NNPC Dismisses 4 Top Officials Over ‘Missing’ Petrol Scand

There are strong indications that the management of the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has
wielded the big stick on four top officials of the agency.
Quoting multiple sources, Premium Times is reporting that
the four ‘affected’ senior officials were asked to step down
on Thursday over the ‘missing’ petrol scandal involving
Capital Oil & Gas Nigeria Limited owned by businessman,
Ifeanyi Ubah.
The affected officials are:
The Managing Director of the NNPC Retail, Esther
Nnamdi-Ogbue;
The General Manager (Operations) of NNPC Retail,
Mamza Gwadabe;
Ibrahim Bello, another official of NNPC retail.
While the identity of the last person could not be
ascertained as at press time.
It is understood that the case and the officials have now
been referred to the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) for a full-scale investigation of the
matter.
Some birds in the polity also squealed that it was Mrs.
Nnamdi-Ogbue who triggered the initial investigation after
her attention was called to the matter.
The products – over 100 million litres of petrol worth over
N14 billion – belonging to the NNPC Retail, were stored at
the private depots under a throughput arrangement as part
of the corporation’s strategy to build strategic national fuel
reserve.
The NNPC Chief Operating Officer, Downstream, Henry
Ikem-Obi, said the fraud was discovered last January when
the Petroleum Products Marketing Company, PPMC, another
subsidiary of NNPC, needed to access the NNPC Retail’s
petrol stored at the Capital Oil depot, to bridge the supply
gap.