EFCC arrests ex-NNPCL top officials for alleged $7.2 billion fraud.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested Umar Isa, a former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), for an alleged $7.2 billion fraud involving the rehabilitation of the Kaduna, Warri, and Port Harcourt refineries.
Jimoh Olasunkanmi, the former Managing Director of Warri Refinery, is also in the EFCC’s custody.
As CFO, Isa oversaw the release of funding for the three refineries’ turnaround maintenance. Isa and all senior personnel involved in the upkeep of NNPCL’s refineries and other critical projects are being investigated for alleged abuse of office, corruption, fund diversion, and contractor kickbacks.
Tunde Bakare, Managing Director of the Warri Refinery; Ahmed Dikko, former Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refinery; and Ibrahim Onoja, former Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refinery, are among the other officials implicated.
Dele Oyewale, the EFCC’s spokeswoman, could not be reached for comment.
Last week, the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Aliyu Wadada, raised concerns over trillions of naira inconsistencies in the NNPCL’s audited financial records, describing the revelations as mind-boggling and troubling.
The committee emphasised that the concerns derive directly from a review of NNPCL’s audited financial accounts from 2017 to 2023. The committee promptly handed along a list of 11 questions to NNPCL’s finance team, giving them one week to respond.
After giving the NNPCL nearly two years to improve performance, President Bola Tinubu fired all of the company’s Board members on April 2, 2025.
Bayo Onanuga, the presidential spokesman, stated unequivocally that the restructure was “crucial for enhancing operational efficiency, restoring investor confidence, boosting local content, driving economic growth, and advancing gas commercialisation and diversification.”
While some analysts believed the restructure was long needed, others saw it as a positive change.
Significantly, the president replaced Mele Kyari as the company’s group CEO. Kyari, one of the “star boys” left to Tinubu by his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, commanded the oil corporation from July 7, 2019, until his dismissal on April 2, 2025.
Kyari had been with the NNPCL for more than three decades before his departure. When he turned 60 in January 2025, there were protests demanding his resignation, but the president ignored the criticism and retained him.
Tinubu removed Kyari in April, along with NNPCL Board Chair Pius Akinyelure and all other board members nominated in November 2023.
In their place, the president nominated a new 11-member board, including Bashir Ojulari as Group CEO and Ahmadu Kida as non-executive chairman. Other Board members include Adedapo Segun, Bello Rabiu, Yusuf Usman, Babs Omotowa, Austin Avuru, David Ige, Henry Obih, Lydia Jafiya, and Aminu Ahmed.