Missing $20b: Alison-Madueke’s real crime:
BY TUNDE AKINTAN

In a shark-infested public space like Nigeria’s, character assassination is considered a legitimate weapon of war. And the more vicious the attacks, the better for the purveyors. So, when President Goodluck Jonathan told ministers and aides serving under him to brace up for hard times at a thanksgiving and farewell service held in his honour at the Cathedral Church of Advent, Gwarinpa, Life Camp Abuja, on Sunday, May 10, he knew what he was talking about. He knew that the night of long knives is nigh.

In his characteristic bluntness, the president said the decision, which he took to concede defeat to his rival in the March 28 presidential election, General Muhammadu Buhari, a decision, which has been acclaimed globally as the apogee of statesmanship, may well be used ungraciously as an instrument to witch hunt not only himself but his close associates.

But he had to take the decision all the same because as a leader, he was looking at the big picture – the good of all Nigerians, rather than self.

“Some hard decisions have their own cost, no doubt about that,” Jonathan told the congregation. “That I have run the country in this way, passing through electoral system that has brought stability to this country, it is very costly decision that I must be ready to pay for it … and for the ministers and aides that serve with me, I sympathize with them, because they will be persecuted and they must be ready for that persecution.”

But in its characteristic hubris, the All Progressives Congress (APC) derisively dismissed the president’s assertion, insinuating that Jonathan may have mistaken prosecution for persecution. “That the President- elect is a man of integrity is not an issue for debate, and he has made it clear that he will not be bogged down by endless probes,” the party said, adding: “However, the hands of the incoming government will not be tied by those who have chosen to play the victim and exhibit a persecution mentality. Whoever has any reason to be afraid must lay bare such reason before Nigerians.”

But is it possible that President Jonathan does not know the difference between persecution and prosecution? The answer is definitely no! He has said for the umpteenth time that he has nothing to hide. Nigerians gave him an opportunity to serve in the highest reaches of government, an opportunity for which he is eternally grateful. And the fact that he meant well for the country and served with all his heart has long been established. But the incoming government and its henchmen look every inch like people on vengeance. So, Jonathan actually knows what he is talking about. While the guiltless should not be afraid in normal climes, Nigeria is not. It is even more so now that the President-elect and his political party have suddenly realised that there is a world of difference between being in opposition and being in power. In trying to manage the crisis of expectation, the APC is prepared to use the charge of corruption as a subterfuge, a deceptive stratagem to fend off the huge expectations, which they orchestrated in the polity.

Simply put, the APC is working from the answer to the question. It is sheer red herring and that is why their leading lights are hitching a ride on the anti-corruption wagon no matter how rickety the vehicle has become. For instance, on Tuesday, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, Kaduna State governor-elect, accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of stealing money from the nation’s treasury and assured Nigerians that the incoming administration will make sure that all the funds allegedly stolen by the Goodluck Jonathan administration would be returned to the public coffers.



“We will politely ask those who stole government money to return the funds. This is because those in government now are there to work for themselves, but the APC government is made up of people who are ready to work for the masses and betterment of the country,” el-Rufai told members of the National Union of Textile Garments and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), who paid him a courtesy call in Kaduna. Recovery of the alleged looted funds, he said, had become absolutely necessary due to the bad debt situation the incoming administration would face.

So, as Jonathan noted, he has already been adjudged guilty of fraud alongside his ministers and all who worked with him, even before investigations are carried out. And the Buhari government will be run with the loot to be recovered from him and his aides. If such characterisation of a government and profiling of its officials even when there is no known indictment is not persecution, then what is it?

And that is particularly the fate of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, who APC chieftains are working very hard to present as the poster lady of corruption.

