In view of the ongoing probe of the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke, over allegations of spending over N10 billion in two years to charter and maintain private jets, various private groups have risen in her defence, describing those behind the campaign as desperate politicians looking for power at all costs.
One of such groups, Network of Progressive Activists (NPA), through its National Coordinator, Comrade Tim Ademola, attributed the plight of the minister to the fact that she was a woman.
He cited past six ministers of petroleum the country had before Diezani whom he said all had access to chartered jets or Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) owned aircraft.
“So why is Mrs Alison-Madueke being hounded and persecuted? Or does it have anything to do with the fact that she is a woman?
NPA particularly took a swipe at an aviation professional group, Concerned Aviation Professionals (CAP) for leading the negative campaign train saying: “We challenge this so called aviation professionals to avail members of the public the travel log of all other top government officials including state governors and National Assembly members who are regular patrons of jet charter services.”
Also speaking on behalf of the minister, the national coordinator, Rights Monitoring Group (RMG), Femi Aduwo, who attributed the persecution to the 2015 general elections, said contrary to the allegation that the minister spent the money; the entire allegation had been found to be a ruse after a careful investigation carried out by the monitoring group.
He described the ongoing attack on the petroleum minister as uncalled for, insisting that it was all because of 2015 elections.
Aduwo, while speaking in Lagos recently, described the allegations against Diezani as lies only targeted at bringing down the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) even as he urged the populace to disregard the accusation.
According to the activist, by the nature and dynamics in the oil industry, the operators must meet the urgency attached to the operations, which he described as a normal practice in the industry across the world.
He explained further that oil companies operating in the country especially within the Niger Delta area charter aircraft for their operations and wondered why NNPC, which is the regulator of activities in the industry could not do the same in order to meet the demands of the sector.
“The plane in question is chartered by NNPC and the access is not limited to the minister alone. On many occasions, members of the National Assembly have used helicopters or plane of NNPC. The oil companies operating in Nigeria, especially in Niger Delta regularly charter aircraft as situation demand, then why the regulator of the industry should not operate in the same frequency.
“The Ministry of Petroleum and NNPC should be applauded for prudent management of fund for charter option instead of ownership of fleets.
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