From time immemorial, precious metals – gold, silver and sparkling stones such as diamonds have delighted women. Relationships have been built and destroyed, wars fought for and reconciliations cemented with gold and precious stones. Not too far back in history, Liberia was the theatre of war over Blood Diamonds. Unlike Liberia however, the Nigerian nation is not at war. But, it seems Mrs Diezani AlisonMadueke, until recently, Minister of Petroleum Resources, going by the sheer amount of her acquisition of gold and diamonds, may have been fi ghting a spirited war against millions of compatriots who are heavily and unevenly yoked by crass poverty.
To boot, the former minister is accused of having stolen – in broad daylight – the money that funded her acquisitive binge. A search of one of AlisonMadueke’s palatial residences in Abuja, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, turned up boxes of gold, silver and diamond jewellery, worth several million pounds sterling. Apart from the jewellery, the EFCC, Nigeria’s foremost anticorruption agency, has traced N47.2 billion and $487.5 million in cash and properties to the former Minister of Petroleum Resources in Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
Th e former minister who has been in London since the birth of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, has however continued to deny any fi nancial misdeed. She insists she is being severely maligned and persecuted by the EFCC. But, on the strength of weighty evidence placed before Nigerian courts, there are a string of judicial pronouncements ordering the forfeiture of all allegedly ill-gotten wealth to Alison-Madueke’s former employers, the Federal Government of Nigeria. One of the constitutional requirements to be appointed to public offi ce in Nigeria, is the total declaration of all personal assets. It does seem like that provision was observed more in the breach by Alison-Madueke. Th e EFCC, in the course of investigation, traced another property valued at $37.5m to the former minister in Banana Island, Lagos. She was said to have purchased the 15-storey building, which comprises 18 fl ats and six penthouses, between 2011 and 2012from the developers, YF Construction and Real Estate. Th e property was allegedly acquired in the name of a shell company, Rusimpex Limited, which is managed by one Afamefuna Nwokedim, Principal Partner, Stillwaters Law Firm, Lagos. On August 7, 2017, Justice Chuka Obiozor, a vacation judge sitting at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, ordered the fi nal forfeiture of a $37.5m (N11.75bn) property on Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos allegedly belonging to Diezani Alison-Madueke. Th e court also ordered the permanent forfeiture of the sums of US$2, 740,197.96 and N84, 537,840.70 respectively realized as rent on the property. But, by far the most numbing, record-shattering acquisitions of Alison-Madueke, is to be found in the ritzy, nouveaux riches playground of Banana Island, Lagos. It consists of two apartments at the Bella Vista Court. Th e apartments which are Penthouses, are located on Block C-5, Flat 21, Plot 1, Zone N. For them, a $350 million hole was allegedly dug in the Nigerian treasury on November 22, 2011, by Alison-Madueke. Also in Lagos, Alison-Madueke allegedly bought a block of six units serviced apartments at number 135, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, just a few hundred metres away from the EFCC zonal operations hub. Th e apartment has a standby power generating set, sporting facilities, play ground and a water treatment plant. Th e property was bought at the rate of N800 million on January 6, 2012. Other properties in Yaba, Lagos, also discovered by the eagle eyes of the commission’s operatives, are located at number 7, Th urnburn Street and 5, Raymond Street. Th e Th urnburn Street property consists of 21 mixed housing units of eight 4-bedroom apartments, two penthouse apartments of 3-bedrooms each and six 3-bedroom (all en-suite) terrace apartments. Th e Yaba, Lagos properties, which dug a deep hole of an eyepopping N1 billion, were paid for on May 30, 2012. Th e same day Alison-Madueke splashed N900 million for the Port Harcourt estate. In Aso Drive, Maitama, Abuja, Alison-Madueke reportedly acquired a 6-bedroom en-suite apartment made up of three large living rooms, two bedroom Guest Chalets, two bedroom Boys Quarters, two lock up garages and a car park. It was bought on July 20, 2011 for N80 million. Down South in Nigeria’s oil city of Port Harcourt, the former minister’s acquisitive appetite took her to Heritage Court Estate, located on Plot 2C, Omerelu Street, Diobu Government Residential Area, Phase 1 Extension, Port Harcourt. Th e estate which is made up of 16 four bedroom terrace duplexes is equipped with among other facilities, a massive standby power generating set. Alison-Madueke did not blink as she shelled out N900 million for it on May 30, 2012, In neighbouring Bayelsa State, an apartment with two blocks of fl ats, all en-suite, and with a Maid’s Quarters were also traced to her. Th e house located on Goodluck Jonathan Road, Yenagoa is sitting on a large expanse of land. Realtors spoken to by EFCC investigators have placed estimated values running into hundreds of millions of Naira on the property. Th e apartments have four living rooms, eight bedrooms and gold-plated furniture. Earlier in May 2016, over $100 million were traced to the accounts of several Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) staff ers, who were allegedly bribed by Alison-Madueke to compromise Nigeria’s 2015 general elections. Justice Mohammed B. Idris of the Federal High Court, sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on April 27, 2017, ordered the fi nal forfeiture of the bribe money traced to one staff of INEC, Christian Nwosu, who was arraigned on April 5, 2017. Going by the continued unearthing of hard-to-ignore evidence of unexplained acquisitions, coupled with Justice Chuka Obiozor’s ruling on the fi nal forfeiture of a $37.5m (N11.75bn) the federal government, ex-minister Alison-Madueke’s evidence-free counter-charge, that she is a victim of EFCC persecution, may be ringing hollower and hollower. Orilade and Gambari are offi cers of the Public Aff airs Directorate of EFCC
