Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), says her investigation into an alleged $2.4 billion fuel subsidy fraud led to the abduction of her mother in December 2012.
Kamene Okonjo was kidnapped from her home in Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, while her daughter was serving as Nigeria’s minister of finance under former President Goodluck Jonathan.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Okonjo-Iweala said the abductors demanded that she resign from her position and leave the country as a condition for her mother’s release.
She explained that the investigation began after her office noticed a sharp increase in claims submitted by petrol importers, prompting her to seek approval from the president to audit the accounts.
“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.
According to her, her mother was abducted shortly after the decision to withhold the payments was announced.
“I was told (by the kidnappers) that for her to be released, I should resign and leave the country,” she said.
The WTO director-general described the incident as one of the most traumatic experiences of her life, revealing that her mother was held in a forest for five days before 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 added that the incident shattered her belief that her parents would never be 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 before her mother regained her freedom but was advised by her father not to give in to the abductors’ 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.
