Former Vice Presidential candidate for the Action Congress of Nigeria, Fola Adeola has been named as one of the subsidy thieves and cabal behind the current fuel scarcity in Abuja. He was running mate to Nuhu Ribadu former Czar of the EFCC.
Shortly after picking Adeola, Ribadu had said ““Mr. Adeola was picked after wide consultation, with his background and solid political structure, our choice is most respected, President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP are in trouble,”
Adeola former Managing Director of Guaranty Trust bank and chairman National Pension Commission is chairman of Eterna Oil mentioned by Coordinating minister of the economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as one the companies fleecing Nigerians, and behind the fuel scarcity in Abuja.
According to Eterna Oil website, Following the voluntary retirement of Otunba Tunji Lawal-Solarin as Chairman of Eterna Oil & Gas Plc, after several years of meritorious service, the Company in 2007, announced the appointment by its Board of Directors of Mr Tajudeen Afolabi Adeola, as the new Chairman of the Company.
As the promoter of the company and its founding Managing Director/Chief Executive, Otunba Lawal-Solarin nurtured the company from 1990 when it started business and supervised its growth to a top player in the down stream sector of the Oil industry.
During his tenure, the company secured the manufacturing and marketing license of BP – Castrol lubricants, technical support and partnership agreement with BP – Castrol, construction of an ultra-modern lubricants plant at Sagamu, one of only two such plants in Africa and listing on the first-tier securities market of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Otunba Lawal-Solarin facilitated the entry in 2004 of Lenux Integrated Resources Limited, the Company?s core investor, to stem the performance decline of the Company and turnaround its fortunes. While, that objective has been fulfilled today, he is voluntarily handing over the mantle of leadership to his successor, Mr. Fola Adeola, to improve current stakeholder value on a sustainable basis and also to consolidate the turnaround process in Eterna. .
Born in January 1954, the new Chairman, Adeola graduated from Yaba College of Technology in 1975 and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1980. He received his professional training at Deloitte, Haskins and Sells as well as D.O. Dafinone & Co. He also received further professional development training at notable institutions worldwide including Havard Business School, INSEAD and the International Institute for Management Development.
Eterna Oil also has Mahmud Tukur, son of the PDP National chairman, Bamanga Tukur as director. He is already being prosecuted by the EFCC.
Mr. Adenuga is not alone in this alleged misdemeanour, according to Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Companies owned by other wealthy Nigerians such as Eterna Oil, whose directors are Mahmud Tukur, son of Peoples Democratic Party National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur, and Fola Adeola, the Vice Presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria in the last presidential elections; and MRS Oil and Gas, believed to be owned by businessman Sayyu Dantata were also found to be instigators of the fuel crisis.
Not content with fleecing Nigeria of hundreds of billions of naira through the fuel subsidy scam, the indicted oil companies, have decided to punish Nigerians by creating artificial fuel scarcity, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said.
The companies were earlier indicted of large-scale fraud by the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede presidential committee which investigated the 2011 fuel subsidy payments.
“It is clear that those behind the strikes are marketers being investigated for possible fraud. These elements have now resorted to hiding behind the unions to unnecessarily antagonize Government and create hardship for Nigerians,” Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said in the statement.
According to Premium Times , Seven of the companies had created fictional ships, which delivered imaginary petrol, for which they got N13 billion naira subsidy payments.
Some of the others were involved in ship space travel, in which they claimed that vessels that were in China, or UAE, delivered petrol to Nigerian waters at the same time. Nigeria lost 21 billion naira to this category of fraudulent companies.
In the statement, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said government remained committed to seeing its actions through despite the scarcity.
The minister said following the submission of the report of the Aig-Imoukhuede committee that investigated the payments, the federal government has paid all marketers with “legitimate and unencumbered” claims and that such marketers will continue to be paid.
Between April and May 2012, two batches involving 14 oil marketers with a claim of N17 billion were settled while N25.6 billion worth of claims were paid since early July 2012, the minister said.
In all, between April and August this year, N42.666 billion have been paid to 31 oil marketers.
“Government will continue to encourage honest efforts by genuine companies engaged in fuel importation but we will not fall for the cheap blackmail of indicted marketers who are using all kinds of subterfuge to escape sanctions,” he minister said.
The companies punishing Nigeria include Conoil, Alminnur resources ltd, Brilla energy ltd, and Eterna plc, headed by Mahmud Tukur, the son of the national chairman of the PDP, Bamanga Tukur. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is already prosecuting the younger Tukur for his role in the subsidy scam, and he has since been granted bail by the court.
Other companies involved are Caades Oil and Gas Ltd, Capital Oil and Gas Industry Ltd, Downstream Energy Source Ltd, Euraafric Oil and Gas Ltd, Lumen Skies Ltd and Majope Investment Ltd.
Matrix Energy Ltd, Menon Oil and Gas Ltd, Mob International Services, MRS Oil and Gas Ltd, Nasaman Oil Services Ltd, Natacel Petroleum Ltd, Ocean Energy Trading and Services, Pinnacle Contractors Ltd. Sifax Oil and Gas Company, Tonique Oil Services Ltd and, Top Oil and Gas Development Co. Ltd, were also named.