The minister’s problem started when the former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, now Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, wrote to President Jonathan alleging that from January 2012 to July 2013, NNPC had lifted $65 billion worth of crude oil on behalf of the Federal Government but remitted only $15.2 billion into the Federation Accounts, with $49.8 billion as outstanding. Expectedly, there was huge outcry and even when Sanusi unilaterally reduced the amount to $12 billion and later $20 billion, becoming pitiably inconsistent in his self-serving advocacy, the noise refused to quieten. And to get to the root of the matter and to prove that it had nothing to hide, the Federal Government, through the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation, engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers Limited (PwC) to investigate any and all crude oil revenues generated by the NNPC that was withheld or unremitted to the Federation Accounts between January 1, 2012 and July 31, 2013. The sole goal of the audit is to determine if a whopping $20 billion of the country’s patrimony had been misappropriated. If yes, how, and by whom? But the audit firm came up with the verdict that only $1.48 billion was actually unaccounted for and recommended that NNPC should remit the money to the federation account. In any other country, that should have ended the matter since it has been established that no money was stolen and the minister said arrangements had been made for the money to be remitted.

But this is Nigeria. The allegation itself was an agenda setting and that is why all manner of hideous characters are baying for Alison-Madueke’s blood. The issue is far bigger than the purported quest for transparency in governance. It is a web of conspiracy, which sole purpose is to demonise not only the minister but also the entire Jonathan administration. That is why, all of a sudden, everyone seems to have forgotten that the issue that led to the probe was alleged missing $20 billion and that the report categorically stated that no such money was missing.

Shouldn’t that have been the end of the matter? No! The agenda is far bigger than the allegation. The allegation is only but a smokescreen to mask the real intention of the purveyors of the falsehood. That is why the whole issue is being handled as if the NNPC is a creation of the Jonathan administration. If it is not mere mischief, why is PWC’s major recommendation that “the NNPC model of operation must be urgently reviewed and restructured, as the current model which has been in operation since the creation of the Corporation cannot be sustained” being downplayed?


When was the last time the accounts of NNPC audited? El-Rufai was a key minister in the Olusegun Obasanjo administration where the former president was also the de facto Petroleum Minister for almost eight years. Why did he not raise his voice then? He who comes to equity must do so with clean hands. The extant audit was to address the issue of missing $20 billion. If Buhari wants to be taken seriously, he should audit the accounts of NNPC right from inception. But if that will not suffice, and I don’t see why it shouldn’t, he should at least audit the accounts from May 29, 1999 when the Fourth Republic came into being.

I can bet that if such an audit is done, Nigerians will find out that President Goodluck Jonathan is really a saint. And that Diezani’s real crime is that she stepped on big toes as she has acknowledged in her desire to sanitise an industry that over the years has become the bastion of slush funds for all manner of characters masquerading as national leaders.

• Akintan wrote in from Abuja.

tayebest:
.

SHARIAREPORTERS:

Its a conspiracy
Wen dhe probe her and she starts to confess, even Buhari himself no go safe
Let's allow sleeping dog to lie

SHARIAREPORTERS:
.. See as u dhe do like apc becos of frontpage

midolian:
Taaaah! This writer must be drunk.

SHARIAREPORTERS:

Its a conspiracy
Wen dhe probe her and she starts to confess, even Buhari himself no go safe
Let's allow sleeping dog to lie

tayebest:
I swear this woman and her cohort should face serious probe, infact shoul even be thrown to jail if possible life imprisonment sef... Anu-ofia

While Tinubu, Ameachi and Fayemi should be canonized, right? O selfless saints! How 'thoughtful' of you!

IDIOT!

TheSonOfMark:

While Tinubu, Ameachi and Fayemi should be canonized, right? O selfless saints! How 'thoughtful' of you!

IDIOT!

tayebest:
I swear this woman and her cohort should face serious probe, infact shoul even be thrown to jail if possible life imprisonment sef... Anu-ofia

Shouldn’t that have been the end of the matter? No! [size=13pt]The agenda is far bigger than the allegation[/size]. The allegation is only but a smokescreen to mask the real intention of the purveyors of the falsehood. That is why the whole issue is being handled as if the NNPC is a creation of the Jonathan administration. If it is not mere mischief, why is PWC’s major recommendation that “the NNPC model of operation must be urgently reviewed and restructured, as the current model which has been in operation since the creation of the Corporation cannot be sustained” being downplayed?

BlackTechnology:
Buhari should probe Tinubu OBJ Saraki

ObiOkpor:
Let the truth be told, this woman is a big enemy to NIGERIA. She‘s the most corrupt minister and biggest mistake GEJ ever made.