•Femi Otedola
Nigerian businessman, Femi Otedola, has instructed his lawyers to file a N1 billion lawsuit against Umar Sani, a former spokesperson to former Vice President Namadi Sambo.
“Because of these deliberate lies and unfounded allegations, I have instructed my lawyers to file a ₦1 billion libel suit against Umar Sani,” Otedola said in a statement.
“People must learn that reputations are not to be toyed with for cheap propaganda and also to serve as a deterrent for other mischief makers in the future. I will go to every extent that this is achieved.”
Sani accused Otedola, a Nigerian business mogul and an ally of Aliko Dangote, of benefitting from the petroleum subsidy, with his company, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd., giving marked money to Farouk Lawan under the guise of a sting operation, reports The Guardian.
Otedola and Sani have been at loggerheads when the former waded into the ongoing fuel supply disagreement between the Dangote Refinery and the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) and advised DAPPMAN members to adapt to change.
According to Otedola, about N2 trillion was siphoned in questionable fuel subsidy claims during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan between 2009 and 2015. He urged the federal government to release the report on subsidy claims.
However, Sani accused Otedola of feigning moral superiority in the ongoing duel between Dangote Refinery and DAPPMAN.
But Otedola accused the former aide of libel and attempting to rewrite history with distorted facts.
The Nigerian billionaire said Sani’s claims were attempted at twisting facts to drag his name “into disrepute and allegations of complicity in the subsidy fraud.
“His insinuations are false, baseless, and a shameless attempt to pander to lies and rewrite history.”
Otedola asked “Sani and others who peddle these half-baked stories” to go and read his recently-launched book Making It Big and “study the facts, and stop disgracing yourselves with ignorance.”
“I have nothing to hide, and I have always acted in the interest of truth and accountability. Those who benefited from subsidy fraud know themselves. I will not sit back and allow falsehood to be written into history,” Otedola said.
