BIRTH NAME: Diezani Alison K. Agama
DATE OF BIRTH: 6 December 1960
OCCUPATION: Politician; Ex Minister.
MARITAL STATUS: Married
INTRODUCTION
Diezani Alison Madueke is the former minister of petroleum in Nigeria, the first female President of OPEC. She is also one of the most popular and influential women in politics in Nigeria. Here is all you need to know from Diezani Alison-Madueke biography.
EARLY LIFE AND BACKGROUND
Diezani K. Agama was born in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Her father was Chief Frederick Abiye Agama. She studied Architecture in England and then at Howard University in the United States. She graduated from Howard with a bachelor's degree on 8 December 1992. She returned to Nigeria and joined Shell Petroleum Development Corporation that year. In 2002, she attended Cambridge University for her MBA degree. In April 2006, Shell appointed her its first female Executive Director in Nigeria.
Since 1999 she has been married to Admiral Allison Madueke (retired), one-time Chief of Naval Staff who was at various times governor of Imo and Anambra State. She has two sons, Chimezie Madueke and Ugonna Madueke. In September 2011 Alison-Madueke was awarded an honorary Doctorate degree in Management Sciences by the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna.
In September 2008 there was an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap Alison-Madueke at her house in Abuja with her son Chimezie Madueke.
CAREER AND LIFE
Diezani Alison-Madueke has held three significant positions in the Nigerian federal government. She was appointed Transport Minister in July 2007. On 23 December 2008, she was named as Minister of Mines and Steel Development. After Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan became acting President in February 2010, he dissolved the cabinet on 17 March 2010, and swore in a new cabinet on 6 April 2010 with Alison-Madueke as Minister for Petroleum Resources.
Minister of Petroleum Resources
As Minister of Petroleum Resources, Alison-Madueke pledged to transform Nigeria's oil and gas industry so that all Nigerians benefit.
In April 2010, President Goodluck Jonathan signed the Nigerian Content Act, which aimed to increase the percentage of petroleum industry contracts awarded to indigenous Nigerian businesses – a reaction to the domination of the sector by foreign operators.
One of the most controversial policies introduced under Alison-Madueke was the government's plan to remove state subsidies on fuel prices. Alison-Madueke supported the discontinuation of the subsidy "because it poses a huge financial burden on the government, disproportionately benefits the wealthy, [and] encourages inefficiency, corruption and diversion of scarce public resources away from investment in critical infrastructure."
Firsts
Alison-Madueke was the first woman to hold the position of Minister of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria, and in October 2010 she became the first woman to head a country delegation at the semi-annual OPEC conference. She was also the first female Minister of Transportation, and the first woman to be appointed to the board of Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria. On 27 November 2014, she was elected as the first female President of OPEC.
On working in male-dominated sectors, Alison-Madueke said she warned the young women she mentored while at Shell to "change their mode of thinking."
Financial misconducts
A PBS NewsHour segment quoted American and British officials saying that former Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke might personally have organized a diversion of $6 billion (N1.2 trillion) from the Nigerian treasury. She was arrested in London on 2 October 2015.
She has been charged with responsibility for $20 billion missing from the Petroleum agency. A former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sanusi, made the comment again during a PBS interview on 2 December 2015. Sanusi believes he was fired from the Central Bank of Nigeria because he went public with charges that $2 billion was missing from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) under Alison-Madueke's management. Alison Madueke says Sanusi made the allegations to retaliate after she didn’t help him to get appointed as the president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and dismissed his allegation.
She's been accused of awarding multi-billion Naira contracts without recourse to due processand of recklessly spending government funds. as well as wasting billions of Nigerian dollars inappropriately on private jets.
In October 2009, the Senate of Nigeria indicted Diezani Alison-Madueke and recommended prosecution for the transfer of 1.2 billion naira into the private account of a toll company without due process and in breach of concession agreement.
She has been officially charged to court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of Nigeria for 'Money Laundering'.
Corruption Allegations
It all began during the time Diezani Alison-Madueke became Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister when the American and British officials alleged that the former Petroleum Minister might have personally organized a diversion of $6 billion (N1.2 trillion) from the Nigerian treasury.Apart from being arrested on 2 October 2015 in London, Alison-Madueke was accused and charged with following:
- Responsible for $20 billion missing from the Petroleum Agency
- Awarding multi-billion naira contracts without recourse to due process
- Recklessly spending government funds
- Wasting billions of dollars (Nigerian tax payers money) inappropriately on private jets.
The former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi also went public with charges that $2 billion was missing from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) under Alison-Madueke’s management, but she dismissed his allegation saying the ex-CBN governor is retaliating because she didn’t help him to get appointed as the president of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
In the course of the ongoing anti-graft war, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) seized $18 million mansion belonging to Alison-Madueke – a building located in Asokor area of FCT, Abuja.
The agency also linked other assets worth millions to her name such as the Le Meridien Hotel in Port Harcourt.
Bribery Allegations
Another report indicted Diezani Alison-Madueke in the act of bribery. On May 3, 2017, the former INEC staff, Yisa Adedoye was convicted by the High Court in Lagos for accepting N264.88 million to rig the 2015 general election results, along with other staff of the commission.
Mr. Adedoye pleaded guilty to the charges as a confirmation that the said financial inducement came from Alison-Madueke.
Furthermore, telephone conversations by Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, was hacked and it revealed that she deliberately connived with her business partners to steal the country’s oil revenue.
An investigation carried out by US security agencies showed that she used her influence to facilitate illicit business opportunities for Messrs. Kola Aluko and Jide Omokore, who used Shell companies to receive billion-dollar contracts to sell Nigeria’s crude oil.
