Prove That We Planned To Maime You, Oil Marketers Dare Okonjo-Iweala

​BREAKING NEWS

Prove That We Planned To Maime You, Oil Marketers Dare Okonjo-Iweala

Oil marketers under the aegis of Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers’ Association, DAPPMA, on Tuesday dared Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to prove her allegation.

The marketers, who spoke in separate interview with Vanguard, were reacting to the allegation made by the former Minister of Finance that some oil marketers planned to confine her to wheelchair for fighting corruption under the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

Okonjo-Iweala made the claim in her new book entitled, ‘Fighting Corruption is Dangerous.’

The Executive Secretary of DAPPMA, Femi Adewale, said “she (Okonjo-Iweala) is free to make any allegation deemed fit but she can help by naming the marketers.”

Also in his reaction to the claim, the National President of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Chinedu Okoronkwo, said that the association was not mentioned in the statement.

He said, “Why will I react to such issue? We are not importing. For IPMAN, our major operation is buying from tank farms and NNPC depots.

“So you can know that she is not referring to us. She is referring to those who are coming to claim subsidy, not us.’’

On his part, Femi Olawore, Executive Secretary, Major Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, said: “How do I know the truth?

“I can only comment on our working relationship. I enjoyed working with her because she was very accessible.

“She worked against several forces in order to reduce the subsidy claims. We had reasons to quarrel but overall, she is a good Nigerian.”

                                                  

Please Share This Post

Okonjo-Iweala Reveals How She Was Almost Maimed For Fighting Corruption

​BREAKING NEWS

Okonjo-Iweala Reveals How She Was Almost  Maimed For Fighting Corruption

Erstwhile Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has revealed how oil importers and marketers wanted to confine her to a wheelchair.

She also alleged that the marketers wanted to force her out of office during the time she served under ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

Okonjo-Iweala said that a friend to one of her brothers attended a meeting where the discussion held.

She said the friend advised her brother that security should be beefed up around her.

The former Minister said this in her new book entitled, ‘Fighting Corruption is Dangerous: The Story Behind the Headlines.’

She said, “My mother’s ordeal was not the end of frightening events that occurred in late 2012 and early 2013.

“A few months after my mother’s escape, I had just wrapped up a meeting late one afternoon when my cellphone rang. It was again my brother, Onyeama.

“My first thought was that something else had gone wrong in the family. He frantically asked me, ‘where are you, where are you?’

“I was surprised and I said I was in my office. He said I needed to immediately seek additional security and I must vary my route for travel.

“I asked what was wrong and my brother told me a very strange story. One of my brother’s old friend had just called him to say he had just left a secret meeting where the subject was to inflict maximum physical damage on me, just short of killing me.

“The agreement reached in this meeting was to attack me in a way that I would end up paralysed and bound to a wheelchair and forced to leave the Finance ministry.

“The meeting was held by a group of oil importers and marketers to whom the Federal Government ‘owed money’. It was held in the house of the chair and owner of one of the oil marketing companies.

‘’They were angry I was withholding the subsidy payments that they thought were owed them for their refined petroleum imports.

“My brother’s friend participated in this meeting but felt what was being planned was unjust and cruel and I did not deserve it.”

                                                  

Please Share This Post

Donald Duke Slams Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala For Revealing Their Private Discussion

​BREAKING NEWS

Donald Duke Slams Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala For Revealing Their Private Discussion

Former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke has hit back at Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former minister of finance, over claims in her latest book.

Okonjo-Iweala, a managing director at the World Bank, had said in the book, ‘Fighting Corruption is Dangerous: The Story Behind the Headlines’, that Duke urged her not to serve in President Goodluck Jonathan’s government in 2011.

She claimed this was to deny Jonathan’s government credibility, so that it would be “weak and not succeed”.

Okonjo-Iweala, who also served as Minister of Finance under President Olusegun Obasanjo from 2003-2006, said she turned down the advice, which Duke allegedly claimed was coming from “a group of concerned people”.

Duke has now taken to his Twitter page, to confirm the meeting with Okonjo-Iweala, but wondered why a private conversation between “friends” has now been made public.

He wrote: “It is true I met with Ngozi when the rumors were swirling about her being considered for appointment.

“As “friends”, she having been literally dismissed from an earlier appointment as finance minister, I urged caution.

“I made no mention of adding or subtracting credibility to anyone or government.

“It was “two friends” discussing careers. It ended there and she subsequently made her choice which I respected. However, I think it is in poor taste and demeaning of her to report a private conversation in whatever self laundering attempt she may be up to. With hindsight, I was vindicated, Ngozi, as Minister of Finance and Economy, despite massive revenue receipts, left Nigeria poorer than she met it.”

                                                  

Please Share This Post

Why My Mother Was Kidnapped - Okonjo-Iweala Reveals

​BREAKING NEWS

Why My Mother Was Kidnapped - Okonjo-Iweala Reveals

 

A former Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has recounted details of her mother’s abduction while she served under former President Goodluck Jonathan.

According to her book titled, ‘Fighting Corruption is Dangerous: The Story Behind the Headlines’, it was one of the personal acts of intimidation she was subjected to, because of her insistence on implementing reforms and insisting that the right things should be done.

In December 2012, 83-year-old Prof. Kamene Okonjo was kidnapped in broad daylight from her country home in Ogwashi-Ukwu.

“They asked my brother to tell me to announce on national television and radio that I was resigning from my job as finance minister and leaving the country,” Okonjo-Iweala revealed when the kidnappers eventually made contact.

Okonjo-Iweala’s mother was released two days after.

According to her, the reason behind the kidnap was that, with the support of Jonathan, she had convened a taskforce that audited fiscal accounts and detected fraudulent claims for oil subsidy payments which she refused to pay.

The former Minister believed that as risky as it was to serve and fight corruption, in spite of the dangers and difficulties, “it was worth it because institutions, systems, and processes that can endure were built for Nigeria, and substantial monies saved”.

Please Share This Post

Why Jonathan Conceded Defeat To Buhari In 2015 - Okonjo-Iweala Reveals

​BREAKING NEWS

Why Jonathan Conceded Defeat To Buhari In 2015 - Okonjo-Iweala Reveals

Former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has revealed details of how former President Goodluck Jonathan conceded defeat to President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 elections.

According to her book titled, ‘Fighting Corruption is Dangerous: The Story Behind the Headlines’, Jonathan took the decision without any external influence.

Okonjo-Iweala wrote that on the fateful day when unknown to all present at the presidential residence in Aso Villa on March 31, 2015, Jonathan had already contacted Buhari, while various high-level government officials and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) bigwigs were discussing whether or not he should concede.

The former Minister said amid the arguments, she leaned towards the president and urged him to concede before the results were completely collated and announced.

Jonathan listened to her whispered words and then spoke loudly in response to the hearing of everyone in the room: “It is done. A few minutes ago, I called to congratulate President-elect Buhari.”

The much-awaited book, which Okonjo-Iweala described as “a personal account of an important aspect of my work in government – fighting corruption” unwraps her experiences while serving in the Jonathan government.

Please Share This Post