They rode the political landscape like a colossus while Goodluck Jonathan was president, some of them were called untouchable but hardly had the former president lost the election that they fizzled into oblivion. LEKAN OKEOWO chronicled their rise and fall.

KINGSLEY KUKU

Kingsley Kuku, immediate past Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta and Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, was one of the behemoth of the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration

A promoter of the Niger Delta struggle, having been part of the Kaiama Declaration of 1998, which set the stage for the agitation for a better region, he participated actively in most of the programmes that subsequently resulted in the granting of amnesty to militants on June 25, 2009.

But, more importantly, Kuku became the driver of the amnesty package from 2011 till the end of the Jonathan administration on May 29, 2015, largely helping to push the frontiers of youth training in the region.

Hardly had power changed hand that Kingsley Kuku was reported to have ran away to the United States under the guise of seeking medical help on his troublesome knee.

Before that, he has been declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for allegedly embezzling and fraudulently diverting hundreds of millions of naira in public funds from Amnesty programs for personal use during the Jonathan administration.

The Ondo State born politician had several times been invited for questioning over the allegations but as failed to show up in person with the fear of being arrested to face criminal charges.

Wilson Uwujaren, the spokesperson of the EFCC, has said the anti-graft agency was declaring Mr. Kuku “wanted” for allegedly refusing to honor the invitation by them for interrogation.

Several months after running to the United States to evade arrest, there are tell-tale signs that he is hoping to contest in the forthcoming gubernatorial elections in Ondo state where he hails from.

He has rented and furnished an edifice to be used as his campaign office while the nook and crannies of the state is filled with his campaign poster.

How he hopes to run for the election with an EFCC arrest warrant dangling over his head like a sword of Damocles is what political analysts are debating.

DIEZANI ALLISON-MADUEKWE

Born on the 6^th of December, 1960, Diezani K. Alison-Madueke is one of the most powerful women in the administration of Goodluck Jonathan.

A Nigerian politician who served as the first female President of OPEC, elected at the 166th OPEC Ordinary meeting in Vienna on 27 November 2014. She was Nigeria’s minister of transportation from 26^th July, 2007. She was moved to Mines and Steel Development in 2008, and in April 2010 was appointed Minister of Petroleum Resources.

Diezani Alison-Madueke has held three significant positions in the Nigerian federal government. She was appointed Transport Minister in July 2007. On 23 December 2008, she was named as Minister of Mines and Steel Development. After Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan became acting President in February 2010, he dissolved the cabinet on 17 March 2010, and swore in a new cabinet on 6 April 2010 with Alison-Madueke as Minister for Petroleum Resources.

One of the most controversial policies introduced under Alison-Madueke was the government’s plan to remove state subsidies on fuel prices. Alison-Madueke supported the discontinuation of the subsidy on the grounds that it “poses a huge financial burden on the government, disproportionately benefits the wealthy, [and] encourages inefficiency, corruption and diversion of scarce public resources away from investment in critical infrastructure.”

Alison-Madueke was the first woman to hold the position of Minister of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria, and in October 2010 she became the first woman to head a country delegation at the annual OPEC conference. She was also the first female Minister of Transportation, and the first woman to be appointed to the board of Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria. On 27 November 2014, she was elected as the first female President of OPEC.

Sometimes in June 2008, she was subjected to a Senate probe after it emerged that as Transport Minister she had paid 30.9 billion naira ($263 million) to contractors between 26 and 31 December 2007.

In October 2009, the Senate of Nigeria indicted Diezani Alison-Madueke and recommended prosecution for the alleged transfer of 1.2 billion naira into the private account of a toll company without due process and in breach of concession agreement. However, the allegations have never been taken to law, and the Minister maintains her innocence.

A former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mr. Austin Oniwon also revealed that under the former minister trading companies lifted crude oil worth $24bn from the country between 2011 and 2014 without a formal contract.

She is also alleged to be responsible for some missing $20 billion dollars and was also accused of awarding multi billion Naira contracts without recourse to due process. She is also widely accused of reckless spending of Government funds.

Though, she has never been officially charged or tried for these allegations and has strongly denied any wrongdoing. Diezani Allison was alleged to have spent billions of Nigerian dollars inappropriately on private jets whilst many Nigerians suffer.

Her fall to ignominy started on October 2, 2015, when Reuters reported that Alison-Madueke had been arrested by the National Crime Agency (NCA) along with five other people on suspicion of bribery and corruption offences. Her family confirmed she had been arrested in London.

While she was being arrested in the United Kingdom, her home in Asokoro, Abuja was raided and sealed by anti-corruption agents of the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

She is also undergoing treatments for breast cancer in the United Kingdom.

Her husband, Admiral Alison Amaechina Madueke (Rtd.), a former Chief of Naval Staff was also invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) recently over allegations of money laundering.

