Billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola has shared details of a heated encounter with former President Olusegun Obasanjo over diesel deregulation, in his forthcoming memoir titled Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business.
In excerpts from the book, Otedola recalled that Obasanjo lashed out at him in 2004 following reports of diesel scarcity across Nigeria.
At the time, the federal government had recently deregulated diesel importation based on advice from Otedola and other private sector players.
Otedola’s company, Zenon Petroleum, had assured the presidency that private firms could meet national demand without the involvement of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which was then the sole importer, operating under a subsidy regime.
“When President Obasanjo deregulated diesel in 2004, Zenon took an unassailable lead in the market,” Otedola wrote. “My opponents’ reaction was to tell the president that we’d turned the market upside down… and that industries were shutting down because there was no diesel.”
According to him, Obasanjo called him around 2am, visibly furious. “‘You’re a stupid boy! God will punish you!’ he shouted. ‘You persuaded me to deregulate diesel, and now there’s no diesel in the country!’”
Otedola said he flew to Abuja the next day to clarify the situation. “As soon as Obasanjo saw me, he flew into a rage again… I allowed him to cool down, and when he stopped talking, I explained the situation,” he wrote.
He told the former president that there were six ships with diesel waiting to discharge, and provided letters of credit as evidence.
He also alleged that some officials within the NNPC, opposed to deregulation, had deliberately misled the president to protect their subsidy benefits.
To counter the misinformation, Otedola said he began publishing the availability and price of diesel in newspapers to reassure the public and government of steady supply.
He described Obasanjo as a “determined and robust president” who, once convinced of a person’s integrity, stood firm in his support.
