Oscarline Onwuemenyi
23 August 2017, Sweetcrude, Abuja – A Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has questioned the Federal Government’s resolve towards arraigning the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, for corruption and embezzlement.
The highlight of the demand by the CSOs, which was announced on Tuesday by the Director of the Say No Campaign Nigeria (SNC-Nigeria), Mr. Ezenwa Nwagwu, in Abuja, was the demand for the speedy trial of Mrs. Alison-Madueke, so as to ensure sustained success of the anti-corruption war.
Mr Nwagwu said, “Diezani Alison-Madueke has had a trail of overwhelmingly frightening and shocking records of corruption allegations and damning reports of abuse of office against her by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), of which she is yet to be questioned or indicted.
“Unfortunately, two whole years into the administration that is reputed to have zero tolerance for corruption, it has only reported having confiscated Diezani’s $115million and $37.5million property including the proceeds from rent with no effort to indict her.
“We called for the support of the United States of America and the United Kingdom to accede to Nigeria’s request for the deportation of Diezani Alison-Madueke to face corruption charges in Nigeria.”
According to him, Mrs Diezani who served as the Minister of Transportation in 2007, Minister of Mine and Steel Development in 2008 and Minister of Petroleum Resources in 2010, has had a trail of frightening and shocking records of corruption allegations and damning reports of abuse of office against her by the EFCC of which she is yet to be questioned or indicted.
“Despite these rather damning allegations Diezani is yet to be prosecuted. She has since dubiously maintained she is innocent and had challenged EFCC to prosecute her if they truly have implicating evidence against her,” he said.
Other members of the coalition include Centre for Transparency and Accountability (CTA), Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Protest to Power (P2P), Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA) and Youths Initiative for Advocacy Growth and Advancement (YIAGA).