The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr. Bayo Ojulari, was allegedly coerced into signing a resignation letter under duress, according to a report published by Peoples Gazette on Saturday.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The report claims that Mr. Ojulari was taken into custody on Friday and pressured to sign the document by the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, and the Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS), Adeola Ajayi.
Sources who spoke to Peoples Gazette on condition of anonymity revealed that Ojulari was intensely interrogated over his alleged connections with Ms. Olatimbo Ayinde, a British-Nigerian oil entrepreneur who has recently emerged as an influential figure within President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
“Mr. Ojulari told us he didn’t know Olatimbo Ayinde,” one of the sources said.
As of Saturday afternoon, Mr. Ojulari had not publicly responded to repeated requests for comment regarding the allegations. Similarly, EFCC spokesman Dele Oyewale has yet to issue an official statement on the matter.
This development comes on the heels of recent warnings from NNPCL about attempts to undermine its leadership structure. The company had earlier raised concerns over what it described as orchestrated efforts to destabilize the management of the state-owned oil firm.
The full implications of the alleged forced resignation remain unclear, and the presidency has not issued any statement on the situation as of the time of filing this report.