Segun Atanda/
Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola has announced that he has instructed his lawyers to file a N1 billion libel suit against Umar Sani, former media aide to ex-Vice President Namadi Sambo, over allegations linking him to subsidy fraud during the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
In a strongly worded statement released on Sunday, Otedola described Sani’s claims that he benefitted from subsidy payments as “false, baseless, and a shameless attempt to pander to lies and rewrite history.”
“Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited was wholly an importer and trader of diesel with a market share in excess of 90%, never traded in Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and as such could not have claimed for subsidy under the Petroleum Subsidy Fund scheme,” Otedola said.
He explained that diesel had long been deregulated before the subsidy regime, stressing that only PMS qualified for subsidy claims. “It is therefore shocking that someone like Umar Sani who occupied a position of authority and responsibility could display such ignorance of basic industry facts in public,” he added.
Otedola maintained that far from being a beneficiary of subsidy fraud, he was the whistleblower who exposed the monumental fraud in 2012.
“I was the one who first alerted the President of the monumental fraud being perpetrated by economic saboteurs in the PSF scheme. When he called the then Minister of Petroleum, she denied it. With my strong determination to stop the economic malaise and bleeding, I called Senator Bukola Saraki and reported the fraud to him. He took it to the floor of the Senate, and from there the House of Representatives began its investigation,” he said.
The billionaire also revisited the controversy surrounding his clash with the then House of Representatives probe panel headed by Farouk Lawan, insisting that the bribery allegation against him was part of a fightback by those indicted in the subsidy scam.
“When the harassment and blackmail became incessant, I petitioned the authorities and worked with the Department of State Security (DSS) in a sting operation. The money was provided by the DSS, duly marked, and handed over to me under surveillance. I then gave it to Farouk Lawan in line with the sting operation. That is on record. To twist that carefully documented operation into an indictment against me is laughable and only exposes the ignorance of Mr. Sani,” Otedola stated.
He pointed out that Lawan was later convicted and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for bribery, describing the outcome as proof of his innocence.
On the broader issue of subsidy fraud, Otedola called on President Bola Tinubu to release the full report of the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede committee, which investigated the alleged N2 trillion subsidy scam in 2012.
“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,” he said.
He also dismissed insinuations about his dealings with the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), clarifying that his debts arising from the 2008 global economic meltdown were transparently resolved through a court-supervised process.
“The loans were sold to AMCON. I in turn gave up my assets worth hundreds of billions of naira to settle my obligations under a court-ordered settlement. It is on record that AMCON itself publicly commended my approach and told other debtors to follow my example,” he said, adding that he had detailed the matter in his book, Making It Big.
Otedola warned that reputations should not be “toyed with for cheap propaganda,” stressing that his planned libel suit was intended to serve as a deterrent.
“Because of these deliberate lies and unfounded allegations, I have instructed my lawyers to file a N1 billion libel suit against Umar Sani. People must learn that reputations are not to be toyed with for cheap propaganda and also to serve as a deterrent for other mischief makers in the future,” he said.
The businessman concluded his statement by urging those spreading falsehoods to “go and read my book, Making It Big, study the facts, and stop disgracing yourselves with ignorance.”
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