The Chairman of the United Bank for Africa (UBA), Tony Elumelu, has disclosed that former President Muhammadu Buhari stopped him from acquiring an oilfield in the country.

Elumelu, who is the founder of Heirs Holdings, said he wanted to buy a 45 per cent stake in an oilfield three years ago when international oil companies, including Shell, Total, and Eni were selling off their shallow water assets in Nigeria, with local companies taking charge.

The 61-year-old businessman made the disclosure in a recent interview with Financial Times.

He stated that Heirs Holdings had been looking to purchase an oilfield since 2017, saying he raised $2.5 billion to purchase a different one.

Elumelu, however, disclosed that Buhari and his late Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, blocked the deal.

Elumelu said he was told Nigeria couldn’t allow something of such strategic importance to fall into the hands of a private operator, adding that “this defied logic” since he would have been purchasing it from a foreign company.

Elumelu to FG: Tell Nigerians those stealing crude oil

The UBA boss said: “We wanted to become a Fortune 500 company and we estimated what we needed. It’s not naira, it’s huge dollars.

“Energy security is crucial for a country that doesn’t produce enough electricity for its roughly 200 million citizens.”

He further challenged the federal government to disclose the individuals behind the stealing of Nigeria’s crude oil, saying some people have been stealing the country’s crude oil with vessels that move through the territorial waters.

Elumelu added that the government and security agencies should be able to disclose those behind the oil theft, noting that oil thieves still take away 18 per cent of Nigeria’s crude oil.

He stated: “This is oil theft, we’re not talking about stealing a bottle of Coke you can put in your pocket. The government should know, they should tell us.

“Look at America – Donald Trump was shot at and quickly they knew the background of who shot him. Our security agencies should tell us who is stealing our oil. You bring vessels to our territorial waters and we don’t know?”

The Star