Nigeria’s former minister of petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke has told Nigerians that she is not the devil as they believe she is, although she is not an angel.
Nigerian Bulletin reports that the embattled former minister, made this statement in the concluding part of her interview with Dele Momodu, where she maintained that she is innocent of the allegations leveled against her.
According to her: “Believe it or not, and God is my witness, I didn’t have to steal. I’m not an Angel but I’m not a devil. I don’t have billions anywhere. How is it possible for one woman to steal billions of dollars in a country like Nigeria?
“Did I blow up the vaults of the Central Bank or transfer the money to heaven? Where can you keep such money in this age of money laundering fiasco?
“I did my job professionally without even thinking of anyone as opposition. Otherwise we would not have approved the Oando-Conoco Phillips deal. Tinubu came to see me three times and we approved on merit.”
Mrs Alison-Madueke also said that while it is true that a minister is influential, the real power is in the NNPC, which she referred to as the cash cow.
She added that while a minister sits in the ministry treating files, holding meetings at home and abroad, looking glamorous and taking all the flak, the soul and heart of the nation is NNPC.
The embattled former minister had in a recent interview, informed that she did not loot the country’s treasury as many had said she did.
But Nigerians have told her to recover quickly from her cancer and return to face the charges leveled against her, especially that of the missing $20 billion oil money.