By Joy Baba-Yesufu
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has raised the alarm over a coordinated campaign of sabotage allegedly aimed at undermining the company’s ongoing anti-corruption reforms.
In a statement released on Friday, NNPC accused a group of internal and external actors of orchestrating a smear campaign to discredit its new leadership and derail President Bola Tinubu’s mandate to transform the state-owned oil giant into a transparent, performance-driven energy company.
The company, now under the leadership of Bayo Ojulari following the removal of Mele Kyari on April 2, said it had uncovered a syndicate bent on spreading falsehoods and planting misleading media reports to distract the organisation and mislead the public.
“These are calculated efforts by individuals threatened by reform, transparency, and accountability,” the statement read.
“They are planting scandalous and fabricated reports, designed to distract leadership, mislead Nigerians, and undermine the commitment of our workforce.”
NNPC noted that it anticipates an increase in defamatory content in the coming weeks but stressed that the organisation remains resolute in its mission.
“We expect a surge of defamatory content in the days ahead. NNPC Ltd remains undeterred. The transformation is underway, and no amount of sabotage will stop it.”
The management urged staff, stakeholders, and Nigerians to remain focused and not be distracted by what it described as desperate attempts to derail progress.
“We urge all patriotic Nigerians to ignore the noise. We remain on course to build a truly reformed energy institution,” the statement added.
NNPC has not yet announced a replacement for its former Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, who resigned last week.
