by Wareez Odunayo

gradually becoming a norm for Nigerians to wake up daily to news stories about recovered loot from the former Minister for Petroleum, Diezani Alison Madueke.

The humongous sums reported daily can make the head of every Nigerian ache.

Diezani is among those reported to have bled the country dry during the profligate Goodluck Jonathan administration.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said it has found houses linked to the first female President of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Some of the mansions are located in the United Kingdom, United States of America, the Middle East.

She was elected, OPEC president at the 166th Ordinary meeting in Vienna on 27 November 2014. Diezani became Nigeria’s minister of transportation on 26 July 2007 and was reassigned to the ministry of Mines and Steel Development in 2008. In April 2010, she was appointed Minister of Petroleum Resources by the Bayelsa born ex President, Goodluck Jonathan – and this is where the alleged theft of the nation’s resources began.

Mrs. Alison-Madueke is facing a series of multi-billion-dollar fraud investigations by the EFCC, the US Department of Justice and UK authorities.

Following painstaking investigations by the EFCC, the anti-graft agency has revealed that it traced N47.2 Billion and $487.5 Million in cash and properties to the former Minister in Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. It added that a search at the Abuja residences of Mrs. Alison-Madueke by the agency turned out to be boxes of gold, silver and diamond jewellery, worth million pounds sterling.

Not only that, a $37.5m mansion in Banana Island, Lagos which comprises 15-storey building, 18 flats and six penthouses owned by Madam “D” which have forfeited to the Federal government.

On July 15, 2017, the United States government also seized properties worth $144m from the former minister of petroleum.

The bemusing thing about the kind of grand theft allegations against Alison-Madueke is that she did not need to steal. Yes, she did not.

Diezani is privileged. She was born into privilege. She is married to a former Chief of Naval Staff, Alison-Madueke. In 2006, she was appointed Shell’s first female Executive Director. Note that – first female executive director.

She has achieved many firsts in her life. Is this the reason why she may have strived to be the first woman to have such “mad money” in Nigeria?

The recently recovered N47.2 billion and $487.5 million loot is more than enough to construct world class airports in each geo-political zone in Nigeria.

It will also be enough to complete the Lagos-Kano, Lagos-Calabar rail lines, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, among other capital projects needing urgent funds. It’s also capable to fund agriculture projects that could have generated employment for millions of Nigerian youth.

The EFCC has been accused by many of engaging in media trials by splashing details of its recoveries of monies in the media. The anti-graft agency has the habit of lumping countless charges on persons under investigation.

The commission has done a great job in recovering these monies, but can the Magu-led anti-graft agency prove its case against Diezani by securing a conviction, or will this be another media trial?