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HomeNewsDiezani Denies Ownership Of $18m Abuja Mansion

Diezani Denies Ownership Of $18m Abuja Mansion

Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison- Madueke, yesterday denied ownership of the $18 million mansion at Asokoro area of Abuja, which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), purportedly seized from her.

The former minister, who is currently undergoing treatment for cancer in the United Kingdom, also denied a statement attributed to her in which she allegedly justified her affluent lifestyle, having worked hard and being successful before she was called to serve in former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

The multi-million dollar palatial residence with its furnishings and expensive jewelries said to have furnishings worth $2 million and a bulletproof gym, were shown in a documentary recently by Qatar-based television station, Al Jazeera, in recognition of the efforts of the EFCC in recovering public funds allegedly stolen by Alison-Madueke and others.

Claiming that the information being peddled by Al Jazeera lacked any modicum of truth, the former Petroleum Minister, who is under investigation in Nigeria and the U.K, also denied stealing any public money, as was also alleged in the documentary, to facilitate the procurement of any such phantom property or for any other matter, whatsoever.

Speaking through her counsel, Dr. Chike Amobi, Alison-Madueke wondered why a respected media organisation of the calibre of Al Jazeera could not conduct further investigations to ascertain the ownership of the property.Amobi said rather than steal any money, “the honourable minister, our client, did her utmost best to protect the interests of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

He said: “However, in their haste to achieve high ratings from publishing sensational stories, the producers of the Al Jazeera programme had mischievously neglected to conduct a cursory investigation of the readily available property records, which would have revealed the names and identities of the true owners of the property.”

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The lawyer also rubbished the so-called reaction attributed to the embattled former minister when the documentary by Al Jazeera went viral, saying the statement, which attempted to explain off the fact that it was not out of place for a person of her status to afford the reported expensive jewelries allegedly seized from her by the EFCC, could not have originated from Alison-Madueke.

He said: “Anyone who knows or has spent time with our client would readily attest to the fact that she neither thinks nor speaks in that manner.” The lawyer stressed further that: “We, therefore, find it disturbingly worrisome that someone would take the time to publish these seemingly favourable statements and attribute them to our client,’ without obtaining he consent or her “imprimatur on the statements.”

Alison-Madueke also condemned what she described as the irresponsible journalism of Al Jazeera for broadcasting what her lawyer said were verifiably false statements against the ex-minister as much as she distanced herself from and disclaimed the ‘reactions’ that were attributed to her.

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