Another blow has been dealt the business empire of iconic entrepreneur and politician, the late MKO Abiola.
The Federal Government has revoked the licence of his once star firm, Summit Oil, alongside four others as they are said to be bad debtors.
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The fresh blow threatens to eclipse the company, pushing it to the realm of Abiola’s defunct firms such as Concord Air and ‘National Concord’ titles.
The once-upon-a-time richest man in Africa and arguably the one of the biggest philanthropists ever began to crumble when he began to fight for the actualisation of the June 12 1993 presidential election mandate he got, but which was annulled by the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida.
The adversity he suffered, however, got worse during the tenure of the late General Abacha, when even Abiola’s activist wife, Kudirat, was assassinated.
Ironically, the loss of the Summit Oil licence is coming at a time the Buhari government is giving Abiola the kind of recognition that may believe he deserves even in death.
A part of this is the institutionalising of June 12 as the Democracy Day in Nigeria.
But the economic big stick appears to be inevitable on the part of the government, with the Department of Petroleum Resources saying on Thursday that the licences were revoked as a result of legacy debts owed the federation by the affected firms.
It said in a public notice that five Oil Mining Leases and one Oil Prospecting Licence.
It stated: “Notice is hereby given that in furtherance of the presidential directive on the recovery of legacy debts owed the Federation and in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Act Cap. P10LFN 2004, the under listed Oil Mining Leases and Oil Prospecting Licence have been revoked by the Federal Government of Nigeria for non-compliance with statutory regulatory obligations,” the DPR said.
The affected companies are Pan Ocean Oil Corporation (OML 98); Allied Energy Resources Nigeria, (OML 120 and 121); Express Petroleum and Gas Company (OML 108); Cavendish Petroleum Nigeria (OML 110) and Summit Oil International (OPL 206).
OML 108, being operated by Alhaji Aminu Dantata’s Express Petroleum & Gas Company Limited, expired in 2015, while OPL 206, owned by Summit Oil International, expired in 2014.
OML 110, operated by Cavendish Petroleum Nigeria Limited, which was founded by the late Alhaji Mai Deribe, expired in 2016.
Pan Ocean Oil Corporation has Dr Festus Fadeyi as its chairman, while Allied Energy Resources (now Allied Energy Plc) operates as a subsidiary of CAMAC Energy Holdings Limited, founded by Mr Kase Lawal.
