerian journalists, the university refuted this, pointing out that according to its records she graduated in 1992. She survived that storm.
“All Nigerian ministers are equal, but some Nigerian ministers are more equal than others”
While she was untouchable, no one who worked for or reported to her enjoyed a similar privilege. In her first four years as the petroleum minister, she went through three directors of the Department for Petroleum Resources (the industry regulator), and four group managing directors of the NNPC.
Even among Jonathan’s staunchest defenders, it appeared there were those who struggled to understand why Diezani was, more than anyone else, untouchable. There were those who would have wanted the president to sacrifice her, but somehow, no one was able to convince him. It is likely that his re-election chances would have been much stronger had he made a show of sacrificing her, as proof of his commitment to an anti-corruption agenda.
It is this untouchability, this appearance of being above-the-law that explains the social media “schaDAMfreude” that has trailed the news of her arrest in London, on October 2. Having come to represent the face of Jonathan-era excess, there are many Nigerians who think it would be farcical to consider drawing a line on the recent past without getting Diezani to answer for her time tending to the goose that lays Nigeria’s golden eggs.
Five facts:
— Her name means, in her local dialect (Izon), “Look before you leap”. According to her, in a 2008 interview, it was “put together from scratch” by her father.
— She has an undergraduate degree in architecture from Howard University (USA, 1992), and a master’s in business administration (MBA) from Cambridge University (UK, 2003).
— She is Nigeria’s longest-serving minister, serving from July 2007 to May 29, 2011, and July 2011 to May 29, 2015 – a total of eight years.
— She was the first female executive director in Shell’s Nigeria office, the first female appointed to head Nigeria’s transportation, mines and steel development, and petroleum ministries, the first woman to represent any country at the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the first woman elected to the OPEC presidency (2014)/
— Her husband, Allison Madueke, a retired rear admiral, and one-time chief of naval staff, whom she married in 1999, served as military governor of Anambra when General Buhari was head of state between January 1984 and August 1985.
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Ex Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison- Madueke reportedly arrested in London.

Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke and 4 others were today arrested in  London for offences related to bribery and corruption being investigated by the UK National Crime Agency, PREMIUM TIMES newspaper reports.
Officials of the British High Commission in Nigeria who confirmed the news to PT declined to reveal the identities of those involved. The once powerful woman who left the country as soon as President Buhari was sworn in May has for the past few months been embroiled in allegations of corruption.
Joseph Abuku, Press and Public Affairs Officer affirmed that, “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.”
This news is coming few days after President Muhammadu Buhari promised to bring those who squandered millions of funds belonging to the NNPC to book.
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Opinion: 10 reasons why Dieziani Alison-Madueke must go to jail | By: Churchill Okonkwo

To say that corruption under Goodluck Jonathan exceeded epidemic level is an understatement. Under Jonathan’s Presidency, we witnessed an unprecedented level of reckless acts of corruption.
It was thus not surprising that a 72-year-old former dictator-General Muhamadu Buhari (GMB)- capitalized on this singular factor to win a historic presidential election with the slogan of change.
You can now understand why those of us that voted for the General way back in 2003 (knowing fully well that he was not going to win) are tickled with this victory. 
Though we are thrilled, we are also cautiously optimistic, conscious of the fact that tackling corruption in this present Nigeria is a tall order. However, we are confident that the right steps can and should be taken to reduce it significantly. 
Here are a few fundamental ideas that if implemented, can by their very nature, curb corruption. personal character and leadership by example which we have in GMB.
The second crucial element is the need to set example to deter will be offenders from engaging in corrupt acts. And what better way is there to do that than sending the symbol of corruption in Nigeria in the past 4 years- Diezani – to prison.
Below are ten good reasons why the beautiful bride and amazon of corruption in Jonathan’s administration – Diezani – must go to prison.
1.) For the light of the fight against corruption to be turned on in the dark alleys of NNPC and the “fake” deregulation of the downstream oil sector aka “oil subsidy”, Diezani Alison-Madueke MUST go to prison. 
