CORRUPTION: Diezani Alison-Madueke, Rejected By OPEC

In what many will consider to be a further blow to the administration of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on the international scene, a leading international firm has given the ‘Thumbs Down’ to one of his own nominees.

SaharaReporters has learned that his corruption tainted Minister of Petroleum Resources, Ms. Diezani Alison-Madueketo, failed to make the grade, and has failed to become the first female Secretary-General of OPEC.

The news comes barely twenty-four hours after President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria nominated her as a candidate for the highly coveted post.

At its meeting today, OPEC members decided to extend the tenure of Abdullah al-Badri of Iraq, the current Secretary General, until June of 2015. He was expected to step down from that post in December of this year.

OPEC’s decision to extend Abdullah al-Badri’s tenure for another year was unexpected, and it is also considered a blow to the Nigerian president. Insiders say that Jonathan had groomed his choice for the highly coveted post during the years of his tenure as president despite a swirl of murky issues that has followed her career.     

Alison-Madueke is also one of the most controversial ministers in the Jonathan administration, having been rocked by numerous allegations of financial improprieties.

In one 2012 instance that came to light, an investigation by SaharaReporters revealed that Diezani Alison-Madueke, had booked and paid for two rooms in two separate high-cost hotels.  This occurred during the four nights she spent in New York City during the 2012 United Nations General Assembly.

At one of the hotels, the Petroleum Minister’s room on the 28th floor of the Pierre Hotel cost Nigerian tax payers $3,000 per night.

Saharareporters discovered that Joe Mordi, one of the Petroleum Minister’s closest aides who works at the NNPC office in London, had booked Alison-Madueke into a one-bedroom suite at the exclusive Four Seasons Hotel located at the ritzy upscale mid-town New York address of 57 East 57th Street. The room at that hotel ran for  the  astounding price of $5,000.00 U.S. Dollars a night. 

It is not clear what happens next for Alison-Madueke, as she is likely to retain her post as Minister of Petroleum Resources in the Jonathan administration. But the rejection of her bid for the high post inside of OPEC will not go unnoticed beyond the borders of Nigeria in the years to come.