NGOZI OLEJEME

Ngozi Juliet Olejeme is a Nigerian entrepreneur, politician and administrator. She sits on the board of numerous companies and Government establishments. Her crowning moment was when she was named the Director of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust-fund (NSITF).

She is one of the most powerful women during the Goodluck Jonathan administration, a Director of Finance in the Goodluck Support Group (GSC), an organization set up for the support of President Goodluck Jonathan re-election bid, she commands the attention and respect of the former president.

Ngozi Olejeme was appointed chairman of the board, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) in June 2009 by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, a position she held during the Goodluck Jonathan era.

She is however facing a litany of accusations from her traducers ranging from recruitment scam, Pension Fraud and embezzlement.

Under her watch, hundreds of pensioners on contributory pension scheme of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) have had their monthly pension withheld.

Another fraud alleged to have been perpetrated under her watch was the massive recruitment scam that took place at the organization, tens of thousands of hopeful Nigerian applicants who responded to invitations to apply for advertised jobs in the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) in April 2011 were scammed in a manner that is similar, if not worse than the publicised recruitment scandal in the Nigerian Immigration Service and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.

Those who applied were asked to pay a mandatory N1, 000 application fee, but were left disappointed as most of them didn’t get the job.

What befalls these once political juggernauts remains to be seen.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has described the spate of suicide bombings and attacks on soft targets by Boko Haram, lately as actions of hungry and desperate terrorists.

His declaration came on a day a document from the United Nations indicated that the global body released $58 million to assist 2.4 million people affected by Boko Haram-related violence from March 2015 to February 4, 2016.

Borno State government has also defied the protest by donor agencies and began relocating Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, from public schools to resettlement camps to allow for the resumption of students, after the schools were closed due to Boko Haram insurgency in March, 2014.

Mohammed, who spoke on the spate of bombing while fielding questions at a press briefing in Abuja, yesterday, said Boko Haram sect members were not only venting the anger of their hunger and desperation on soft targets but also trying to demonstrate that they were still relevant.

Meanwhile, Borno State government, yesterday, defied the protest by donor agencies’ and began relocating Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, from public schools to resettlement camps to allow for the resumption of students, after the schools were closed due to Boko Haram insurgency in March, 2014. Their protest was expressed through a representative from the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF, simply identified as Mr. Victor, to the committee that the donor agencies “are dissatisfied with the arrangements.” Similarly, the United Nations has released $58 million to assist 2.4 million people affected by Boko Haram-related violence in 2015.

Counsel to former National Security Adviser, NSA, Sambo Dasuki, has said that his client is not ready for trial until the Federal Government complied with an order of the Federal High Court granting him bail.

He said: “We cannot be ready for trial until the defendant enjoys his constitutional rights.  We apply that we should be given time to prepare the defence.

The conduct of the prosecution has not enabled him to enjoy his constitutional rights. The worst thing is that for about seven weeks we have had no idea of his whereabouts.”

This came up when counsel to the DSS, Dipo Okpeseyi (SAN), announced to the court that the prosecution was ready for trial to commence, hardly had he finished when Daudu, counsel to Dasuki countered him by saying that the defence counsel was not ready to proceed with the trial because the Federal Government was still keeping the accused person in detention, despite an order of the court granting him bail.

In November 2015, Justice Adeniyi Ademola had granted Dasuki bail but the Department of State Services, DSS, rearrested him immediately after his release from Kuje prison.

However, Okpeseyi argued that the prosecution was not stopping Dasuki from enjoying his freedom, saying the accused person was not allegedly held for the charges before the court.

He, therefore, asked the court to reject the request for adjournment and to commence trial. But the court adjourned till March 3 for the hearing on a motion to discharge Dasuki.

These are certainly not the best of times for embattled former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke as a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mr. Austin Oniwon revealed that under the former minister trading companies lifted crude oil worth $24bn from the country between 2011 and 2014 without a formal contract.

Opening the can of worm before the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Crude Oil Swap, Oniwon said the former minister merely granted the “extension” of an earlier contract.

According to Oniwon, the extension was not a formal contract before he left office in 2012.

The committee is chaired by an All Progressives Congress lawmaker from Kwara State, Mr. Zakari Mohammed.

“There was an approval for the extension by the minister; I believe the records are with the NNPC,” he added.

The NNPC began taking 445,000 barrels of crude daily in 2010 for refining in a bid to meet the country’s local demand of petroleum products.

But when the country’s refineries failed to run, the NNPC resorted to exchanging the crude (swap) for refined products through an arrangement with appointed crude trading firms.

The original (first) contract was signed between the NNPC and two crude traders, Duke Oil and Tranfigura in 2010 to last for one year. It expired officially in 2011.

