The Association of Energy Policy and Development Consultants (AEPDC) has formally withdrawn its demand for the removal of Bayo Ojulari, Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), after conducting further investigations that revealed a higher level of transparency than initially acknowledged.
Retraction Announced in Kaduna Press Conference
Dr Ibrahim Danjuma, national president of AEPDC, made the announcement at a press conference in Kaduna on Friday. He explained that the group had reviewed additional documents and engaged with relevant industry stakeholders following its initial statement, and that what it found was substantially different from the account that had informed its earlier criticism.
"Today, after conducting further investigations, reviewing additional documents and engaging with relevant industry stakeholders, we have come before you to formally retract that position," Danjuma said.
Why AEPDC Changed Its Position
The association said its first assessment had relied on "incomplete information, selective interpretations and narratives" that did not accurately reflect the circumstances behind the expenditures it had questioned, particularly figures relating to energy security spending, pipeline protection and other financial obligations.
Danjuma said the group subsequently examined NNPCL's financial disclosures, the legal framework governing its energy security role, under-recovery mechanisms and claims against the federation before arriving at its revised conclusion.
"What emerged from this exercise was substantially different from the picture initially presented to us. Our findings reveal a level of transparency in the current management of NNPCL that we believe deserves recognition rather than condemnation," he said.
The group argued that the large sums attached to energy security expenditure could not fairly be treated as unexplained spending without accounting for NNPCL's statutory responsibilities, its function as an energy supplier of last resort, pricing interventions and exchange-rate movements.
Apology to Ojulari and Continued Call for Scrutiny
Danjuma offered a direct apology to Ojulari and the NNPCL management team, saying the association had drawn its earlier conclusions before completing the level of investigation the matter required.
"We made a judgment. We investigated further. We found that the judgment was not sufficiently supported by the full facts. We are correcting it publicly," he said.
He was, however, clear that the retraction did not signal a retreat from the group's broader commitment to accountability. "Our decision today is therefore not a retreat from accountability. It is accountability in practice," Danjuma said.
AEPDC maintained that independent and legislative scrutiny of NNPCL's finances should continue, and called on the company to keep publishing comprehensive financial statements with clear explanations for major expenditures. The group also urged stakeholders to assess figures within their proper context rather than drawing conclusions from isolated data points.
The association formally withdrew its resignation demand and said it retained confidence in Ojulari's leadership, while urging him and his team to sustain transparency and efficiency in managing Nigeria's petroleum resources.
