I told Diezani not to bring money home – Husband – TheNigerialawyer

A former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani
Alison-Madueke, lost her ability to speak and subsequently fell
into a coma due to the complications of the cancer she had, her
husband has said.

Diezani’s husband, Rear Admiral Alison Madueke (retd.), said
this in his recently published book titled, ‘Riding the Storms with
God on My Side’.

Madueke, who is a former Chief of Naval Staff, said towards the
end of the Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2015, Diezani was
diagnosed with cancer and had to be flown to London for
treatment.

He said, “On Sunday, July 26, 2015, I stepped into my bedroom
soon after our brunch to find that my phone was ringing. It was my
mother-in-law, Mrs. Beatrice Agama, who was staying with Diezani
while she was undertaking treatment. She was sobbing and only
managed to inform me that my wife was no longer talking.

“I was in London by 5.30am the following day, Monday, and went
straight to see her. Diezani was in a coma. I called an ambulance
that arrived 20 minutes later, the attendants bearing a stretcher.
They had to get a wheelchair since the lift could not take the
stretcher.

“In less than 10 minutes, we were at the emergency intensive
care unit of the Harley Street Clinic. Her doctor, Prof. Paul
Ellis, a top oncologist, was out of town and had to be
recalled.

“Three days later, when Diezani finally came out of the coma,
she saw me by her bedside and asked what I was doing in London. She
had reacted badly to her Friday chemotherapy treatment. Thank God
she pulled through that nightmarish incident and is now fully
recovered.”

The retired naval officer said unfortunately, while his wife was
severely ill, her condition became an issue of politics.

Earlier in the book, Madueke said when Diezani accepted a
ministerial appointment in 2007, he told her not to focus on money
but maintain the good name of the family.

Madueke, who served as military governor of Imo and Anambra
states in the 1980s, said he initially did not want his wife to
take public office having only become the first female director of
Shell Petroleum Development Company in Nigeria and had a great
career.

The former naval officer said, “When finally she was appointed
Minister of Transportation, I took further time to advise her on
the topic of self protection and self preservation in the
bureaucracy.

“I finally recited the advice my father had given me upon my
appointment as military governor. “Go do your best, don’t bring
back money, but bring back my name”

“Later in that administration, she was appointed Minister of
Petroleum Resources, a position she held until the Peoples
Democratic Party lost the 2015 Presidential election.”

On how his wife was appointed a minister, Madueke said shortly
before the inauguration of President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2007, he was
approached by the then Vice-President-elect, Goodluck Jonathan.

Madueke said Jonathan pleaded with him to allow Diezani to take
up a job as minister as there were very few persons of Bayelsa
origin who had her impressive resumé.

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