Oshiomhole calls Diezani’s arrest tip of the iceberg, says he is the happiest man

Edo state Governor Oshiomhole, on Tuesday said he was not surprised by the arrest of a former minister of petroleum resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, in the United Kingdom, describing it rather as a tip of the iceberg.

The outspoken governor lamented that the economy of the nation was badly managed for many years under former President Goodluck Jonathan during which he also said no average Nigerian fared better even though there were reports of rebasing the economy.

Speaking to newsmen at the State House in Abuja after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, Oshiomhole said, “For me, I don’t think anybody should be surprised (about Alison-Madueke’s trial in the UK) because even the most favourable commentator on the Nigerian condition, the economy, the polity and the society, agrees that our economy was badly mismanaged over the years. I have not seen one commentator that disagrees.”

Oshiomhole said the truth had been that a lot of money was stolen under Jonathan’s watch and that the ongoing travails of Alison-Madueke could only be described as a tip of the iceberg.

The governor said, “The truth is that a lot of money was stolen and what you are seeing is just a tip of the iceberg because when you imagine what accrued to Nigeria consistently from $140 (per barrel) averaging $108 over a long period of time and yet your treasury is empty and you were running a budget deficit.

“You were devoting 85 per cent of your budget for four consecutive years to recurrent; you were borrowing and you drew the entire pensions fund,” Oshiomhole said.

He added, “You challenge PenCom and the Ministry of Finance, you will discover that over N3.5tn was drawn down by the previous government from the pension fund to support recurrent expenditure, not to support infrastructure.”

Oshiomhole added that he was the happiest person concerning recent developments because he had been in government for seven years without being in power.