Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), has revealed that her investigation into an alleged $2.4 billion petrol subsidy fraud led to the abduction of her mother in 2012.
Her mother, Kamene Okonjo, was kidnapped from her home in Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, in December 2012.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Okonjo-Iweala said the kidnappers demanded that she resign as Nigeria’s finance minister and leave the country.
She served as finance minister between 2011 and 2015 under former President Goodluck Jonathan.
According to her, the subsidy investigation began after her office noticed a sharp increase in claims submitted by petrol importers.
“So I went to the president and said, look, something is going on here. Could we audit the accounts? And he said, yes, go ahead. And we found about $2.4 billion worth of fraud. So, we refused to pay,” she recounted.
Okonjo-Iweala said her mother was abducted shortly after the decision was announced. She added that the kidnappers made her resignation and departure from Nigeria conditions for her mother’s release.
“I was told (by the kidnappers) that for her to be released, I should resign and leave the country,” she said.
The former minister described the incident as one of the most traumatic experiences of her life, revealing that her mother was held in a forest before eventually escaping.
“She was held in the middle of a forest, and one night she escaped. She’s still alive. She’s 96 now,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
“It was a terrible, terrible five-day ordeal. I think the worst in my life.”
She also expressed shock that her parents had been targeted in such a manner.
“I never dreamt my parents could ever be touched in this way, that people would be that evil,” she added.
Okonjo-Iweala said she considered resigning while her mother was still being held, but her father advised her not to give in to the kidnappers’ demands.
“He said, ‘We don’t give in to blackmail’. And he said, ‘You’ve got to carry on. You’ve got to go to work’,” she recalled.
Source: Bloomberg
