Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has disclosed why her mother was kidnapped.
She told reporters yesterday that she “can’t give all the details because we don’t want to compromise on-going investigations”, but, according to her, her mother told investigators that the abductors said she was kidnapped because her daughter refused to pay subsidy cash and blocked payment to certain components of the SURE-P programme.
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said: “Apart from the emotional trauma of being violently taken away from her family and kept incommunicado for five days in a strange environment, a woman of 83 years was left without food and water for five days.”
The Okonjo family, she said, “are thankful and give glory to God that she is alive today to tell the tale.”
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said the kidnappers “spent much of the time harassing the old woman. They told her that I must get on the radio and television and announce my resignation. When she asked why, they told her it was because I did not pay oil subsidy money; they also said I had blocked payment of money to certain components of the SURE-P programme.”
These, she said, are not true. In the case of subsidy payments, she said, the government has been paying all marketers whose claims have been verified by the Aig-Imoukhuede Committee after going through the processes.
But she remained defiant that claims that can not be verified or marketers still owing the government will not be paid.
Said the minister: “For marketers whose transactions are proven to be fraudulent, the position of the Jonathan government is also clear; we cannot and we will not pay. We will not back down on this. We will continue to stand firm.” This is the right thing to do. And this, I believe, is what the Nigerian people want.
With regards to the case of SURE-P, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said: “There is a totally different process that I have no control over.”
The minister was grateful to members of the international community for their support, notably “the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mr David Cameron, who took the trouble to write a personal note to encourage me; the United States Embassy and government; the Secretary General of the United Nations and the entire UN family; the President of the World Bank and former Presidents of the World Bank; the Managing Director of the IMF; the Mo Ibrahim Foundation; Bono and the One Foundation; Heads of international agencies and dignitaries”.
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala thanked President Goodluck Jonathan and the First Lady who, she said “were absolutely wonderful and first rate in their support and encouragement to me and my family throughout this terrible ordeal”. “The President took a daily interest in the case and gave directives for appropriate action by the security agencies.”
The security agencies she noted also did a good job. She said they were “very professional and enthusiastic in the discharge of their duties”. “I am hopeful that they will complete the job which they started so well.”
However, the news conference was tempered by the death of the former governor of Kaduna State Mr Patrick Yakowa, and the former National Security Adviser, Gen Andrew Azazi, in an helicopter crash at the weekend.
Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, said her heart “is heavy, with the news of the passing of my brothers, Governor Patrick Yakowa, General Andrew Aziza and the others who were on that last flight with them. “It is, indeed, a great tragedy. Our sympathy and prayers go to their families. We pray for divine comfort for them in this very difficult time.”
