By Ayo Kehinde
Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has debunked reports that the $52.8m recently repatriated to Nigeria from the United States belongs to her.
Speaking on Sunday through her counsel, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), the former minister said the money was proceeds of a forfeited vessel sold by the American government after it was seized from a Nigerian oil magnate, Kola Aluko.
Describing reports that linked her to the repatriated money as false, Diezani advised those peddling unfounded, defamatory information and indefensible narratives about her to find better use of their time and leave her alone.
The statement reads in part, “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 was said to have yielded $52.8m 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 storyline, 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. She was never involved in the purchase, use, and sale of the said yacht.
“The yacht Galactica, from information readily available in the public domain and in open sources, was purchased by Mr Kola Aluko who had used the vessel until he agreed to its forfeiture to the United States of America.”
