Nigeria: Former NNPCL CFO speaks out against allegations of arrest

Umar Ajiya Isa, former chief finance officer (CFO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Co. Ltd. (NNPCL) has denied reports that he was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly committing fraud worth $7.2bn.

In a statement made on July 25, the former CFO said that he had turned himself in for questioning by the EFCC voluntarily – and added that the organisation had not arrested or detained him, according to Premium Times.

Isa was reported to have been arrested last week in connection with an ongoing corruption scandal associated with the rehabilitation of 210,000 barrels per day (bpd) Port Harcourt refinery, 125,000 bpd Warri refinery and 110,000 bpd Kaduna.

The plants have continuously underperformed and have not recorded any production figures for years, despite many millions having been allocated for their turnaround maintenance.

Isa has maintained that he left the NNPCL with his reputation intact and had never been accused of fraud when he had held the position of CFO at the state-owned company.

“I voluntarily submitted myself to EFCC. The claims that I was arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, on Monday over fraud is false,” he said, adding: “Contrary to the report I personally submitted myself to the commission and that at no time was I arrested in relation to an alleged $7.2bn relating to transactions at the Warri and Port Harcourt refineries”.

Isa continued to say that he had voluntarily engaged with the EFCC’s investigation: “Nobody arrested me for any $7.2bn in relation to any refinery fraud. I voluntarily submitted myself for questioning to the EFCC and thereafter I went home. To see in the media stories of my arrest over fraud is unfortunate”.

The EFCC’s investigation into alleged abuse of office and misappropriation of funds was initially launched in May and was aimed at numerous high-profile NNPCL executives including its most recent group chief executive officer Mele Kyari and his predecessor Abubakar Yar’Adua.

According to a report released by the commission on April 28 to current management at the NNPCL, the group initially focused on investigating the loss of more than $2.9bn approved for the rehabilitation of Nigeria’s three state-owned domestic refineries.

As part of the investigation, salary and allowance records for 14 current and former senior executives were requested, according to Premium Times, which included Yar’Adua, Kyari, Onoja, former managing director at Kaduna Mustafa Sugungun, and former director at Warri Efifia Chu.

The missing funds make up part of the $1.56bn allocated to Port Harcourt, $740.6mn put aside for Kaduna, and $656.9mn for Warri as part of Nigeria’s long running rehabilitation project.