Oil cabal behind my travails –Alison-Madueke -JULIANA TAIWO-OBALONYE,

Minister of Petro­leum, Diezani Al­ison-Madueke, has decried her alleged persecution by those she referred to as members of a cabal, who she had stepped on their toes in the interest of the nation.
She has also decried in­sinuations that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corpora­tion (NNPC) was delaying to remit to government, the $1.48 billion (N294.5 billion) uncovered by a recent forensic audit, adding that remission had started.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Ex­ecutive Council (FEC) meet­ing presided over by Presi­dent Goodluck Jonathan, the minister, who is also the first female president of Oil Pro­ducing Exporting Countries (OPEC), said contrary to the conclusion by the Federation Account Allocation Commit­tee (FAAC), the NNPC had started remitting the N294.5 billion uncovered by a recent forensic audit.
She said: “The PriceWater House Copper forensic au­dit that was done few weeks ago, in its recommendation, mentioned that $1.48 billion was owed by Nigeria Petro­leum Development Company (NPDC) for a block that had hitherto been assigned from the NNPC to NPDC, which is its subsidiary and they felt that the right process will be that NPDC will refund that money to the Federation Ac­count. NPDC has apparently started those refunds and it is also in discussion with NNPC and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) on the same. So, the refund has actually started.”
On her alleged desperate moves to save herself from some of the actions she took, including seeking the help of former head of state, Gen­eral Abdulsalami Abuba­kar, Alison-Madueke said; “I believe that His Excellency has already answered that and called it unnecessary mischief and I will ask that the media do its research properly and deal with the facts. I have the privilege of meeting with many senior statesmen during the course of my job in the Federal Executive Council and I was surprised that he should be singled out in any such form. The short answer is, no.
“I have not sought such assistance because I am not aware that I have been in­dicted of any crime that I will need a soft landing. Over the last four years, I have been severally and unfortunately accused and labelled in so many malicious and vindic­tive ways. I have explained these things and pushed back robustly on these accusations and I have even gone to court on many of them. Yet, they keep being regurgitated. And I think it is unfortunate, par­ticularly when we are mov­ing into a transition period and looking forward to an incoming government that is coming to take over where we have ended.”

Culled from the sun