However, Alison-Madueke reportedly granted an extension of the contract without the NNPC formally signing another contract on the new (second) deal.

The committee had earlier heard from the firms that crude lifting indeed continued till 2014 before a contract was formalised.

One of the lawmakers, Mr. Michael Enyong, said, “These companies had lifted crude worth $24bn before the contract was signed in 2014 and backdated to look like it was signed in 2011 when the first one expired.”

The committee had put Oniwon under pressure after he consistently told members that there was no “breach” in the exchange arrangements throughout his tenure.

When he was reminded that there were evidence indicating that the contract expired in 2011, but it continued to run till 2014, Oniwon replied that Alison-Madueke “approved” the extension.

Oniwon also argued that as GMD of the NNPC, he did not require a presidential and Federal Executive Council approval to enter into the swap arrangements.

According to Oniwon, the 445,000 barrels of crude were the property of the NNPC, which it bought from the Federal Government at the prevailing rate for refining.

He added that the swap crude was different from the Federation Crude, the latter being entirely the property of the government.

Besides, he stated that only 150,000 barrels out of the 445,000 were traded under the swap deals.

He added, “I am not a lawyer, but I didn’t need anybody’s approval to take crude to the refinery for refining if the refineries were running.

“This crude had been paid for by the NNPC. If I needed to take the crude for exchange, I am not going to write the Federal Government. It is NNPC’s decision on what to do to guarantee regular supply of products in the country.

“That was the whole essence of the swap arrangement; to ensure that we had adequate products, which we achieved successfully.”

However, the committee insisted that the NNPC under Oniwon and the former minister breached procurement procedures by engaging in a transaction worth well above N100m without FEC’s approval.

Oniwon stood his grounds that he did not feel the NNPC required another approval, since the minister, “the immediate boss”, had approved the crude swap arrangement.

“If there was supposed to be a higher approval, it was the minister who should seek the approval, not the NNPC,” Oniwon added.

When asked what was the spending or approval limit of the GMD, Oniwon replied, “It was put at $10m.”

Oniwon’s successor, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, also appeared before the committee to say that he made efforts to review the swap arrangement with a view to correcting noticeable lapses, but that he was frustrated.

Yakubu, who assumed office as GMD on June 27, 2012, disclosed that he set up a team of experts from the legal and corporate divisions of the NNPC to carry out the review after which he sent a report to Alison-Madueke.

He added, “Among the issues we raised were the controversies generated by the swap arrangement, the need for contract valuation and how to improve on it to be more beneficial to our operations.

“I forwarded a report to the minister in April 2014 and the document never came to me until my removal (as GMD) was announced by 9pm on August 1, 2014.”

Yakubu advised the National Assembly to give more protection to the headship of the NNPC as a national oil company so that it could perform optimally at all times.

He noted that the current set-up, whereby the GMD’s tenure was left to the pleasure of the appointing authorities, called for an urgent review.

The committee directed the NNPC to search its records and produce Yakubu’s report.

Members also asked the corporation to produce evidence of the extension of the contract Alison-Madueke granted without a formal contract.

The wave of sack that began this morning has continued has the Presidency has issued the following statement announcing the removal of 20 more heads of federal parastatals and agencies.

The list adds to the six heads of agencies under the Ministry of Information and Culture that were sacked earlier.

In a statement signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Engr. Babachir David Lawal and made available to newsmen

‘The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari has approved the immediate disengagement of the following Chief Executive Officers of the under listed Parastatals, Agencies and Commissions.

​He has also approved that the most senior officers in the Parastatals, Agencies and Councils oversee the activities of the organizations pending the appointment of substantive Chief Executive Officers.

The affected Parastatals, Agencies and Councils includes;

(i) Nigerian Television Authority (NTA)

(ii) Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN)

(iii) Voice of Nigeria (VON)

(iiii) News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

(v) National Broadcasting Commission (NBC)

(vi) Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF)

(vii) New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)

(viii) Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF)

(ix) Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board(NCDMB)

(x) Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN)

(xi) Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund)

(xii) National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)

(xiii) Petroleum Equalization Fund

(xiiii) Nigeria Railways Corporation (NRC)

(xv) Bureau of Public Procurements (BPP)

(xvi) Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE)

(xvii) Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA)

(xviii) Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON)

(xix) National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC)

(xx) Nigeria Investment Promotion Council (NIPC)

(xxi) Bank of Industry (BoI)

(xxii) National Centre for Women Development (NCWD)

(xxiii) National Orientation Agency (NOA)

(xxiiii) Industrial Training Fund (ITF)

(xxv) Nigerian Export-Import Bank

(xxvi) National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic In Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP)

In showing appreciation to the sacked Heads, Mr. President, however, expressed his gratitude to them for their invaluable services to the Nation and wishes them well in their future endeavours.