Billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, has strongly denied allegations of complicity in the petroleum subsidy scandal, describing claims by Umar Sani, a former aide to ex-Vice President Namadi Sambo, as “false, baseless and malicious.”
In a detailed response, Otedola said the attempt to link him and his company, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited, to the multi-billion-naira subsidy fraud was “a shameless distortion of facts.” He clarified that Zenon was solely a diesel importer and trader with over 90 percent market share at the time, and never dealt in Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), the only product eligible under the Petroleum Subsidy Fund (PSF). “Diesel had long been deregulated before the PSF scheme. To accuse Zenon of subsidy claims is ignorance or mischief,” he stated.
Recounting his role in exposing the fraud, Otedola revealed that as a member of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s Economic Team, he was the first to alert the presidency to the monumental scam. He said when the then Minister of Petroleum denied his report, he escalated the matter to Senator Bukola Saraki, who raised it on the Senate floor, leading to a National Assembly investigation. “If I was complicit, would I have blown the whistle on myself?” he asked.
On the Farouk Lawan saga, Otedola explained that his involvement in handing marked money to the then House Committee Chairman was part of a sting operation conducted with the Department of State Services (DSS). He noted that Lawan’s eventual conviction for bribery vindicated him, describing any attempt to twist the facts as “laughable.”
The business mogul further urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to publish the full Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede report on subsidy fraud, insisting Nigerians deserve to know the truth and the real beneficiaries of the fraudulent scheme. “Let the report come out so the real subsidy thieves can be unmasked once and for all,” Otedola said.
Addressing his past dealings with the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), he recalled that the global financial crisis of 2008 left him heavily exposed, but he surrendered assets worth hundreds of billions of naira under a court-supervised settlement. He noted that AMCON publicly commended his approach, adding that details were documented in his memoir Making It Big.
Otedola also disclosed that he has instructed his lawyers to file a ₦1 billion libel suit against Sani for defamation, warning that reputations should not be toyed with for cheap propaganda.
“I have nothing to hide and have always acted in the interest of truth and accountability,” he stressed. “Those who benefitted from subsidy fraud know themselves. Nigerians deserve the truth, and only the guilty fear the exposure of the subsidy report.”
