Former Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, has alleged that former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani-Alison Madueke, forced ex-President Goodluck Jonathan to sack her.
She made the claim in an upcoming book, ‘On a Platter of Gold: How Jonathan Won and Lost Nigeria’, written by the spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bolaji Abdullahi, who also served under Jonathan.
According to Oduah, Jonathan called her to explain herself after the news about the $1.6million BMW armoured cars bought for her by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) was reported.
She revealed that Alison-Madueke and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, were present at the meeting.
“I thought she had my back. I did not know at the time that she was actually fuelling it and orchestrating all the media attacks,” she told Abdullahi.
“I knew all along that Diezani could not deal with having another female around who had the kind of access I had to the president. But she went too far.
“She thought I was the one who leaked the issue of private jet that put her into trouble with the House of Representatives (Diezani was accused of spending N10 billion on chartered jets). For her it was payback time.”
“Diezani was paying people to keep the story alive. At the same time, she was whispering in [the president’s] ears that he had to take action,” Oduah said.