Editor’s note: Dele Momodu’s interview with the former petroleum minister Diezani Alision-Madueke has caused a stir online, especially the pictures of her looking sick as a result of cancer. The Naij.com columnist Joachim MacEbong wonders why there is little by way of sympathy for her plight.
Diezani Alison-Madueke undergoing cancer treatment, as photographed for Dele Momodu’s The Boss project
Enter Dele, the fixer
Diezani Allison-Madueke has taken her PR war to the internet, and Dele Momodu’s new online newspaper, The Boss, is her chosen mouthpiece. She has been having a series of chats with the Ovation publisher to tell her side of the story that has provided the pretext for Momodu to accelerate the launch his online paper, which, if this first major story is any indication, will be like Ovation for the Internet, dedicated to puff pieces on rich and famous Nigerians.
It is a space that Dele Momodu is well versed in, and the article was clearly designed to evoke sympathy from Nigerians. A picture of the former petroleum minister looking a shadow of her usual bright self, apparently the result of treatment for breast cancer, has now gone viral, confirming stories in the press recently that she had gone to England for treatment.
Ordinarily, it is a picture that would have brought wishes to “get well soon,” especially with a disease such as breast cancer, but such goodwill was in short supply for Mrs Madueke. There was a distinct sense of schadenfreude in the air, similar to when news of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha’s death was announced.
Sympathy was the goal, but whether that goal will be met is another matter, and the reason is that Diezani Allison-Madueke, rightly or wrongly, became the public face of the corruption and waste of the Jonathan administration. She was seen as powerful, favoured, and above the law. She was seen as someone who did what she wished with oil proceeds, and dispensed favours on her whim.
Between Dora and Diezani
The cloud of corruption hanging over the former petroleum minister is such that it has obscured all else, even her humanity. Political office-holders are frequently criticised for rushing to seek medical treatment abroad for the smallest things, and for big things like cancer. The vast majority of sufferers in Nigeria cannot hope to get the kind of care Diezani is currently receiving, as a result of a government that has up to now abdicated its responsibility to its citizens. Those Nigerians have been denied their humanity, their dignity, in life and in death.
Now, Diezani’s own humanity is downplayed in her difficult moment because the corruption she has come to epitomise, in the view of many, has taken up resources that could have been used to provide lifesaving healthcare and other social amenities for the majority.
Contrast this with the outpouring of sympathy for Dora Akunyili. When news of her own battle with cancer was made public, the encomiums showered on her when she lost that battle. Her work with the NAFDAC saved countless lives, and for this, many are grateful.
Perfection is not the issue. The issue that there are some who take public service more seriously than others.
This is not to say that cancer by itself is retribution for any crime. It is not. It affects good and bad people alike. Neither is it to say that gloating over the misfortune of others is somehow the correct thing to do.
Cancer is terrible, but so are the allegations of egregious violations of public trust and the appropriation of the commonwealth to personal pockets that happened under Diezani’s watch. Allegations she must answer for.
An obvious PR stunt
The place for Diezani-Madueke to clear her name is in a court of law, not the pages of newspapers or the Internet. The interview with Dele Momodu, plus the pictures, was a PR stunt clearly intended to win sympathy from the public as a last resort to stave off prosecution.
Hopefully, the authorities charged with her prosecution in the UK and Nigeria will not fall for this con. President Buhari’s anti-corruption posture and statements to the press suggest that the prosecution of corrupt officials, and most importantly, the recovery of funds and assets purchased with those funds, will be one of the focal points of this administration. All of this is music to the ears of Nigerians who have longed to see powerful people thrown in jail for corruption.
Written behind many commercial buses and trucks in Nigeria are interesting pearls of wisdom. A few have inscribed the following words: “Let my enemy live long, and see what I will be in future”.
Many Nigerians would replace that with: “Let Diezani Allison-Madueke live long, return our money, and be brought to justice”.
Source: Naij.com
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