WEIGHTY corruption allegations from Africa’s richest man, Mr Aliko Dangote, have succeeded in removing Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Mr Ahmed Farouk, from office.

But Mr Ahmed is not the only casualty as President Bola Tinubu’s sledgehammer also fell on Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mr Gbenga Komolafe.

In a statement seen on Wednesday by Economy Post, President Bola Tinubu asked the Senate to approve the nominations of new chief executives for the NMDPRA and the NUPRC after the resignantions of the ex-heads.

Presidential spokesman, Mr Bayo Onanuga, said the requests were necessitated by the exit of Mr Ahmed from the NMDPRA and Mr Gbenga Komolafe from the NUPRC.

Ahmed and Komolafe were appointed in 2021 by the late former President Muhammadu Buhari to lead the two regulators established under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

READ ALSO: Fight to finish: Dangote petitions ICPC, seeks arrest of NMDPRA boss over corruption

To fill the vacant positions, Onanuga said President Tinubu had written to the Senate, requesting expedited confirmation of Ms Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as new CEO of the NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of the NMDPRA.

Onanuga described the nominees as seasoned professionals with extensive experience in the oil and gas industry.

Eyesan is a graduate of Economics from the University of Benin and spent nearly 33 years with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) and its subsidiaries. She retired as Executive Vice President, Upstream, in 2024, and previously served as Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy, from 2019 to 2023.

Mohammed, born in 1957 in Gombe State, graduated from Ahmadu Bello University in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering. He was also announced on Wednesday as an Independent Non-Executive Director at Seplat Energy.

Dangote vs Ahmed

On Sunday, Mr Dangote came up with serious allegations against Mr Ahmed, accusing him of graft. Speaking at a press conference at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Mr Dangote said the NMDPRA chief was colluding with international traders and oil importers to frustrate local refining through the continued issuance of import licences for petroleum products.

Mr Dangote alleged that Mr Ahmed was living beyond his legitimate means, claiming that four of his children were attending secondary schools in Switzerland at costs running into several million dollars.

Africa’s richest man noted that he was not calling for Mr Ahmed’s removal, but for a proper investigation to be done by relevant agencies of the government. “He should be required to account for his actions and demonstrate that he has not compromised his position to the detriment of Nigerians. What is happening amounts to economic sabotage,” Dangote said.

On Tuesday, he filed a petition against Mr Ahmed, accusing him of corruption. In the petition, dated and submitted on December 16 through his lawyer, Mr Ogwu Onoja (SAN), Mr Dangote asked the ICPC to arrest, investigate and prosecute Mr Ahmed for living far beyond his legitimate means as a public servant and paying $7 million for his children’s school fees abroad.

The petition, which was acknowledged by ICPC Chairman, Mr Musa Aliyu (SAN), read: “That Engr Farouk Ahmed has grossly abused his office contrary to the extant provisions of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers and, in doing enmeshed himself in monumental corruption and unlawful spending of Public funds running into millions of dollars.

“That Engr Farouk Ahmed spent without evidence of lawful means of income humongous amount of money of over 7 million dollars of Public funds, for the education of his four children in different schools in Switzerland for a period of six years upfront.”

“The Code of Conduct Bureau, or any other body deemed appropriate by the government, can investigate the matter. If he denies it, I will not only publish what he paid as tuition in those secondary schools, but I will also take legal steps to compel the schools to disclose the payments made by Farouk.

“I sent my own children to secondary schools here in Nigeria. How many Nigerians can afford to pay $5 million for secondary school tuition, not university education? In his home state of Sokoto, many parents are struggling to pay as little as N10,000 in school fees,” Dangote alleged.

It is not clear how Mr Komolafe got involved in the whole situation.