“Deziani is being closely monitored and has not been allowed to see friends except close family members for weeks. Cellphones and other transmitting devices are also not allowed in her hospital room because of radiation.”

Former Petroleum Resources Minister, Mrs. Deziani Alison-Madueke is very ill and has been hospitalized in a London hospital for an undisclosed ailment, family sources said over the weekend.

The often-reliable family sources told THEWILL that the former Minister has been hospitalized for weeks and hasn’t deliberately avoided Nigeria for fear of being probed by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

It was gathered that Deziani had undergone treatment in a London hospital for an undisclosed form of cancer during her tenure as Minister.

Sources further disclosed that Deziani is being closely monitored and has not been allowed to see friends except close family members for weeks. Cellphones and other transmitting devices are also not allowed in her hospital room because of radiation, the sources said.

According to one source who pleaded anonymity, “Diezani is responding well to treatment but her doctors are still concerned about her. It is such an emotional time for us all as she is quite fragile and we are careful to keep her away from all the gossip and falsehoods being attributed to her in the media. We pray the media respects the family’s feelings at this time,” the source said.

“What you read in the media about her revealing details of her stewardship are all nonsense. If she has not been allowed to receive visitors, take phone calls let alone make calls, I wonder how any media can claim that she has been singing like a canary. We really feel that our journalists should report facts and not go out of their way to produce sensational headlines in bad taste. This is not professional”.

President Muhammadu said his administration would probe state oil firm NNPC, which is under the supervision of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.