Lawyers ask Jonathan to remove petroleum minister

President Goodluck Jonathan has been urged to remove the Minister of Petroleum Diezani Alison-Madueke over the alleged N10bn chartered jet scandal involving her as well as other allegations rocking the ministry.

The lawyers, under the aegis of Lawyers United Against Corruption (LUAC), who addressed journalists in Lagos also decried what they termed “perceived silence of the presidency” over the matter saying such a minister deserves to be suspended forthwith.

Matthias Emeribe, who spoke on behalf of others, said the oil industry appears to have been the most probed industry in the last two years and yet nothing seems to have positively happened so far.

The group, which lamented the high rate of corruption and institutional decadence in Nigeria, further resolved that they will deploy “every civilised means to heal the country of the infestation of corruption and bad governance within the confines of the Nigerian law.”

The lawyers listed scandals such as $20 billion unremitted fund by the NNPC to the federation account, the kerosene subsidy regime, the crude oil swap deal between NNPC and some oil companies and the return of long queues at filling stations across the country, among others.

“The Minister of Petroleum Resources is untouchable in the present regime, the only option open to this government is a holistic overhaul of the entire oil industry beginning with the removal of the Petroleum Minister to allow for a thorough audit of the entire industry.