There are many whispers and writings about your involvement with the Malta Refinery, the ownership of OANDO OIL company and Agip Nigeria Limited. Tell the nation the truth, Mr. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. You owe that to your country and compatriots. An editorial in one foreign magazine called your alleged involvement in the oil sector as shady.

Those in the corridors of power, many of who are your ‘boys’, some are your personal friends, some are family friends and others who were just ‘powerful’ enough to gate crash their way into the circle of your ‘friends’, may advise you against levelling up with your fellow countrymen. Do not mind them, because they are not thinking about you, but rather what they might lose, if the confession leads to them to loosing their privileged status.

But your supporters nationwide and beyond, most of whom never had the opportunity to see you live, would be vindicated whatever the confession might lead to. The country and posterity would be the biggest beneficiaries, in that it would signpost the beginning of the time when a Nigerian leader clears the air over whatever allegations were levelled against him.

The allegations centre on oil, from the production of its crude form, to transportation of same to ‘your’ refinery in Malta, and the return of various categories of refined oil to the country for sale at the filling stations in Nigeria. All allegedly handled by a private company said to belong to you for a very big payout at the end of the day.

A shadowy group that goes by the nomenclature of ‘Anonymous NG @NXG, and a supporter of the ongoing ‘nationwide strike’, commented about the 

oil imbroglios, when one of its  members saw the Malta Refinery: “Our group decided to investigate further. Our discovery was deeply shocking. Firstly I will breakdown the whole Oil theft process and how Oil exporting and importing business works here in Nigeria.

NNPC grants importation licenses to a select group of oil companies which are responsible for importing petroleum products into the country. These companies set the prices for petroleum products, and the media often refer to them as "oil marketers”.

“We’ve another set responsible for exporting/selling unrefined petroleum products both locally and internationally. NNPC and few partner companies play a major role in this sector, along with high-ranking govt officials, military leaders, & politicians who are involved in oil theft. 

“To better understand this thread, I will briefly explain how oil exportation and importation works in Nigeria. Please note every point I will list you will need them as reference as we progress. 1. Extraction: Oil is extracted from the ground using drilling rigs. 2. Processing: The crude oil is exported(internationally) to refineries where it is processed and stored for export back to the country. 3. Transportation: The processed oil are transported from the refinery to storage tanks, blending facilities, and ports, typically via pipelines or ships. 4. Export: At the port, the oil is loaded onto tankers or other vessels and shipped to Nigeria and other countries. 5. Sale: The oil is sold to buyers in Nigeria at a price set by the importer M(oil marketer).

“The government subsidizes a significant portion of the oil price to make it more affordable for citizens, a practice known as fuel subsidy. Now let’s link the list together.  Recently, Oando PLC announced the approval to acquire 100% of Nigerian Agip Oil Company. This effectively means that the Tinubu family now owns Agip Oil, which is part of Eni S.p.A., an Italian multinational oil and gas company. 

“Agip Oil operates 17 onshore oil blocks and produces 11 million barrels of oil and condensates annually, and it also manages the Bonny natural gas liquefaction plant. One might wonder why such a successful company would divest 100% of such a critical asset. Observing similar situations, like the case with Dangote, suggests that this sale was not made lightly. Now, these crucial oil fields and plants in Nigeria are under the control of Tinubu through Oando PLC which is Tinubu’s family owned not even NNPC. 

“Continuing, with their control over substantial oil reserves in the Niger Delta and the ability to explore further through Agip Oil, their next step is refining. Instead of building a refinery in Nigeria, they opted to construct one in Malta. This move allows them to exploit the country's resources and obscure their activities. In early 2021, Enemed Co Ltd, the leading fuel supplier in Malta, issued a tender for the leasing of storage tanks and a blending facility at the Ras Hanzir Oil Terminal in Malta. Ras Hanzir Oil Terminal Limited won the bidding. It is owned and operated by the Tinubu family, with Wale Tinubu, who is also the chairman of Oando PLC, serving as its chairman along with other members of the Tinubu family and their associates. 

