Rear Admiral Alison Madueke (retd.), the husband of a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has revealed that she has lost her ability to speak and subsequently fell into a coma due to the complications of cancer she had.
Diezani’s
husband, Rear Admiral Alison Madueke (retd.), said this in his recently
a published book titled, ‘Riding the Storms with God on My Side’.
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He said, “On
Sunday, July 26, 2015, I stepped into my bedroom soon after our brunch
to find that my phone was ringing. It was my mother-in-law, Mrs.
Beatrice Agama, who was staying with Diezani while she was undertaking
treatment. She was sobbing and only managed to inform me that my wife
was no longer talking.
“I was in London by 5.30am the following
day, Monday, and went straight to see her. Diezani was in a coma. I
called an ambulance that arrived 20 minutes later, the attendants
bearing a stretcher. They had to get a wheelchair since the lift could
not take the stretcher.
“In less than 10 minutes, we were at the
emergency intensive care unit of the Harley Street Clinic. Her doctor,
Prof. Paul Ellis, a top oncologist, was out of town and had to be
recalled.
“Three days later, when Diezani finally came out of the
coma, she saw me by her bedside and asked what I was doing in London.
She had reacted badly to her Friday chemotherapy treatment. Thank God
she pulled through that nightmarish incident and is now fully
recovered.”
The retired naval officer said, unfortunately, while his wife was severely ill, her condition became an issue of politics.
Earlier
in the book, Madueke said when Diezani accepted a ministerial
appointment in 2007, he told her not to focus on money but maintain the
the good name of the family.
Madueke, who served as military governor
of Imo and Anambra states in the 1980s, said he initially did not want
his wife to take public office having only become the first female
director of Shell Petroleum Development Company in Nigeria and had a
great career.
The former naval officer said, “When finally she
was appointed Minister of Transportation, I took further time to advise
her on the topic of self-protection and self-preservation in the
bureaucracy.
“I finally recited the advice my father had given me
upon my appointment as military governor. “Go do your best, don’t bring
back money, but bring back my name”
“Later in that
administration, she was appointed Minister of Petroleum Resources, a
position she held until the Peoples Democratic Party lost the 2015
Presidential election.”
On how his wife was appointed a minister,
Madueke said shortly before the inauguration of President Umaru
Yar’Adua in 2007, he was approached by the then Vice-President-elect,
Goodluck Jonathan.
Madueke said Jonathan pleaded with him to allow Diezani to take up a job as minister as there were very few persons of Bayelsa origin who had her impressive resumé.
Via: Punch Newspaper
