By Prof Mike Ozekhome SAN
INTRODUCTION
Nigerians always talk about wanting ‘technocrats’ to be involved in governance and that people with integrity should join politics. However, now and then we allow, and many a time, join the crowd to mob-lynch those who chose to serve. And we often do this insidiously, covertly and overtly, even when there is no concrete or even any iota of proof that such public officers ever stole, or abused their office. It is therefore surprising and of great concern to me, to see the level of vilification of an innocent Nigerian citizen who has not been tried and found guilty of any offence by any court of law whether in Nigeria or abroad.
THE GALACTICA YACHT
As Solicitors to the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke (DAM), we note with concern the recent deliberate attempt to link her with what has been described as a civil forfeiture of a yacht Galactica, the sale of which yielded $52.8,000,000 to the US government; which sum has since been repatriated to Nigeria. This is a clear example of the mischievous and cruel sport of tarnishing the image of the lady through a bouquet of consistent, persistent and unrelenting cocktail of falsehoods and misinformation. The purveyors of this line of misinformation term it “name-and-shame”. To sell the story, the architects ensured they attached Diezani’s name to a recovered yacht which is not in any way linked to her. They now falsely termed it “Diezani loot”. Nothing of the sort ever happened.
The yacht Galactica from information available in the public domain, was purchased by Kola Aluko who had used the vessel until he agreed to its forfeiture to the United States of America through the Justice Department. Our client maintains that the yacht Galactica was neither owned nor ever used by her. She avers sha has in fact never set her eyes on the yacht. Kola Aluko is a knowledgeable businessman who had been in business well before DAM came into office as Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources (HMPR). The only basis for linking DAM to the said yacht is the false narrative that the Strategic Alliance Agreements (SAAs) entered into between Kola Aluko & Jide Omokore’s Atlantic Energy companies and NNPC were allegedly corruptly awarded to the said companies by DAM.
THE GALACTICA YACHT STORY IS FALSE
The fallacy of DAM’s involvement in an alleged corrupt contract has long been debunked in Charge No. FHC/ABJ/CR/121/2016 Federal Republic of Nigeria vs Olajide Omokore & Others.
In that case, the Federal High Court, coram Hon. Justice Nnamdi Dimgba (now of the Court of Appeal) held that the Strategic Alliance Agreements (SAAs) between NNPC and the Atlantic Companies were validly entered into between the said companies and NNPC. Furthermore, the said companies and its chairman were discharged and acquitted of any offence in relation to allegedly obtaining the contract or monies realized from it through false representations. They were also freed of the offence of money laundering in relation to the said contracts. The case clearly established that the said contracts were properly awarded by NNPC and that the said award followed due process.
To characterize such a forfeiture of a yacht as being linked to DAM simply on account of the SAAs which have since been adjudged and held to have been validly entered into between NNPC and the said companies, is completely preposterous.
DAM WAS NEVER A PARTY TO THE SAAs
Our client states that she was never a party to the contract process, or contract negotiations, or contract selection for the award of the Strategic Alliance Agreements (SAAs) between NNPC and Atlantic Energy Ltd. That contract process, like all others, was handled solely by the NNPC which followed its usual contract award process to the letter.
There was therefore nothing untoward, whatsoever and howsoever about the SAA award process. DAM states as a matter of fact that the terms of the Atlantic Energy SAAs were made even more stringent for the Atlantic companies and a much better deal for Nigeria, than the SSAs which were entered into between the NNPC and the ENI-AGIP Multinational a few years earlier.
DAM MERELY ACTED WITHIN HER STATUTORY RESPONSIBILITIES
It was our client’s statutory duty as the HMPR at the final stage of a contract process, to make final signatory and approval on behalf of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources (MPR). However, NNPC would, as always, have first carried out all due diligence which include necessary, operational and contractual checks and procedures.
In line with due process and as statutorily required, DAM merely appended her signature to the final approval request letter which was forwarded to the office of the HMPR by the GMD-NNPC. As due process had already been duly followed, the SAAs were signed off by her as required by law. DAM did exactly the same every month for each of the hundreds of contracts that she had to sign-off on without any preferential treatment. And that was an integral part of her statutory responsibilities as HMPR. DAM thus followed due process to the letter. She never engaged in the operational process of negotiating those contracts as this process was entirely and without exception, within the remit of the NNPC.
DAM WAS NOT INVOLVED IN THE NON-PAYMENT OF CASH CALLS
Let us be very clear about this: the issues of non-payment of the cash-calls that later arose subsequently in the Atlantic Energy SAAs had nothing to do with the initial contract award. Those issues arose as a direct result of the manner of operational implementation and supervision and had nothing to do with DAM, whatsoever. She was never involved. DAM states that in April 2014, as soon as she was made aware by an external multinational head that there was an issue regarding the Atlantic Energy SAAs, she took strong and direct action immediately by alerting Mr. President and directing, in writing, to the Permanent Secretary (PS), Ministry of Petroleum Resources (MPR) and the GMD-NNPC, that an immediate two-week investigation must take place. Following the resulting investigative report, DAM again directed, in writing, to the PS, MPR and the GMD-NNPC, with Mr. President’s knowledge and approval, that a process for the recovery of the unpaid cash-call should immediately be put in place.
DAM NEVER SOLD OFF OIL BLOCKS CONTAINED IN THE SAAs
It must therefore be emphasized that although a portion of the media severally unfairly vilified and accused DAM of purportedly selling off the oil blocks contained in the SAAs to Atlantic Energy, she never did as she was not party to it.