“The company has already established a functioning refinery in Malta, they have now acquired the storage tanks and blending facility oil terminals, which were recently exposed to the public. After Tinubu was sworn in as president, his first major move was to announce the removal of fuel subsidy, while the government continued to pay in secret, allowing him to increase petroleum product prices. This move was designed to benefit his own monopoly. 

“With the recent forced acquisition of Agip Oil by Oando PLC, Tinubu as an individual has become the largest oil exporter, explorer, and marketer in the whole country, second only to NNPC. Here’s the pattern: Tinubu, through NNPC, will sell Nigeria’s oil to himself at a low price via his company in Malta. He will also explore, extract and export oil using his newly acquired Agip Oil Company, which operates across the Niger Delta states of Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, I’mRivers, Imo, Abia, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River. Tinubu will then buy back the refined oil from his company in Malta through NNPC and as an oil marketer via one of his companies OVH Energy(Oando) at a higher price and export them back to Nigeria. The refined oil is sold to the Nigerian public at a high price, while the subsidy, although officially removed, is still being paid secretly. Essentially, Tinubu is paying himself subsidy”.

 

The same allegation was made into a documentary and posted online in a video clip that went viral. The documentary, supported by many pictures, was voiced by someone with a foreign accent, probably a non Nigerian. 

The documentary ended as in the hard copy version, claiming that the scheme was, “an extraordinary level of financial exploitation. Even after he leaves office, and Nigeria remains without refinery which he will make sure of, his Oil Monopoly over the country will remain standing. As if that is not enough, the government will still pay him for subsidy! He sold over two billion dollars worth of petroleum products to Nigeria through the Malta refinery just in 2023 alone. 

“That is an example of what the future of Nigeria Oil importation will look like. That is why he will fight the Dangote refinery with everything he has, because if it becomes operational, his multi-trillion-naira oil monopoly enterprise will collapse. The price of petroleum products, like fuel will keep on skyrocketing”.

The allegations against yourself and government started coming in when a Federal Government employee heading the Nigerian Downstream Authority, Faruk Ahmed, allegedly referred to Alhaji Aliko Dangote as a monopolist, whose N20, billion dollars (US) multi purpose single stream refinery was yet to be approved for commencement of operation, alleging also that the products produced by the refinery are of inferior quality. In addition, the notice of the current nationwide strike also appeared to ignite the raging allegations, which continue to come in torrents, just as the protest continues to rage in the country.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), a Federal Government wholly owned oil company, which oversees Faruk’s agency was directly involved in the controversy by allegedly reneging on an earlier agreement it had made to own 20% of the Dangote single stream refinery, with an estimated construction cost of 20 billion US dollars and the capacity to produce two hundred thousand (200, 000) barrels per day. The Dangote refinery was seen as the solution to the perennial problem of the non availability of petrol in the country.

So it came as a surprise when Umar Faruk, an employee of the federal government’s stated the fight, in which he is yet to be scathed, with the black race’s richest person under the watch of your administration.

In his defence, Faruk Ahmed alleged, in an interview with the Abuja based Vision’s Farin Wata Television, that Alhaji Aliko Dangote wanted him to stop granting the license to lift crude oil to others but himself (the later) alone. He also alleged that Dangote by himself and through many people, visited him many times to thank him for his many assistance during the construction work on the completed refinery. He further claimed that the end products of the Dangote refinery had too much sulphur content, but laboratory analyses proved the claim wrong. When the analyses were conducted, it was discovered that the imported petroleum products had by far more sulphur at 1,800-2,000 ppm to Dangote refinery’s 87.6 ppm.

Indeed, Mr. President may have heard of the time when a strong stench emanated from the imported fuel, forcing buyers to cover their nose whenever they go to the petrol stations to fill up the tanks of their vehicles. 

But the multi purpose Dangote refinery, said to be the biggest of its kind in the world, enjoyed the support of all, but the very rich, the ranking officials of NNPC and its agencies, as well as some politicians. Majority of Nigerians saw in the Dangote refinery a great today, a greeter posterity and a greatest Nigeria, in which economic prosperity would be achieved.

