NIGERIA’s billionaire businessman and philanthropist, Femi Otedola, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to make public the full report of the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede-led panel on the controversial fuel subsidy regime carried out under former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Otedola, in a statement late on Sunday sent to News Point Nigeria, insisted that Nigerians deserve to know the truth about those who looted the nation’s treasury under the Petroleum Subsidy Fund (PSF) scheme, which bled the country of billions of dollars.
“I implore President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to release the full Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede report on subsidy fraud as Nigerians deserve to know the truth.
“It is on record that the Presidency at the time called on the late EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, to halt the investigation. Let the report be made public so the real subsidy thieves can be unmasked,” Otedola declared.
The businessman’s call came in reaction to allegations by Umar Sani, a former media aide to ex-Vice President Namadi Sambo, who accused him of hypocrisy for criticising subsidy fraud while allegedly benefiting from it through his company, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd.
Sani alleged that Otedola once controlled up to 90 per cent of diesel imports and 40 per cent of other petroleum products at the height of the subsidy era.
But an irked Otedola dismissed the claims as false and malicious, revealing that he had instructed his lawyers to file a N1 billion defamation suit against Sani.
He stressed that Zenon Petroleum never participated in the subsidy racket since diesel was deregulated and excluded from the PSF scheme.
“Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited was wholly an importer and trader of diesel with a market share in excess of 90 per cent, never traded in Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and as such could not have claimed for subsidy under the Petroleum Subsidy Fund scheme,” he clarified.
Otedola recalled how, as a member of Jonathan’s Economic Management Team, he personally blew the whistle on the subsidy scam by alerting the then President and subsequently involving Senator Bukola Saraki, which led to the famous House of Representatives probe.
He recounted how attempts by subsidy racketeers to discredit him culminated in the Farouk Lawan scandal, which later resulted in Lawan’s conviction and imprisonment for bribery.
“As they always say, it’s only natural for corruption to fight back. When the harassment and blackmail became incessant, I petitioned the authorities and collaborated with the DSS in a sting operation that nailed Farouk Lawan. The facts are on record and public,” Otedola maintained.
Addressing his past debt resolution with the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Otedola said he had never hidden details of his financial exposure during the 2008 global financial meltdown.
He reminded Nigerians that he had fully settled his debts by surrendering assets worth hundreds of billions of naira, a move publicly commended by AMCON itself.
“It is on record that AMCON commended my approach and urged other debtors to emulate it. Court records are there, and I even addressed this in my recently released book, Making It Big,” he said.
Emphasising that he would not allow his reputation to be tarnished, Otedola warned those peddling “half-baked stories” to desist from rewriting history.
“Those who benefited from subsidy fraud know themselves. I will not sit back and allow falsehood to be written into history. Nigerians deserve to know the truth,” he declared.