Obat Oil denies diversion of N1.2bn oil subsidy

By Adeleke Adeseri

THE management of Obat Oil and Petroleum Limited has denied reports of its alleged diversion of N1.2billion oil subsidy, saying the publication is not only malicious but orchestrated to disturb its business.

The company also urged the public to disregard rumours that its tank farms had been sealed up by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC.

A statement signed by the Head of the Legal Department of the Oil Company Mr. Seun Bakare said “We take exception to any malicious publication and slander orchestrated by certain people in a bid to disrupt our business. For the avoidance of doubt, EFCC did not close our depot facility. We were only invited because of the petition and lies being spread by the Managing Director of Petrocam Trading Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Patrick Ilo.

“We urge the public to disregard the misinformation peddled in the false and malicious publications as well as desist from propagating same, in their best interests.

Bakare said it was unfortunate that  Ilo could stoop so low to the extent of feeding the public with falsehood and attempted to denigrate the personality of His Imperial Majesty, Oba Fredeick Obaretu Akinruntan, the Olugbo of Ugbo who was not part of the business transaction.

Bakare said while it is true that Obat Oil had business transactions with Petrocam that failed to implement the transaction according to the terms and agreement, Obat Oil will not succumb to blackmail when Petrocam had refused to allow the Accountants of the two companies to reconcile their accounts.

According to the statement, “The transactions which gave rise to the false reports and the spurious claims from which they have sprung have already been submitted to the Court’s consideration and ordinarily should not be the subject of discourse or advertorials.”

“However, Petrocam Trading has gone out of its way to lodge false complaints against us and set in motion a sequence of events that have been widely reported. We are therefore constrained to protect our professional goodwill, integrity and reputation by putting out this publication.