EARLIER WILD ALLEGATIONS AND THE PET PHRASE “DIEZAN-LOOT”
This is not the first time these types of outlandish allegations have been levelled against DAM. Sometime ago, she was widely accused of owning a diamond-studded bikini underwear allegedly valued at $12,000,000!. Subsequently, this wild and baseless allegation had to be denied by the then Chairman of the EFCC at the time, Abdulrasheed Bawa, as it was not only false but preposterous. Similarly, when certain people were accused of bribing INEC officials, the monies were unjustifiably linked to DAM and labelled, as is always mischievously done, ‘Diezani loot’ when all that she did was to merely coordinate the raising of campaign funds for the then ruling party at the time and readily handed over same to the party, which then determined how the said funds were disbursed.
CRIMINAL CHARGES WITHOUT ANY LINKAGE
DAM was gleefully named on the face of the charge filed against Atlantic Energy in Charge No. FHC/ABJ/CR/121/2016 Federal Republic of Nigeria vs Olajide Omokore & Others. In this said charges preferred by the EFCC in respect of an alleged bribing of some INEC officials, DAM was never made a party to the said charges to enable her defend herself. She even applied to be joined as a Defendant to those charges so that she could clear her name. Yet, the application was strangely opposed by the same EFCC that filed the charge, leading to the striking out of her name from the said charge.
HOW THE WORD “LOOT” EXCITES MANY EVEN THOUGH FALSE
In spite of these clear facts which were available in the public domain, DAM has continued to be the subject of grave allegations that are demonstrably false and ill-motivated. This, notwithstanding the harrowing experience of cancer related health challenges she has gone through in the last ten years of her life. It appears that nothing excites the purveyors and peddlers of these orchestrated misinformation and falsehood more than spinning and heaping all forms of false allegations on her, no matter how palpably disingenuous and unbelievable. It satiates their overbloated egos to tar her with the paint brush of shame.
DAM WAS UPRIGHT
DAM maintains that she remains the only Petroleum Minister to have left behind a staggering sum of $3.6 Billion in the NLNG Account (in the hope of ensuring continuity in the development of the critical Gas sector), for the incoming Buhari administration. This sum saved for the development of the Critical Gas Sector was summarily spent and disbursed by the Buhari administration immediately upon their assumption of office.
THE SENSITIVE NATURE OF THE HMPR
She informs us that her position as Federal Minister of Petroleum Resources was an extremely sensitive one which had before then and till now been occupied by the Presidents of Nigeria in their personal capacities. This position came not only with its burdens, but also with special privileges which have since become the linchpin and cornerstone of the underlying sundry accusations against her.
DAM HAS BEEN INVESTIGATED FOR 10 YEARS
For the avoidance of doubt, DAM has been kept under full investigation in the United Kingdom by the UK authorities, in collaboration with the Nigerian authorities, since 2nd October, 2015 (almost 10 years ago and just one week after she completed a grueling 8-month series of chemotherapy treatments for Triple Negative breast cancer, during which time she went into a coma, escaping death by the whiskers).
DAM HAS BEEN DEPENDING ON GOODWILL FOR HER SURVIVAL
It was only recently that DAM was actually charged on the 2nd of October 2023, having been held in the United Kingdom for a period of over eight years, whilst their NCA (National Crime Agency) conducted investigations on her. She had no work papers and so could not work to fend for herself. She has not even been allowed to leave the UK from the 2nd of October, 2015 till date. Thus, for nearly ten years, she has had to depend entirely on the goodwill of a few friends and family members to survive.
CERTAIN THINGS TO NOTE ABOUT DAM
DAM believes the following facts are worth noting for posterity:
a. DAM was the most ever senior black woman in the African Oil and Gas Public Sector (between 2010 & 2015).
b. DAM was the first female Executive Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company in its entire history in Nigeria; a position she did not lobby for. She was spotted, recognised and appointed through her sheer dint of hard work and sense of professionalism by the relevant Global Heads of Shell in the Hague, Netherlands,
c. DAM has so far been the first and only female Petroleum Minister in Nigeria’s history. She never lobbied for this position. She states that she was actually nominated without her knowledge.
d. DAM has been the first and only female President of OPEC in the organization’s entire history since its founding in 1960. She also did not lobby for this lofty position.
e. DAM was nominated for and served in various federal ministerial positions under two separate Presidents, positions she never lobbied for.
CONFIRMATION BY THE PAST EFCC CHAIRMAN THAT DAM IS INNOCENT
DAM informs us that on two separate occasions, the immediate past EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, confirmed to her lawyers that no funds from the coffers of the Federal Government of Nigeria were ever stolen or; and that none have been traced to her.
DAM’S TRAVAILS ARE DRIVEN BY MERE SPECULATIONS AND PUBLIC LYNCHING MINDSET
DAM states that her travails over these years have been based on unfounded speculations and vile allegations that she obtained unlawful gifts and favours from operators within the petroleum industry. She had never been accosted or charged with stealing or pilfering government money. These matters of obtaining unlawful gifts and favours are now subject of proceedings against DAM in the United Kingdom.
OUR PLEA
The process of this UK proceedings should be allowed to take its course and the purveyors and peddlers of outrightly false, unfounded, defamatory, unintelligent and indefensible narratives should find better use of their time.
