Osinbajo: Diezani, Omokore, Aluko stole $3bn from NNPC

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo last night named those whom he alleged stole $3 billion from oil lifted in a strategic alliance contract by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Osinbajo, in a statement by his spokesman, Laolu Akande, named them as a former Minister of Petroleum Resources Diezani AllisonMadueke, Jide Omokore and Kola Aluko.

The Peoples Democratic Party had last Wednesday challenged Osinbajo to name the three persons he claimed to have stolen the money.

The vice president said Diezani, Omokore and Aluko made away with the money, and that royalties and taxes were also not paid, adding that none of them had come out to make any denial.

“We all know about the $2.1 Billion arms equipment scandal that was investigated, it is being used in the case against the former NSA, this also happened under the previous administration.

"We have released a number of names of people who have been found with questionable funds, allegedly looted from the public till, and some of them, in some instances have actually refunded money that they couldn’t explain where it came from. We have tons and tons of evidence of how under the previous administration grand corruption was the order of the day,” he said.

Reacting to the warning by the PDP that he should stop tagging its leaders and members as thieves, he said it was "a show of shame to have a group of politicians trying to confuse Nigerians and trying to shift the blame. Nigerians are well aware of their antics, and Nigerians have a right to demand accountability from the government, and we'll not relent until justice is gotten for the Nigerian people on this matter...So, the PDP folks cannot fool Nigerians, they can fool themselves, but Nigerians know what the truth is, and they know who to believe.

"And so any attempt to try to confuse Nigerians is a wasted effort, because Nigerians know exactly who to trust and who to believe. It is a shame that the PDP thinks they can fool Nigerians; it is not going to happen.”

The vice president said Nigerians cannot be fooled by the calculated attempt befuddle the issues, deny and deflect the weighty allegations and the hard facts of grand corruptions and crass stealing that went on under the past administration.