mmediate past Minister of Petroleum
Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has
offered to refund the sum of $250 million
dollars to the Nigerian government in return for
immunity from further investigation and possible
prosecution, SaharaReporters has learned.
However, her overture has reportedly received a
cold response from President Muhammadu
Buhari.
A source in Aso Rock and a ranking member of
the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) told
our correspondent that the former minister has
been reaching out to influential government and
ruling party officials, in and outside Abuja, to
prevail on President Buhari to accept her offer
and let bygones be bygone. According to our
sources, Mrs. Alison-Madueke had enlisted the
support of several figures close to Mr. Buhari,
including Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna
State, to intercede with the incumbent
president.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke was one of the closest
ministers to former President Goodluck
Jonathan, and is reputed to have anchored and
facilitated numerous money-laundering scandals
and deals that characterized the era of the just-
ended Jonathan administration. The former
Petroleum Minister oversaw several oil swap
deals, the disposition of oil wells handed over by
Shell Petroleum to the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and the direct
looting of funds through the NNPC. Former
Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi,
was forced out of office after he revealed that
the NNPC had failed to remit more than $20
billion in oil revenues with the CBN.
The former Petroleum Minister is the latest of
several officials who served under Mr.
Jonathan’s government that are currently
negotiating “soft landing deals” with the Buhari
administration. The incumbent president, who
was sworn in on May 29, 2015, has vowed to
probe various questionable financial actions
taken by his successor or officials of his
government. Mr. Buhari is reportedly determined
to recover billions of dollars in stolen funds.
One source said Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s latest
offer to refund at least $250 million to the
government came after she learned that
President Buhari’s scheduled meeting with US
Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, would include a
discussion of ways that the US government could
facilitate the investigation, arrest and
prosecution of some officials of the Jonathan
administration implicated in the theft of billions
of dollars and a variety of frauds that resulted in
the loss of significant sums of public funds in
Nigeria.
SaharaReporters exclusively reported earlier in
the week that the former Minister of Finance and
the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, has been cooperating with the
Buhari administration’s ongoing, if quiet, probe
of a series of questionable financial transactions
by the Jonathan administration.
Our sources revealed that Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala
had given the Buhari administration documents
that expose a number of shady financial deals
executed by the Jonathan administration.
Two days ago, we reported that former Secretary
General of the Commonwealth, Emeka Anyaoku,
had appealed to Mr. Buhari to halt the ongoing
probe of former President Jonathan’s
administration. Even though Mr. Anyaoku has
denied that he urged Mr. Buhari to stop the
investigation of his predecessor’s financial
dealings, our sources insisted that the ex-
Commonwealth chief executive brought up the
matter.
Our sources disclosed that Mr. Buhari was
unimpressed by Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s offer.
“Mr. President considers the $250 million as
ridiculous considering the amount of money Mrs.
Diezani Alison-Madueke is suspected to have
diverted into her pocket and those of others,”
said one source.
According to our sources, Mr. Buhari is intent on
ordering a full audit of deals and transactions
done by the former Petroleum Minister and her
cohorts in the various agencies that reported to
her.
In addition, the new president is reportedly
focused on looking further at the extensive
embezzlement of security funds by appointees of
the former president. Mr. Buhari has approved an
investigation of how more than $3 billion in
Nigeria’s defense budget was spent. Security
agents who searched the homes of former
National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki,
reportedly carted away some revealing
documents.
Earlier today, the Department of State Security
(DSS) arrested and detained Gordon Obuah, a
former Chief Security Officer to President
Goodluck Jonathan. Mr. Obuah is reportedly
being questioned over his alleged mastermind of
a multi-million dollar oil bunkering deal during
the former administration.
SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK
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