Niger Delta Groups Divided over Deziani Allison-Madueke’s Ordeal
LAGOS OCTOBER 5TH (URHOBOTODAY)-Groups in the Niger Delta region have expressed different views on the arrest of the former minister of petroleum in the administration of the President Goodluck Jonathan, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, in London, United Kingdom.
The Centre for Media and Development Communication (CEMEDEC), in a statement in Port Harcourt on Sunday said although no official reasons have been advanced for the arrest and detention of the former minister, it is alleged that the arrest was in connection with the looting of public funds.
Programme director of the group, Styvn Obodoekwe, said, “While we support any step taken to checkmate corruption in the society and bring corrupt officials to book, as corruption and bad governance are known to be responsible for the backwardness of Nigeria, we consider the ordeals of Diezani as part of the oppression being meted out on those opposed to the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari and his APC party as the rulers of this country, Nigeria.
“We have no doubt that the arrest, and detention of Diezani and the looting and sealing up of her Abuja home has nothing to do with Buhari’s much trumpeted anti-corruption crusade.”
Obodoekwe alleged that the arrest was, “rather a selective persecution and victimisation of opposition members, especially those from the Niger Delta. Neither Buhari nor Britain can claim to be interested in fighting corruption in Nigeria or anywhere for that matter when they have continued to flirt with and to shield members of the APC like Olusegun Obasanjo, Bola Tinubu, Rotimi Amaechi, Timipre Sylva and Raji Fashola, known to have wreaked havoc on public treasuries.
“There are weighty evidence of corruption against these people, yet Buhari and his UK cohorts have continued to shun every call for their prosecution”.
Meanwhile, the Niger Delta Frontiers (NDF) has said that Buhari ought to have applied for the extradition so that Diezani could be tried in Nigeria for allegedly looting the country.
Coordinator of the group, Dr. Sam Epiye, in a telephone interview Sunday, said the sharia law should be applied in “dealing” with corrupt people in the country and “whoever is found guilty irrespective of where the person comes from should be executed.”
He noted that the present economic predicament the country faces was due to an unprecedented “looting of the treasury by officials of the past administration under Jonathan,” insisting that Alison-Madueke deserves the ordeal she is going through.
“We support President Buhari’s anti-corruption drive all the way. People like Diezani should rot in jail for their roles in causing avoidable hardship for Nigerians,” he said.
Daily Independent