Below is statement issued by the Alison-Madueke family on the travails and media trial of the former minister. Read below...
The Truth Versus The Media Hysteria Against The Madueke Family
1. In this era of cyber terrorism, decency dictates that one should respond to false and defamatory allegations with silence. But there is a limit to how much any reasonable person can bear the tactics of these cyber terrorists. We all know that what makes a lie fly is the little truth contained therein. This happens to be the weapon used by most online news media to feed their weird obsession with defaming highly placed people.
2.The Madueke family is appalled at the ongoing media frenzy against Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke by a section of the mass media following an invitation to her by the British authorities last Friday for reasons which have yet to be disclosed. For the avoidance of doubt, the family would like to state categorically that it has no issues with any persons from the family being invited anywhere in the world to answer questions about their private or official conduct. The Madueke family believes in law and order, honour and due process.
3.However, it is clear that here is a deliberate and vicious campaign to demonise members of the Madueke family, with all manner of frivolous allegations. For example, an online news media gleefully published that Mr. Ugonna Madueke “owns at least three properties in the United States.” It even called the properties “POSH” and went on to state the addresses. THEY LIED.
4.Mr. Ugonna Madueke has NO PROPERTY ANY WHERE in the United States and has NEVER OWNED ONE. The USA is a country which runs on transparency, accountability and technology. A little honest effort by the online news media would have provided in a few minutes the true ownership of the properties at issue.
5.For historical accuracy, the Madueke family avers without any fear of contradiction that 11711 Scooter Lane (a three bedroom town house) in Fairfax, Virginia, was acquired by the Madueke family in 1997 when Ugonna was only 10 years old. Ugonna’s siblings lived in this property while attending George Mason University in Virginia, USA. Records available to the appropriate authorities in the United States can also show that 13116 Silver Maple Court in Bowie, Maryland, USA belongs to an uncle of the Madueke siblings and was purchased in 1995 when Ugonna was only 8 years old. As a student of the University of Maryland in 2002, Ugonna stayed with his uncle at the said address. All of this was before Mrs. Diezani was appointed to government office. No Madueke or a distant relation has anything to do with the ownership of No. 4227 Summit Manor Court in Virginia.
6.It is evident that what the online news media did was to turn on an internet search engine and maliciously reported that every property where Ugonna Madueke has ever lived in the United States or used as his address must belong to him. The description of the properties as POSH was the icing on the propaganda cake. This is not only unprofessional, as it offends the tenets of journalism, it is clearly not in resonance with good conscience.
7.The online news media also reported that Ugonna and his cousins registered a company by name Hadley Petroleum Solutions Limited which they have been using to deal in Nigerian crude oil sales. As young men bubbling with enthusiasm and fantasy, they registered a company but after two years of no jobs, the company folded up. The company never had a bank account, let alone being a trader of Nigeria’s crude oil. They lied.
8.The online news media took its campaign to the in-laws of the Maduekes. It claimed that Mrs. Beatrice Agama, the 81 year old mother of Mrs. Diezani Madueke, owns a house in the United Kingdom. A LIE! Mrs. Agama has no house or property in the United Kingdom. She has been staying in a rented two-bedroom flat from where she is receiving medical attention for a broken femur. Her son, Timi Agama who has been living in the UK for decades, used to have a house in the UK long before his sister was appointed to government and he sold it long ago. Since then, he has no house in the UK. Archbishop Doye Agama of the Apostolic Pastoral Congress in Manchester, who is in his 60s, is a successful professional and consultant well known amongst his peers, but he does not own Unit 8 Quebec Building in Manchester which the online newspaper ascribed to him.
0 comments:
Post a Comment