The Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has refuted the allegation leveled against the commission of masterminding forceful abduction of the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Co. Ltd. (NNPCL) Bayo Ojulari with an intention to coerce him to resignation.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has given online news outlet People’s Gazette – whose media first reported the news – 48 hours to retract a report accusing its chairman, Ola Olukoyede, of abducting and coercing Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) CEO, Bayo Ojulari, into resignation.
Despite this, the publicationhighlighted that a high-ranking source at the EFCC had noted that the agency received a petition calling for the removal of Ojulari; however, rumours of his interrogation and forced resignation had been spread on social media.
According to another media source, the Intelligence, as regarding the rumours, the EFFC official said: “Those are fake news. It is not true that the EFCC abducted him [Ojulari]. On Thursday, protesters came to our office with a petition that they want the commission to investigate the NNPCL chairman”. He continued: “These people have the right to submit petitions. We told them we would look into the petition. So, where is the abduction? People should be careful about spreading rumours”.
Although rumours surrounding the abduction of Ojulari remain in the realm of fiction, some sources within the NNPCL have said that certain elements of the Nigerian government are dissatisfied with Ojulari’s leadership style, owing to his preference of running the state-owned oil company as a commercial enterprise rather than a politically-influenced one – in contrast with his predecessor Mele Kyari, who was dismissed by President Bola Tinubu earlier this year due to poor performance, the Intelligence has reported.
On August 4, Ojulari turned up on a virtual call to the ongoing Nigeria Annual International Conference and Exhibition – organised by the Society of Petroleum Engineers – to make a speech, ignoring any resignation or kidnapping rumours.
The EFCC, in a letter signed by Olukoyede’s counsel, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, described the article as defamatory and damaging. The letter called for an unreserved apology, a public retraction, and the removal of the story from all platforms.
“The publications and the imputations conveyed by them are so damning and cannot be ignored or treated with levity,” the lawyer wrote. Failure to comply, the letter warned, will lead to a defamation lawsuit.
People’s Gazette had alleged on Saturday being 9th of August 2025, that Olukoyede, in collaboration with the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Adeola Ajayi, compelled Ojulari to resign at a secret location in Abuja.
The report further linked the act to political interference allegedly driven by British-Nigerian oil magnate Olatimbo Ayinde, who was described as having close ties to the Tinubu administration.
Olukoyede dismissed the allegations as entirely false, saying the story was “a fairy tale concoction” intended to discredit him and the EFCC.
“It is uncharitable and calculated to portray me as someone who has betrayed and subverted public trust by submitting the authority of my office to the dictates and directives of one Olatimbo Ayinde,” he said.
