CORRUPTION: Tinubu nominates successors, as another top government officials, Farouk Ahmed, Gbenga Komolafe, resign over Dangote’s allegations {NEWS ANALYSIS}
*We warned Farouk president was using him against fellow Northerner – Respondent
*Dangote vindicated – MURIC, Former NAWOJ Chairman, Lawal
*Doubts on capacity of administration to arrest and prosecute Farouk Ahmed – Respondent
By KEMI KASUMU
But, against the administration, there have been uproars about how the same EFCC has weaponised investigations to tie the hands of former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF&MJ) under the Buhari Administration, Mallam Abubakar Malami, SAN, CFR, who the Tinubu administration had begged Buhari to prevail upon not to leave the APC in then rumoured mass defection to African Democratic Congress (ADC) long before the ADC became adopted party of the opposition’s coalition group in the making at the time.
Although they were yet another set of top government officials removed by public pressures not by will if their principal, Engr. Farouk Ahmed of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and Engr. Gbenga Komolafe of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) have both resigned their appointments.
The DEFENDER Newspaper reports that both officials were appointed in 2021 by late former President Muhammadu Buhari to lead the two regulatory agencies he created by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) he historically signed into law after thorough workings of the practically and indisputably independent National Assembly at the time.
Their continued retainment by Tinubu amidst general beliefs that all Buhari’s appointees are being eased out of offices by him remained a matter of question until, particularly, the agencies they headed and even the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) also borne under the oil sector reform of the immediate past administration started dancing to the tune of their new principal, Bola Tinubu, in the matter of Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Company their appointor, Buhari, helped to come alive.
But strong opposition from the personality of Alhaji Aliko Dangote, some members of the print, online newspapers including The DEFENDER and electronic media communities who chose the path of patriotism and loyalty to the nation, by the activities of those government actors, Dangote as a group of companies would have become history today. His offence, some members of the Tinubu government and party the All Progressives Congress (APC) allegedly said, was because he did not support their principal’s presidential project in 2023.
Meanwhile, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has finally had the allegedly long awaited opportunity to remove the Buhari’s men appointees he has managed to work with since over two and a half years of his administration but after they were generally believed to have been used to bring Dangote down, albeit unsuccessfully.
The President asked the Senate to approve the nomination of two new replacements for the chief executives of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), as disclosed in a statement Wednesday December 17, 2025 signed by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy.
Tinubu’s request followed resignations of both top officials, Engr. Farouk Ahmed of the NMDPRA and Gbenga Komolafe of the NUPRC after Dangote’s allegations that they, particularly Farouk Ahmed was living a life larger then his worth.
To fill the vacant positions they resigned from, President Tinubu wrote to the Senate, requesting expedited confirmation of Engr. Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of NMDPRA and Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as CEO of NUPRC.
According to Onanuga, the two nominees are seasoned professionals in the oil and gas industry.
Eyesan, a graduate of Economics from the University of Benin, spent nearly 33 years with the NNPC now the NNPCL and its subsidiaries. She retired after serving as Executive Vice President, Upstream (2023–2024), and previously served as Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy at NNPC from 2019 to 2023.
Engr. Saidu Aliyu Mohammed, born in 1957 in Gombe, graduated from Ahmadu Bello University in 1981 with a Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering. He was announced Wednesday as an independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy.
His prior roles include Managing Director of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company and Nigerian Gas Company, as well as Chairman of the Boards of West African Gas Pipeline Company, Nigeria LNG subsidiaries, and NNPC Retail.
He also served as Group Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer, Gas & Power Directorate, where he provided strategic leadership for major gas projects and policy frameworks, including the Gas Masterplan, Gas Network Code, and contributions to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) signed into law by Muhammadu Buhari as sitting President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Engr. Mohammed played a pivotal role in delivering key projects such as the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline Expansion, the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline, and Nigeria LNG Train.
