The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has been hijacked by “corporate cabals” around President Bola Tinubu, says former vice president under Obasanjo's administration, Atiku Abubakar.
The former vice-president, in a statement on Wednesday, signed by Paul Ibe, Atiku’s media adviser, expressed bewilderment at how the NNPC “placed its retail division under the management of OVH, a company in which Oando, headed by Wale Tinubu, owns 49 percent”.
He noted that his reason for making the move to privatise the NNPC and increase its transparency has been blackened, criminally hijacked by “by corporate cabals around the president”.
Atike explained: “In October 2022, just five months before the elections, the NNPC retail controversially announced it had acquired OVH and all its filling stations.
“NNPCL already had about 550 filling stations across the country but claimed it was enhancing its capacity by acquiring OVH, which had only 94 stations and 100 others leased.
“The NNPC did not disclose the purchase price of OVH or the terms of the acquisition. A freedom of information request by Premium Times was also rejected by the NNPC, which claimed to be a private company despite still being government-owned.
“Following this dubious deal, Mele Kyari was controversially retained as NNPC GMD despite his incompetence. Tinubu then appointed his former boss at Mobil, turned ally, Pius Akinyelure, as NNPC chairman, while he himself took on the role of minister of petroleum.
“In a move that defies economic logic, OVH, previously owned by NNPC retail, has now acquired NNPC retail. This absurd situation means that Wale Tinubu’s Oando now owns 49% of NNPC retail.
“Moreover, Nigeria paid Wale Tinubu a significant sum to facilitate the Tinubu family’s acquisition of the national oil company.
“This represents a clear case of illogical business transactions and abuse of office by President Tinubu, who has prevented NNPC from becoming a public liability company as stipulated by the PIA.”
Even as the NNPC and its leadership are being investigated by the legislature, he raised a level of ambiguity about the credibility of the process — citing the vested interests of those conducting the probe.
“Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, who is heading the national assembly panel, is a known supporter of Tinubu. He served as a commissioner under Tinubu in Lagos state and publicly calls him his godfather.
“Given that Tinubu is the petroleum minister, he should be held responsible for the sector’s issues. I doubt Bamidele will conduct a thorough investigation that might implicate his patron,” he noted.
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