Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola has filed a ₦1 billion lawsuit against Umar Sani, former spokesperson to ex-Vice President Namadi Sambo, over alleged defamatory statements.
Gatekeepers News reports that in a statement, Otedola said: “Because of these deliberate lies and unfounded allegations, I have instructed my lawyers to file a ₦1 billion libel suit against Umar Sani. People must learn that reputations are not to be toyed with for cheap propaganda and also to serve as a deterrent for other mischief makers in the future. I will go to every extent that this is achieved.”
The dispute stems from Otedola’s intervention in the ongoing disagreement between the Dangote Refinery and the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN). While Otedola advised marketers to adapt to change, Sani accused him of hypocrisy, alleging that his company, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd., had benefitted from subsidy payments and was linked to the 2012 Farouk Lawan bribery scandal.
Otedola dismissed the claims as libelous, describing them as an attempt to “rewrite history with distorted facts.”
“His insinuations are false, baseless, and a shameless attempt to pander to lies and rewrite history,” he said. “I have nothing to hide, and I have always acted in the interest of truth and accountability. Those who benefited from subsidy fraud know themselves. I will not sit back and allow falsehood to be written into history.”
He further urged Sani and others to read his recently published memoir, Making It Big, to understand the facts rather than “disgracing themselves with ignorance.”
Otedola has previously alleged that about ₦2 trillion was siphoned through questionable subsidy claims between 2009 and 2015, during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