The resignation of Farouk Ahmed has been reported to be a possible fallout of the corruption allegation raised by Alhaji Aliko Dangote, which the ICPC had acknowledged receiving Dangote’s petition over, before the presidential statement announcing the resignation. It was not immediately clear why Gbenga Komolafe resigned too because his name did not come up in the petition with ICPC.
This is also as a respondent, who spoke under condition of anonymity, said, “We warned Farouk Ahmed not to allow 2027 desperately ambitious Tinubu to use him against any Nigerian in the cause of his national service especially his fellow Northerners as the it will not be good for him in the end. To be made to work against success of Dangote Refinery is to be pushed against progress and development of Nigeria, a nation that is bigger than any individual including the president,” he said.
In its own reaction, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) in a statement to be detailed later said Alhaji Aliko Dangote has been vindicated. And former Lagos State Chairman of National Association of Nigerian Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Hajia Sekinah Lawal, may had earlier wrote a letter to the president asking to know whether it was deliberate or not that government agencies under Tinubu were sabotaging his economic policies as they were plotting hard to bring down Dangote to punish Nigerians.
Dangote had, on December 16, 2025, filed a petition asking for the arrest, investigation, and prosecution of Ahmed. He claimed that Farouk Ahmed was living beyond his means as a public servant. With his resignation, it is not clear whether any of the anti-corruption agencies under the Tinubu government will arrest to prosecute him as it has not happened, thus eliciting the public impression that Bola Tinubu’s anti-corruption has no bite except that it is weaponised against members of the opposition or those who do not accept to support the 2027 re-election project of their sitting principal.
This is considering how Yahaya Bello’s sin of corruption charges has been forgiven even allegedly by court under the administration after almost one year the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had seen the same former Kogi State governor he declared wanted and pretended like he did not see until he (suspiciously) visited the anti-graft office to surrender himself.
But, against the administration, there have been uproars about how the same EFCC has weaponised investigations to tie the hands of former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF&MJ) under the Buhari Administration, Mallam Abubakar Malami, SAN, CFR, who the Tinubu administration had begged Buhari to prevail upon not to leave the APC in then rumoured mass defection to African Democratic Congress (ADC) long before the ADC became adopted party of the opposition’s coalition group in the making at the time. The only former governor that the EFCC is currently investigating for the same reason of Malami’s sins is former Governor of Sokoto State and currently sitting Sokoto State Senator, Dr. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, CFR.
However, it is believed that history of Nigeria’s anti-corruption war will remember how people who were taken down from the Tinubu’s administration had their cases ended at the point of only resignation without arrest and prosecution like it happened to Beta Edu, the first minister of the Tinubu’s administration to be taken down by unprosecuted corruption allegations, while the Minister of the Interior, Mr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, is still in the rough waters of public conversations as the president still let him be without willing to surrender him for investigation despite dangerous allegations of certificate scam and other corrupt practices against him.
Those who say Tunji-Ojo cannot be brought down from that high seat because he is a performing minister have, however, been told how “nothing can be built on nothing” as even a man with best certificate of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) without a pass at the foundation level of his education is as good as having no certificate because there is no higher degree without foundation.
In the meantime, the Dantoge’s petition against Farouk Ahmed, which was received by the Office of the Chairman of the ICPC, Musa Adamu Aliyu (SAN), stated that the Dangote Group Chairman accused the head of the NMDPRA of spending over $7 million without proof of lawful income.
Before his resignation as Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, had said that a statement circulating in his name, responding to the allegations by Alhaji Aliko Dangote, did not emanate from him.
In a statement, Ahmed said, “My attention has been drawn to a purported response I was said to have made on the recent allegations against my person. I hereby state categorically that the so-called statement did not emanate from me.
“While I am aware of the wild and spurious allegations made against me and my family and the frenzy it has generated, as a regulator of a sensitive industry, I have opted not to engage in public brickbat.
“Thankfully, the person behind the allegations has taken it to a formal investigative institution. I believe that would provide an opportunity to dispassionately distill the issues and to clear my name.”
