Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola has dismissed allegations linking him to Nigeria’s fuel subsidy fraud and filed a ₦1 billion libel suit against Umar Sani, former media aide to ex-Vice President Namadi Sambo.
Otedola said the claims were false and malicious, stressing that his company, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited, never participated in the Petroleum Subsidy Fund scheme.
He explained that Zenon only traded in diesel, which is fully deregulated, while Premium Motor Spirit was the sole product covered by subsidy payments.
The businessman recalled his role as a whistleblower during the Goodluck Jonathan administration, when he alerted the Economic Team and the National Assembly to irregularities in the scheme. “If I were complicit in subsidy theft, would I be the one to raise the alarm and blow the whistle on myself?” he asked.
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On the 2012 bribery scandal involving former lawmaker Farouk Lawan, Otedola clarified that the money he provided was part of a Department of State Services sting operation. The case eventually led to Lawan’s conviction for corruption.
He also called on President Bola Tinubu to make public the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede report on subsidy fraud, saying Nigerians deserved to know the actual beneficiaries.
Addressing past financial controversies, Otedola confirmed his settlement with the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria after the 2008 global crisis.
He said he handed over assets worth hundreds of billions of naira, which AMCON acknowledged as full repayment.
Otedola maintained that the latest allegations were politically motivated and warned against attempts to distort history.
He insisted his record was clear and that his reputation must not be used for propaganda.
