ABUJA – Like stoking the ember of trouble which appears to be engulfing the hitherto amazon of the Nigerian Oil and Gas sector, as found in alleged financial scam trial involving Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, former Minister of Petroleum Resources, in London, Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, yesterday, declared that he has been vindicated.
The former minister and her brothers, who are directors of Hadley Petroleum Solutions Limited, are said to be on trial for alleged bribery and money laundering in London.
In a chat with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Aso Rock Villa, the governor noted that he was not surprised at the news, stressing that what is happening is a tip of the iceberg as it was an open secret that the nation’s economy was badly managed over the years.
Gov. Oshiomhole has been in the eye of the storm from many quarters, particularly from members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for his repeated condemnation of what he had described as massive fraud allegedly perpetrated by ministers in former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration,
“For me I don’t think anybody should be surprised because the most favorable commentator on the Nigerian condition, on the economy, the polity and society, agree that our economy was badly managed over the past several years.
I have not seen one commentator that disagrees. Even when they talk about rebasing and so what. Have you rebased the level of poverty? Have you rebased prosperity? Have you rebased unemployment? Have you rebased homelessness? Have you rebased hunger?
So I have not seen anyone that says Nigerian people are doing better. This was never my issue. I was only a spokesman of National Economic Council. But in this country when you speak out, all the arrows should be fashioned to attack you.
But one of the things I learnt in life at the age of 17 when I got into the leadership of labour, is that the truth does not require supporters club. It can stand on its feet anyday. You can hit it. You can kick it. You can bomb it, but you can’t destroy it.
The truth is that a lot of money was stolen and what you are seeing is just a tip of the iceberg, because when you imagine what accrues to Nigeria, consistently from $140 (per barrel) averaging $108 over a long period of time and yet your treasury is empty.
You were running a budget deficit, you were devoting 85 per cent of your budget for four consecutive years on recurrent, you were borrowing and you draw the entire pensions fund. Yesterday I saw a lot of analysis on how pension funds should be invested on infrastructure.
“You challenge Pencom and Ministry of Finance, you will discover that over N3.5tn was drawn by the previous government from pension funds to support recurrent expenditure, not to support infrastructure.
On wether the federal government was involved in Diezani’s arrest in London, Gov. Oshimhole submitted, “It’s not about who has hand in what; I think it’s about law and order. In other climes, institutions do their work. They are not at the beck and call of political authority. They have their mandate and the law specifies this and it is scrupulously followed.
I’m the happiest person because I’ve been in government for seven years without being in power. I was in government, I couldn’t call a commissioner of police and talk as a security officer, I’m haunted by all manners of persons. You kill the snake in Edo, they will put the snake on life support in Abuja and they keep harassing us.
Now all those venoms are dead and buried, for the first time I’m excited and happy not just for personal benefit, but for the changes I’m beginning to see”, the governor continued.
