The office of President Bola Tinubu has dismissed the false reports circulating on social media that he has ordered the suspension of Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
The rumours emerged on Saturday, following the arrest of the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, by the Department of State Services (DSS). Emefiele, who was replaced by Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi as acting CBN governor, was detained in Lagos and flown to Abuja on a private jet.
Some social media users claimed that President Tinubu, who was sworn in as Nigeria’s president on 29 May 2023, had also suspended Kyari as the head of the NNPC, the state-owned oil company.
However, sources from the presidency told The Whistler that there was no truth to the allegations. They said that President Tinubu had not given any directive to suspend Kyari or any member of the NNPC Board.
They also pointed out that the Petroleum Industry Act, which was signed into law by President Tinubu’s predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, in 2021, had clearly stipulated the procedures for removing or appointing the NNPC GCEO and other board members.
One of the sources said: “We got to know about the purported suspension through social media posts. But I can confirm to you that there is no such directive coming from the President. Nigerians are known to play a lot with trends, and someone may just have sat down somewhere to make such posts.”
Another source said: “Please disregard those reports because they are fake news. We don’t have such directive from the President to suspend Kyari.”
President Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State and senator for Lagos West, is widely regarded as one of Nigeria’s most influential politicians.
He played a key role in the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2013 and won the presidential election in February 2023 with his running mate Kashim Shettima.