Releasing the $20 billion audit report will not only send Diezani to prison but will also expose the public officials behind the unaccounted SURE-P’s N1.8 trillion and send them to prison as well.  Also, sending Diezani to prison  means that Femi Otedola and Farouk Lawan can be made to account for the over $3m fuel scam ‘bribe’.
2.) Diezani  MUST also go to prison so that the likes of Tinubu and Rotimi Amaechi and all the crooks in APC that sponsored Buhari’s campaign can be made to account for their stewardship in public office. Sending Diezani to prison will also deter them from engaging id corrupt acts under GMB.
3.) If Diezani  is sent to prison, the $1.1 billion paid to the London account of Malabu Oil and Gas by Goodluck Jonathan can be recovered and Dan Etete and Sani Abacha’s son, Mohammed sent to prison
4.) Diezani  MUST go to prison so that corrupt former Head of State Abdulsalami Abubakar can be made to account for $3 Billion he squandered in 6 month. The same man is now parading himself as a “statesman”, “peace maker” and broker for Diezani in a attempt to shield her from prosecution
5.) Diezani  MUST go to prison so that Nigerian Police Force, Immigrations, Customs and SSS can be reformed. Marilyn Ogar, the spokesperson for Nigeria’s secret police must be punished for the N15 million worth of kerosene she got from PPMC for going after the opposition APC.
Mind you, this is not witch-hunting, but the only way the Police IG under Buhari can be discouraged form allowing him/her self to be used by politicians against perceived PDP “trouble makers”.
6.) Diezani  MUST go to prison so that the Resident Electoral Commissioners in Katsina, Sokoto, Brono, Rivers, Delta and Akwa Ibom can go to jail for conniving with politicians to rig the last general election
7.) Diezani  MUST go to prison so that Stella Oduah can go to prison over the purchase of N225 million naira bulletproof car. The report on that scandal should also be made public so that the conspirators and collaborators in the aviation ministry and Coscharis can also go to prison.
8.) Diezani  MUST go to prison so that dirty deals in the oil sector exposed by the Ribadu Report in 2012 but quickly buried by the corrupt administration of Goodluck Jonathan can be resurrected and offenders severely punished.
9.) If Diezani  goes to prison, the foreign and local oil companies that induce and bribe public official for favorable contracts in Nigeria will be prosecuted and if convicted go to prison
10.) Diezani  MUST go to prison so that the cases of former governors (now distinguished senators) that has been ongoing for “eternity” can be expedited and offenders convicted and jailed.
ICCP, EFCC, or whatever name(s) they are given should be re-organization and re-engineering as a matter of urgency. Our courts have been sending petty thieves to jail every day. So, it’s not a case of judicial system. Rather, it is a case of corrupt Chief Judges, Attorney General, and judges bribed to stupor that they turn a blind eye. 
What is called for now is radical reform of our judiciary by appointment of judicial activists with the integrity, clean hands and guts to send their colleagues to prison for aiding corrupt public officials. That in my interpretation of the change Nigerians voted for.
Talking about keeping the government clean, I learned from the Singapore experience that it is easy to start off with moral standards, strong conviction and determination to bid down corruption. 
But it is difficult to live to these good intentions unless the leaders are strong and determined enough to deal with all transgressors and without exception. Tinubu and Rotimi Amaechi in particular MUST therefore, not be spared.
Finally, my message to the GMB is that we the people are watching his actions and inactions as he starts the difficult journey of delivering the much needed change. The fight against corruption should be hit by an earthquake-like jerk. 
A group of activist prosecutors with proven record of sending the corrupt to prison must be assembled to go after the symbols of corruption in NNPC, Ministries, Nigerian Customs, Internal Revenue, Ports, and Governors etc. 
