The embattled petroleum minister has been unable to wriggle herself out of any of the allegations of corruption against her person and is arguable the major reason President Jonathan’s administration is considered to be ruthlessly corrupt. The list of indictments against her seems to be inexhaustive; while the missing $20 billion saga is still yet to be resolved, she is knee deep in yet another controversy, alongside her cook, Macmillian.
While it is no longer news that Macmillian stole a whooping sum of $100million from his boss recently, it still remains a mystery as to why his boss, Diezani has been questionably reluctant to prosecute Macmillian even after he was arrested by the police. Diezani has not only refused to prosecute her staff, but has refused to honour police invitations to explain why such a huge amount of money was discovered in her home in the first place. After Macmillian was arrested and subjected to the interrogative techniques of Nigerian policemen, he disclosed that his cut from the stolen sum was actually $5 million; the remaining $95 million, he claimed was carted away by Dapo Balogun.
It got even more interesting when the police pounced on Dapo and got him arrested; the unrepentant Dapo hurriedly contracted the best lawyers he could get in contact with and blatantly told the police to go do their jobs by asking Diezani how $100 million magically appeared in her home.
However, the petroleum minister has shunned invitations to show up at the police station and answer questions in relation to Dapo’s claim. While it baffles many how Deizani got involved in such shady dealings with her cook and Dapo, it is pertinent to know that the chummy Dapo is a close friend of Haruna Momoh, Managing Director of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC).
Dapo banked on Haruna’s close relationship with the petroleum minister and got access into Diezani’s exclusive circuit of Diezani boys and business associates. Dapo later heard through Momoh that Diezani was in need of a cook; he recommended Macmillian to Momoh who in turn introduced Macmillian to Diezani. Macmillian diligently served Diezani for months, earned her trust and finally got access into her room to steal the sum of $100 million at Dapo’s bidding.
Macmillian alleged that after he stole the money, Dapo gave him a cut of $5 million and arranged for him to escape to Lagos by a private jet. Macmillian furthered the distance between himself and Diezani by jetting off to Dubia in United Arab Emirates (UAE) to unwind and enjoy his share of the stolen money. He was later deported back to Nigeria after he exceeded the maximum number of days he was allowed to stay in the county. On getting to Lagos, he was identified by the police as a wanted fugitive and was arrested.
In furthering their investigation, the police contacted Diezani and informed her that her cook and Dapo had been arrested and she was needed at the police station to respond to dapo’s claims, Diezani told them off and surprisingly asked them to release Dapo and Macmillian, stating that she was no longer interested in pressing charges for the theft of $100 million. According to her, the stolen money does not top the chat of the things she has to worry about or deal with.
Ever since President Goodluck Jonathan lost the presidential election to Gen. Buhari, sources close to the petroleum minister claim that Diezani has been agitated considering the weight of allegations of theft against her and she lives in fear that the Buhari administration will prosecute her and ultimately send her to jail. After she refused to press charges against Dapo and Macmillian, it became all too clear to many that an act of prosecution against them would simply expose the facts of the case and elicit public scrutiny about how she came in possession of such large amount of money in her home. It could be used against her if Buhari chooses to prosecute her for corruption.
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