NNPC Dissociates Tinubus from OVH Acquisition

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has rebuffed claims that President Bola Tinubu and one of his relatives, Mr Wale Tinubu of Oando Plc, have interests in the acquisition of OVH, which recently took control of NNPC Retail Limited, the downstream arm of the state-owned oil firm.

In a statement on Thursday night, the NNPC said it was clarifying the issue because of the allegations made by a former Vice President, Mr Atiku Abubakar, through his Media Adviser, Mr Paul Ibe.

The presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had expressed anger over the “criminal hijack of the NNPC by corporate cabals around the current President.”

He claimed that the chief executive of the NNPC, Mr Mele Kyari, retained his job for overseeing the completion of the acquisition of NNPC Retail by OVH, a firm he alleged that Mr Wale Tinubu held 49 per cent stake.

While reacting to this, NNPC emphasised that “contrary to the false alarm raised, neither Wale Tinubu nor the President has any interest in the OVH acquisition.”

The company stressed that the transfer of NNPC to OVH was purely an investment decision approved by the management based on “commercial viability and national interest.”

“We are a commercially focused and profit-driven company managed by professionals who are committed to adding value to the nation,” the statement explained.

It clarified that, “At the time NNPC acquired OVH in 2022, Oando (in which Mr Wale Tinubu has equity interest), had fully divested its equity in OVH to the other partners, Vitol and Helios. Oando actually began its divestment in 2016, with Vitol and Helios coming in as equity partners, leading to the change of name from Oando to OVH. In 2019, Oando fully divested its equity interest in OVH resulting in Vitol and Helios holding 50 per cent equity interests, respectively.

“Upon acquisition of OVH by NNPC, both NNPC Retail and OVH effectively became subsidiaries of NNPC. However, based on professional advice and sound commercial considerations, NNPC opted to merge NNPC Retail Limited into OVH, and thereafter retain NNPC Retail Limited as the company name post-merger.

“The first step of merging NNPC Retail into OVH has been completed and the post-merger renaming as NNPC Retail is ongoing.”