The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has promised to swiftly respond to the petition filed against Mele Kyari, the former Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari.
EFCC gave the promise when a coalition of lawyers and civil society organizations staged a protest at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
The group, operating under the banner of the Guardians of Democracy and Rule of Law was led by Asika Raymond.
He submitted a detailed petition alleging large-scale financial misconduct, economic sabotage, and abuse of office during Kyari’s tenure from July 2019 to February 2025.
Spokesman to the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, who received the petition on behalf of the commission’s chairman, assured the protesters that the allegations raised would be thoroughly examined.
“The issues raised in the petition will be looked into and addressed accordingly,” Oyewale stated.
The petition accused Kyari of colluding with consultants and contractors to conceal the actual costs of rehabilitating the nation’s refineries and evading paying taxes due to the federal government.
A notable case cited was the Port Harcourt Refinery, where the group alleged that NNPCL spent $1.5 billion—$500 million above the projected $1 billion earmarked for all three refineries combined.
In addition, the petition highlighted concerns about the lack of transparency in payments made to consultants and contractors involved in the refineries’ rehabilitation, and alleged that crude oil allocations were diverted under the guise of pipeline security, reportedly at an unverified rate of 80,000 barrels per day.
Read Also: EFCC Arraigns Lexicon Multiconcept Media CEO for N459m Fraud
The AKK Gas Pipeline Project, initially valued at $5 billion, was also named in the petition as being marred by irregularities in contract awards and execution.
Despite significant budgetary allocations and foreign financing, the group claimed little physical progress had been made, with fund utilization lacking transparency.
Fuel subsidy fraud was another major concern raised, with the petitioners pointing to inflated petroleum imports during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a period when global fuel consumption declined.
They questioned the veracity of import claims made by the NNPCL under Kyari’s leadership.
Also under scrutiny are crude-backed loans amounting to $21.565 billion since 2019.
The petition described the structure of these loans as detrimental to Nigeria’s interests, noting that the benefits from trading crude oil were largely ceded to foreign traders, thereby mortgaging the country’s future production.
The petition further accused Kyari of overseeing questionable oil exploration activities in several states, allegedly costing billions of naira without documented feasibility studies or measurable economic returns.
The group called on the EFCC to launch a full-scale investigation into Kyari’s activities, forensically audit all payments to contractors and consultants from 2019 to 2025, recover any misappropriated funds, and collaborate with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to investigate suspected cases of tax evasion.
