By Erewunmi Peace

Nigerian billionaire businessman Femi Otedola has called on President Bola Tinubu to release the full report of the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede–led panel on fuel subsidy fraud, insisting that Nigerians deserve to know the truth about the multi-trillion-naira scheme.

Otedola said the release of the report would “unmask the real subsidy thieves” and put an end to longstanding speculation over the identities of those who allegedly benefited from racketeering and fraudulent payments in the petroleum subsidy regime.

The Aig-Imoukhuede committee was set up during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan to probe the controversial Petroleum Subsidy Fund (PSF). According to Otedola, the panel uncovered a web of fictitious claims and irregular disbursements that cost the country trillions of naira.

Otedola alleged that despite the committee’s findings, the Jonathan Presidency moved to suppress the report’s conclusions. He claimed that the late EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, was directed to halt further investigation into the subsidy fraud, preventing accountability.

In a striking revelation, Otedola stated that he was the original whistleblower who first alerted then-President Jonathan to the monumental fraud. He said his warning was dismissed by then–Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, prompting him to escalate the matter to Senator Bukola Saraki. That disclosure, he maintained, paved the way for separate investigations by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The businessman also used the opportunity to clear the air on allegations linking his company, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited, to the fraud. Otedola insisted that Zenon only imported and sold diesel — a deregulated product — and never traded in Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), the commodity at the center of the subsidy scheme.

Otedola stressed that making the full report public would serve the interest of justice and transparency. He urged President Tinubu to take the step as part of his administration’s commitment to reforms in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.