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Diezani Denies Ownership of Repatriated $52.8m Loot

Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has refuted claims of owning the $52.8 million recently repatriated from the United States.

In a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja by her lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Diezani dismissed the allegations, labeling them as baseless.

The Federal Government had earlier announced the return of $52.8 million, allegedly linked to the former minister. The funds reportedly stemmed from the forfeiture of assets, including the Galactica yacht, said to belong to Diezani and her associates.

During the signing of the Asset Return Agreement at the Federal Ministry of Justice in Abuja, U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Richard M. Mills Jr., confirmed that the funds would be directed toward developmental projects.

Speaking on Diezani’s behalf, Ozekhome stated that the claims were speculative and misleading. He clarified that the $52.8 million in question actually belonged to Nigerian oil businessman Kola Aluko. The funds, he explained, were proceeds from a vessel seized and later sold by the U.S. government, with the money subsequently returned to Nigeria.

Ozekhome emphasized that the popular media reference to the sum as “Diezani’s loot” was entirely unfounded, reiterating that his client had no connection to the forfeited funds.

He said, “My chambers makes this intervention in the public domain as solicitors to Diezani Alison-Madueke, the former Minister of Petroleum Resources.

“As her solicitors, we are fully versed in and conversant with her present ordeal and the entire facts surrounding her matters both here in Nigeria and abroad. So, we write from the vantage position of one that is aware of the cocktail of lies that have been spurned around her cases in the last 10 years.

“Many of the narratives are outright false; some others sheer outlandish speculations; and most, simply bizzare stories cooked up by her traducers to extract a Shylock’s pound of flesh from her for reasons she does not know and cannot even fathom.

“This intervention, therefore, seeks to correct this skewed narrative and set the records straight for purposes of history.”

Ozekhome, while alleged that Diezani was being persecuted, said Nigerians often talked about wanting ‘technocrats’ to be involved in governance, “however and regrettably too, now and again and many a time, the same people not only allow, but actually join the bandwagon to mob-lynch those who chose to serve the nation.”

He said, “It is therefore surprising and of great concern to us, to see the level of sustained vilification of an innocent Nigerian citizen who has not yet been tried and found guilty of any offence known to law by any court of law whether in Nigeria or abroad. The person at the receiving end is Citizen Diezani Alison-Madueke.

“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.”

Ozekhome lambasted the purveyors of what he termed ‘name-and-shame’ narrative against Diezani.

“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.

“The yacht Galactica was neither owned nor ever used by our client. DAM has, in fact, never set her eyes on the yacht. Kola Aluko is an experienced businessman who had been in business well before DAM came into office as HMPR.”

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