The businessman said the allegations were mischievous and “a shameless attempt to rewrite history.”
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Billionaire businessman, Mr. Femi Otedola, has dismissed allegations linking him to the multi-billion naira petroleum subsidy fraud during Goodluck Jonathan administration, describing the claims as false, malicious, and an attempt to tarnish his reputation.
Otedola, in a statement issued at the weekend, said he has instructed his lawyers to institute a ₦1 billion libel suit against Umar Sani, former Special Adviser (Media) to ex-Vice President Namadi Sambo, who allegedly accused him of benefiting from the subsidy regime in a publication.
The businessman said the allegations were mischievous and “a shameless attempt to rewrite history.”
According to him, his company, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited, only imported diesel, a deregulated product, and therefore had no dealings with the Petroleum Subsidy Fund (PSF), which was restricted to Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
“If diesel did not fall under the subsidy regime, how then could Zenon Petroleum have claimed from the PSF?” Otedola queried.
He explained that rather than being complicit, he was the whistleblower who first alerted then President Goodluck Jonathan about the fraud in the PSF. Otedola said he later escalated the matter to Senator Bukola Saraki, which eventually led to investigations in the National Assembly.
He also recounted how the Farouk Lawan-led House committee attempted to indict him, but stressed that the sting operation conducted with the Department of State Services (DSS) eventually exposed the extortion attempt, leading to Lawan’s conviction.
Otedola further urged President Bola Tinubu to release the full Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede report on subsidy fraud, insisting that Nigerians deserve to know the truth.
On the issue of debts with the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), he admitted suffering financial losses during the 2008 global economic meltdown but clarified that he surrendered assets worth hundreds of billions of naira to settle his obligations, a move that AMCON publicly commended.
The businessman warned that reputations should not be toyed with for cheap propaganda. He advised his critics to seek facts in his recently released book, Making It Big, instead of, in his words, “disgracing themselves with ignorance.”
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