Heads must be made to roll. That is the only way to mark the true beginning of the beginning in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
Credit: Opinionriver.com‎
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Opinion: Alison-Madueke: Let the Woman be | By: Safiya Bello

It seems that women are held up to different standards in this country. A woman in any position of power is judged not just by her competence or her contributions but by some other less palatable standards. And when she doesn’t conform to these undefined rules, the male critics find something to badger her about. Right now, they have found a new candidate for pillorying in the person of the beautiful and brainy Minister of Petroleum Resources Diezani Alison-Madueke. I don’t know if it is just me but I find all the attack on female ministers or women in high positions of authority in Nigeria a bit too much. In fact, to be blunt, it smacks of male chauvinism to me. The way that the female ministers, especially those manning(!) the critical ministries of Finance, Aviation and Petroleum have in recent times, been subjected to severe and unfair abuse is beyond normal.
Besides, I cannot see the equivalence in the way their male counterparts in say Works, Defence and Foreign Affairs are attacked. Have these latter ministers done better? I doubt it. I am the first to agree that anyone in public service should be held accountable for the way they manage public trust, but we should not have different rules for different people and I certainly don’t think the women should be hounded like this. WOMEN, we must stand up and defend our own or we will be doing a great injustice to posterity!! Or how, for goodness sake, will we be able to boldly encourage our daughters, nieces, aunties etc to aspire to be high ranking government officials in Nigeria? From the beginning, Mrs. Madueke was always going to have a hard time in that powerful ministry.
As a woman, and a very elegant one at that, there are people who just don’t think she should be in that high profile job, who believe that a man is more fitted to that kind of thing. This is the sort of lame sexist thinking that has made it possible for these men to attack her for using planes that the NNPC have said again and again that they rented for her official use. It is all well and good if governors, other ministers, party leaders and even her predecessors in office at the Ministry avail themselves of the use of private jets but not if it is a woman in charge of a ministry that requires quick mobility, urgent decisions and brings in more revenue than any other sector or for that matter has empowered a record number of Nigerian businesses in the oil & gas sector. No, I don’t think Nigerian women should be taking this kind of affront lightly.
The Nigeria woman has come a long way and we deserve whatever position we occupy in this country. We form at least half of the nation’s population and contribute to its economy as much as our male counterpart. They should not be trying to deny us our place in history. More worrisome is how these blatant, unnecessary attacks practically kill the spirit of many younger women out there who look upon them as role models. This is sending a bad signal to our young ladies, that it is useless to aspire to significant positions in Nigeria, they will feel that no matter your achievements, no matter how much you deserved your job, your efforts will eventually be derided and your good name rubbished. No matter the campaign of calumny against her, no one can say that Alison-Madueke is incompetent. It is to her credit that the local content policy that she has championed in the petroleum industry has created up to 30,000 jobs for Nigerians in the last two years.
The jobs were generated in the engineering, fabrication, marine transportation, logistics and exploration and production sub-sectors of the oil and gas industry. In fact, the Nigerian content implementation had improved the level of involvement of Nigerians in oil and gas contracts to a whooping 87 percent. This is a very remarkable achievement in an era when millions of Nigerian youth are roaming the streets jobless; and only recently, a million Nigerian graduates scrambled for the less than 5000 job vacancies in Immigration leading to fatalities. Alison-Madueke has shown that she is a very resilient and courageous lady; as this is not the first time that an attempt would be made to rid her of her job. What makes the matter suspicious is the fact that the momentum of these attacks is usually high just before a general election. It is difficult not to think that the opposition is doing all this to discredit the Jonathan administration, even to destabilise it.
It is therefore imperative that as the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC), carries out its probe on the matter; it does so with all sense of sincerity without dancing to the tune of the opposition or any base sentiments. There is just no way that the minister or any jet flyer for that matter can spend 10 billion naira on charter and maintenance as alleged. I have no doubt that in the end, the legislators would find that the figures were exaggerated and I urge the House to remember to place Nigeria above politics in dealing with this matter before it does more harm than good. The Petroleum Minister is a woman who has paid her dues both in the private sector as a key member of Shell Petroleum Development Company and in the public sector as the first ever-female minister of transportation and of Petroleum.
She has been able to perform her duties diligently and brilliantly. Surely, she deserves a pat on the back for doing so well in a man’s world. It is high time Nigerian women stood up to ensure that this strong-willed amazon is not unduly cut down simply because some people just can’t stand to see such elegance and power in the hands of the fairer sex!
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