My committee didn’t absolve Diezani of $20bn corruption allegation –Makarfi

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Caretaker Committee chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, has denied absolving former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke of alleged missing $20 billion in 2015.

A recent report had alleged that a 7th Senate Committee on Finance headed by Senator Makarfi and now Senate President Bukola Saraki, as vice, had criminally connived with Mrs. Diezani and absolved her of the alleged missing $20 billion.

But reacting on Saturday in Kaduna, Makarfi denied the allegation. He told newsmen that the committee he headed was not mandated to probe the financial records of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

He said, “We did not investigate her (Diezani ). We investigated the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the proceeds of sale of crude that NNPC was supposed to have remitted to the federation account and for the period of either 15 or 16 months.

“Our report made it clear that there were several aspects under her ministry that we did not look into because we were not mandated to do that like the issue of swaps, strategic alliances, sale of oil blocks, investments and other issues.

“Still, within the area we investigated, our report was clear that over N1billion was not accounted for even though some agencies such as NPDC accepted that some hundreds of millions (naira) were in their accounts waiting for reconciliation before they could be remitted.

“We were asked to follow up when the Senate approved that report, so we wrote series of letters to confirm whether the remittances had been done, but maybe because we were leaving office, our letters were ignored.

“The report is there. We never cleared anybody. We were not asked to investigate her as a person but NNPC as an institution. They owned up to everything, only that they could not account for everything and our report showed that.”

Read also: No nation can survive two civil wars, CAN admonishes Nigerians

The opposition chairman also spoke on the issue on whether a former governor of Delta State, James Ibori is free to join any political party and participate in politics.

“The law prevents him from holding public office for some time and if we apply the law, we should not deny him his constitutional right to participate in politics.

“Participating in politics does not mean occupying public office. Why are prisoners allowed to vote? It is because they have the constitutional right. So an ex- convict has the right to participate in anything the law allows.

“By 2019, when we take over, we are not going to be vindictive but the truth will prevail,” he said.

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