In his forthcoming book Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business, billionaire Femi Otedola recounts a furious reaction from former President Olusegun Obasanjo after reports of nationwide diesel scarcity following deregulation in 2004.
Otedola, whose company Zenon Petroleum benefited from the policy, had assured Obasanjo that the private sector could handle supply after the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was removed from diesel importation.
However, critics claimed the country was running dry, prompting Obasanjo to lash out, accusing Otedola of misleading him.
“The President called me at 2am, shouting through the phone,” Otedola writes. ‘You’re a stupid boy! God will punish you! You persuaded me to deregulate diesel, and now there’s no diesel in the country!’ He was livid. I flew to Abuja the following day.
“As soon as Obasanjo saw me, he flew into a rage again. ‘What kind of rubbish is this? What kind of nonsense is this?’ He was right in my face, screaming at the top of his lungs. I allowed him to cool down, and when he stopped talking, I tried to explain the situation. ‘Baba, they’re lying to you. It’s all lies. I have six ships waiting to discharge big supplies of diesel.’”
Otedola continued, “I was even paying demurrage. I told the president that I was the victim of competitors’ backbiting,” he wrote, saying he asked Obasanjo to “see what they come up with next; You’ll see that it’s me who’s telling you the truth.”
“I knew it was people in NNPC; the state monopoly, in their now teetering positions of power, who were against deregulation, who’d been telling him these lies. They wanted to continue to import, and rake in the subsidy money.
To counter the narrative, Otedola began publishing diesel availability and pricing in newspapers. He praised Obasanjo’s eventual trust in him despite the backlash.
“Obasanjo was a determined and robust president,” He said.
“Jealous people did not easily sway him. Once he made up his mind that someone was trustworthy and genuine, as he seemed to do about me that day, he stopped listening to the naysayers.”
The book, set for release on August 18, 2025, has earned praise from leaders like Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Akinwumi Adesina, and Aliko Dangote.
