LAGOS, June 25, 2024 — Omoyele Sowore, the African Action Congress (AAC) 2023 presidential candidate and newspaper publisher, has made headlines with his latest allegations against embattled former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke. According to Sowore, Alison-Madueke owns a yacht that she rents out to prominent figures, including American billionaire celebrity couple Jay-Z and Beyoncé.
Speaking in a teaser for Chude Jideonwo’s upcoming documentary, ‘Is It Your Money?: The Story of Diezani Alison-Madueke,’ Sowore expressed his astonishment at the lack of cinematic portrayal of Alison-Madueke’s alleged misconduct. “All the revelations that came out of the Diezani story by now should have become a movie. Buying a yacht with the money of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and riding it around and renting it out to Jay-Z and his wife, Beyoncé. I think that is more brazen,” Sowore remarked.
Sowore’s comments come as he continues to criticize various aspects of Nigerian governance. In a recent interview with Seun Okinbaloye on his podcast, Sowore claimed that several initiatives by President Bola Tinubu’s administration, including the Student Loan initiative and the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, were originally his ideas.
Discussing the Student Loan initiative, Sowore stated, “This student loan that they’re doing, we didn’t promise student loans, we promised grants. N100,000 was what we proposed per semester to Nigerian students, and people said it was impossible. When they, Tinubu government, took the idea, someone turned it into a loan.”
He further elaborated on the coastal highway project, saying, “This idea of a coastal highway was something I proposed in Badagry in 2018 when I went there to campaign that there would be a coastal highway from the border of Benin Republic to Calabar, and this would jumpstart the Nigerian economy. And when they (Tinubu’s government) took it, they cut off the Badagry side and they made it a 47km highway that would help them provide a highway for a private real estate development in Eko Atlantic and that would join the Dangote Refinery to it.”
