Three erstwhile Managing Directors (MDs) of Nigerian public refineries, namely, Mr Ibrahim Onoja, Port Harcourt Refining Company; Mr Efifia Chu, Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, and Dr Mustafa Sugnugun, Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company, have threatened to sue a media house for N50b for alleged defamation.
Counsel to above-mentioned ex-MDs, Reuben Atabo, SAN, in a letter addressed to the newspaper’s Lagos office, dated May 5. The letter, in part, reads, “Our clients’ attention has been drawn to a grossly misleading and factually baseless publication made by your newspaper on 3rd day of May 2025.
“The said publication falsely claims, among other damaging imputations, that our clients have been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (FFCC) in relation to an alleged mismanagement of 2.96 billion dollars allocated for refinery rehabilitation.
“That authorities have traced 80 billion to the personal accounts of ‘a recently sacked Managing Director’, and that all the former MDs, including our clients, are under investigation for fraud.”
The letter stated that only one of the three was invited by the EFCC and not all three, and the one invited was never detained as alleged by the newspaper. Atabo said: “There is no truth whatsoever to the claim that N80 billion or any amount has been traced to the personal accounts of any of our clients.
“No criminal charges have been filed against our clients in relation to the refineries’ rehabilitation or any other matter whatsoever.
“It was only in the evening of Sunday, long after your publication, that the EFCC extended invitations to Onoja, Chu, Tijani and Ademoye, requesting them to appear before the Special Duty Committee 2 of the EFCC on the 8th day of May, 2025.
“It is therefore shocking and malicious that your newspaper chose to recklessly lump our clients into what can best be described as a fabricated scandal, tarnishing their hard-earned reputations and portraying them to the entire world as corrupt public officials and criminals.
“Your publication has subjected our clients to public opprobrium, hatred, ridicule, odium and grave reputational and professional damage based on falsehoods with no factual foundation whatsoever.
“Moreover, the spurious allegations spurned against our clients are capable of brewing hatred and attack by members of the public against them.
“There is no doubt that Nigerians are at the moment facing serious economic challenges, particularly with respect to the availability and affordability of fuel. ”
Despite acknowledging the hardship exacerbated by fuel price hike, non-productivity of public refineries amid subsidy removal, Atabo noted that their clients are not to blame. The letter further demanded “an unreserved apology and full retraction of the defamatory story in at least five widely read national dailies in Nigeria and five international media platforms to undo the global reputational harm caused to our clients.
“That The Punch Newspaper pays our clients the sum of N50,000,000,000 (fifty billion naira) as aggravated damages for defamation and libel.”