But, according to Anthony Chiejina, the Dangote Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, their refinery is still “unable to secure  full crude requirement and urge NUPRC to fully enforce the domestic crude supply obligation as mandated by the PIA”.

In a press statement, Mr. Anthony Chiejina also said that for the month of September, “our requirement is 15 cargoes, of which NNPC allocated six. Despite appealing to NUPRC, we’ve been unable to secure the remaining cargoes. When we approached IOCs production in Nigeria, they redirected us to their international trading arms or responded that their cargoes were committed”..

But, Mr. President, the apparent negative responses to the Dangote refinery demand by the IOCs and Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), seem to suggest the involvement of powerful forces who could make the otherwise very powerful entities to deny the refinery its crude oil requirement. Many people wonder at what is the business of OPEC to claim that the refinery was not wanted, as if it was a Nigerian who felt comfortable with the suffering of most of the compatriots.

You are supposed to confront OPEC and demand who or what gives it the temerity to interfere in what is clearly of benefit to Nigeria. If however, nobody talks tough to the organisation, then its meddlesomeness in Nigeria’s affair must be at the behest of someone or some people very powerful in this country, which majority of its citizens see the Dangote refinery as of tremendous importance to the local economy.  

Even your brethren at Afenifere, who rabidly welcomed, supported and encouraged your emergence as the President of Nigeria, vividly expressed its disappointment and displeasure with you and your administration.

The famous Yoruba socio cultural organisation, is reported to have accused you and your administration of being responsible for the current biting hardship in the country, blaming ‘your unfriendly policies’, including the removal of fuel subsidy, for the current protests across the country. 

Not only that, Afenifere also expressed the belief that ‘Nigerians have been making sacrifices for you for decades while you only think of your own aggrandisement alone’. This is a reference to your alleged shady oil deals to benefit and enrich yourself from the resource that belongs to the Commonwealth.

Mr. President, although you came to the job fired by the commitments to do good, those around you, whose goal is to ‘make’ much money for themselves, would always try to make you abandon your good intentions beneficial to most of the Nigerian people. You should therefore, take as little as possible of their advise, because it is selfish, and not given in the interest of the country. They have not made any promises to

fulfil nor any mandate to protect, and therefore not answerable to now, or cares about good name to keep, for posterity to remember.

Remember the advice of Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor and former Governor of California, which happens to be the richest state in the US. His advice to leaders is not to trust in positions, saying that they are only transient in nature.

   

“Remember that your position is for a while. The people who surround you to seek your favour may even forget you sooner than you can remember. Those who spent time with you are no exception. You may be lonely someday. Even some of the people you helped may eventually loath you.

  

“Remember, what you have to your name is your good works. The legacies that you left in the sands of time. That is what will ‘speak’ for you. Do not assume that every word spoken to you in office will be kept as a promise in future. 

“Do not trust your position, name, power, money, fame or intelligence, as a magic to open doors in future. Only trust in your good work and legacies, because nothing last long in life but death. Yes, times do change. Be careful and don't be deceived. Work out your own salvation with uprightness, sincerity, honesty, faithfulness and fairness so that your shadow will not hunt you in the evening /night of your life”. 

May I say that yours sincerely is not in anyway a foe, who was sponsored to write against Mr. President, or in order to make a cheap political statement. I have been writing positively about you since the time you picked the ticket of your political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), to become its Presidential candidate in the 2023 election. If Mr. President is doubtful, ask your media people, because I am aware that they KNOW of my articles, a number of which are on you, even though NOT acknowledged, probably because they were not sponsored. 

In any case, your media people are not alone here, their counterparts elsewhere do not acknowledge good write up either. They are only quick to point at one’s mistakes or alleged misquotation.

 

May Nigeria succeed, in every sense of the word, and leave its enemies, nations or people, licking their wounds of failure in a very distant rear.

Malam Malumfashi wrote from Abuja.