Although it wasn’t clear what relationship she has with the duo, but it was obvious that her connection made it possible for Messrs Omokore and Aluko to get multi-billion oil contracts which were deemed ineligible for their companies – Atlantic Energy Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries, Drilling Concepts Limited (AECD) and Atlantic Energy Brass Development Limited.
Leaked Telephone Conversation
The phone conversation between Diezani, Kola Aluko and Jide Omokore was revealed by the US prosecutors and they quoted Mrs Alison-Madueke as saying:“We stuck our necks out regarding the SAA and we supported it.”Below is the rest of the conversation as acquired by the US investigators:
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the governorship of Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi reported that AEDC “had neither the technical expertise nor the capital to develop the joint venture, but [was] nonetheless able to lift crude and retain the proceeds…up to 70% of the profit of the Joint Venture.”
The Bank noted that the arrangement was designed “for the purpose of acquiring assets belonging to the [Federal Republic of Nigeria] and transferring the income to private hands.”
AEDC & AEBD Connection
AEDC and AEBD, were allegedly incorporated in July 2010, about three months after Mrs. Alison-Madueke became Petroleum Resources Minister and were awarded eight oil mining leases (OMLs) evidently on procedural manipulations carried out by the ex-minister.According to a report by the Sahara Reporters, the billion-dollar deal delivered astounding wealth to Messrs. Omokore and Aluko, who bought and renovated luxury London properties for Diezani and renovated the properties, bought her furniture worth millions of dollars and cater for her living and lifestyle expenses in London.
Messrs. Aluko and Omokore have allegedly drenched themselves in obscene opulence, including the acquisition of a $50 million luxury condominium in New York and the $80 million yacht, Galactica Star by the former – a yacht which reportedly hosted the 32nd birthday of American music superstar, Beyonce, as she travels on the yacht with her husband JayZ in 2013.
US Court papers revealed that Messrs. Aluko earned over $1.5billion in revenues from the sale of Nigeria’s crude oil and that the sum was laundered into the US and the United Kingdom through the purchase of properties and other luxury items for themselves and Mrs Alison-Madueke.
While the EFCC investigates other corruption allegations and charges, she later implicated other top governments and bank officials who participate in syphoning the oil funds.
Mrs Alison-Madueke was diagnosed with cancer and reportedly receiving treatment in the United Kingdom. She is currently facing a series of multi-billion dollar fraud-related investigations by Nigerian and UK authorities.
Forfeit of Properties
A Justice of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, Chuka Obiozor on July 19, ordered the temporary forfeiture of a $37.5m property at Banana Island bought by Diezani Alison-Madueke in 2013.
The move was made following actions by the EFCC who argued that the property – 24 apartments, 18 flats and six penthouses, located as Building 3, Block B, Bella Vista Plot 1, Zone N, Federal Government Layout, Banana Island Foreshore Estate – could have been acquired with proceeds of alleged unlawful activities of the Minister.
The court also ordered the temporary forfeiture of the sums of $2,740,197.96 and N84,537,840.70, which is said to be part of the rent collected on the property.
According to Anselem Ozioko, who is the counsel for EFCC, an investigation by the agency revealed that Diezani Alison-Madueke made the $37.5m payment for the purchase of the property in cash and money was moved from her house in Abuja and paid into the seller’s First Bank account.
Currently, the government is seeking a world-wide freeze of multi-billion dollar assets owned by Messrs. Aluko and Omokore, including the $80 million Super Yacht (the Galactica) and three private jets.
Diezani 2015 SICKNESS AND CANCER
READ SAHARA REPORTER'S REPORT ON HER BELOW IN Nov 14, 2015
SOURCES: wikipedia.org,buzznigeria.com,taekemtonaija.comThe publisher of Ovation magazine, Dele Momodu, has released photos of cancer-stricken Nigeria’s former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, in the inaugural issue of a brand new tabloid titled Boss magazine.Last week, Mr. Momodu devoted his weekly column in Thisday newspaper to relating his experience meeting with the seriously sick former minister for an interview in the UK. The column engendered significant controversy on social media, with many readers accusing the columnist cum celebrity publisher of helping to launder Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s image. Some of the column’s critics felt that Mr. Momodu’s brief was to garner public sympathy for the embattled ex-minister, who is the focus of money laundering investigations in the UK as well as Nigeria.
Today, Mr. Momodu released the text of an interview with Mrs. Madueke along with photos of the physically ravaged former minister. The shocking photos are a far cry from the ex-minister’s former radiant and energetic persona.
However, the release of the former minister’s devastated physique has left many Nigerians on social media still skeptical. Many commentators have speculated that images of her ravaged appearance could have been “photo-shopped” in order to curry public sympathy for a woman who was one of the brashest members of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet.
Earlier today, SaharaReporters spoke by phone to Mr. Momodu who was transiting in Dubai, United Arab Emirate, to ask if he was willing to release original copies of Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s photos to our reporter. He said he could not, explaining that he had signed “several” legal agreements never to release the photos to a third party.
SaharaReporters was first to exclusively report close to a year ago that Mrs. Alison-Madueke was suffering from cancer and making frequent trips to the UK for treatment. At the time, she was still the most powerful member of Mr. Jonathan’s cabinet.
Following one of our reports on her sickness, the then Petroleum Minister issued a statement refuting our report. However, a month ago, her attorney sent a letter to SaharaReporters and other media organizations admitting for the first time that the former powerful Petroleum Minister was undergoing treatment for breast cancer in the UK.
In September, the UK National Crimes Agency arrested Mrs. Alison-Madueke in connection with fraud. She was granted bail and has not been charged in any British court. However, UK authorities confiscated some cash from Mrs. Alison-Madueke, her mother, Beatrice Agama, and Melanie Spencer, the wife of Kevin Okyere, a Ghanaian businessman identified as one of the former minister’s alleged co-conspirators.
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