SAN FRANCISCO, June 17, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has lashed out at a report in Al Jazeera which claimed a property in Asokoro Abuja was seized from her describing the report as unprofessional and deliberately designed to cause sensation.
Al Jazeera in a video report on ‘Nigeria Corruption’ claimed that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seized a property in Abuja worth $18 million from Diezani adding that jewellery, furniture and a bulletproof gym worth $2 million were recovered from the building.
In a letter addressed to the Chief Executive Officer, Al Jazeera, through her attorney, Chike Amobi and Co, Diezani requested an immediate retraction of the “false and libellous” publication within seven days, else, failure of same will force her to seek redress.
“Our attention has been drawn to a recent broadcast by your station in which you maliciously and intentionally attributed ownership of an $18 million house in the Asokoro District of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria to our client,” the letter read.
“As you are well aware, that publication is false and we believe you either had actual knowledge of the falsity thereof, or in exercise of reasonable prudence would have discovered it to be false.
“Consequently, request is hereby made that you either publish or cause to publish an immediate retraction of this false and libellous publication about our client.
“We further request that the said retraction be published within seven (7) days of your receipt of this correspondence in the same manner and medium in which the false information was broadcast.
Similarly, Diezani denied media reactions purportedly to have originated from her over the video.
“We are informed and believe that several other reactions which purport to have originated from our client have also been published and are currently circulating in
both print media and on the World Wide Web.
“We also wish to state that none of these reactions to the Al Jazeera broadcast, which are attributed to our client, actually originated from our client.
“While strongly condemning the irresponsible journalism of Al Jazeera for broadcasting these verifiable false statements about our client, our client also wishes to distance herself from these reactions ascribed to her which neither originated from her, nor from persons authorized to speak on her behalf.”
Story by David Oputah
