Okonjo-Iweala on Tuesday denied media reports that
stated she was being probed by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission.
The EFCC had on Monday said it will soon begin the
probe of the roles of some principal officers in the
former Goodluck Jonathan administration, including
the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs.
Diezani Alison-Madueke; her counterpart in the
Ministry of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; and an
oil magnate.
The Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu,
was reported to have said this in Abuja when he
appeared before the House of Representatives
Committee on Financial Crimes to defend the
commission’s 2016 budget proposals.
In his presentation before the lawmakers on Monday,
Magu tactically avoided giving direct answers to
questions on whether Alison-Madueke would come
under the searchlight of the agency.
The anti-graft agency’s boss merely responded to
such questions by saying, “The commission will soon
move into the petroleum sector”, but called on the
National Assembly to support the efforts of the
agency by making more funds available for its
operations.
Shortly after the presentation of the EFCC’s chairman,
however, a member of the committee, Mr. Razak
Atunwa, told reporters that Magu actually informed
the committee that Alison-Madueke, Okonjo-Iweala
and the oil baron would be investigated.
Atunwa was the lawmaker, who asked Magu the
question on whether the commission would probe
the oil sector.
Atunwa added, “I said the EFCC has recovered a lot of
money for Nigeria and he (Magu) mentioned that in
that regard, more sectors of the economy are likely
to come under investigative activities.
“I said ‘will it include the petroleum sector’? He said,
‘yes’. And I said ‘would it include investigating the
following people – Diezani Alison-Madueke, Okonjo-
Iweala and a particular oil magnate’, and he said ‘yes’;
those people are already under their investigative
radar.”
But the former finance minister in her reaction said
in a statement issued by her Media Adviser,Mr Paul
Nwabuikwu that what was reported is a
“misrepresentation of what the EFCC Chairman
actually said during the event.”
The statement reads in part, “We want to clarify that
some of the media reports alleging that the EFCC is
investigating former Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, are misleading and untrue.
“This is clear from eye witness accounts of the Budget
2016 presentation by the EFCC at the House of
Representatives and gaps in the reported stories.
“The headlines are a misrepresentation of what the
EFCC Chairman actually said during the event.
“While the headlines claimed that the EFCC Chairman,
in response to a question by an APC, member Hon
Razak Atunwa, stated that Dr Okonjo-Iweala is under
investigation, the actual words quoted in the same
reports told a very different story.”
The statement by the minister claimed that what was
reported in the media was not a true reflection of
the account of events adding that “The Nigerian
media plays an important role in our democracy and
we urge them to be fair, balanced and factual in their
reports.”
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