Other than the usual traders – Sahara and Oando – whose names have been on almost every NNPC crude buyers list for years whoever has been leading the country, President Muhammadu Buhari and his trusted oil sector guides (Abba Kyari – chief of staff), Mamman Daura (cousin) and Maikanti Kacalla Baru (NNPC GMD) have chosen to favour businessmen that will campaign for their bid running up to the presidential elections in 2019. The provisional list doing the rounds presents carefully distributed quotas for the next two years.
Spoilt in the north
Several northern companies are set to receive crude cargoes for the second year in a row. Buhari will be looking to pamper this constituency that had been instrumental in his win in 2015. Those on the list include AA Rano (Auwalu Abdullahi Rano)and AMG Petroenergy (Risqua Murtala Muhammed), as well as MRS (Alhaji Sayyu Idris Dantata, Aliko Dangote’s half-brother) Prudent Energy owned by businessman Abdulwasiu Sowami (Borno) would also see its second quote of crude, as would Mahmud Tukur (Adamawa), he,ad of Eterna Oil & gas and son of the former opponent PDP party leader, Bamanga Tukur. Levene Energy is also on the list to pick up a second consecutive year of crude. This company is reportedly controlled by friends of aviation minister of state, Sirika Hadi (Katsina). The same goes for Setana, headed by Edward Edozian, the cousin of the permanent secretary to the ministry of energy, Luis Edozian.
Southerners, Igboland and Delta
Knowing full well that he will not be able to win another term without the south, Buhari will need to use NNPC crude to win over a handpicked selection of businessmen. Some of them are also about to win their second round in a row, such as Arkleen Oil and Gas (Gregory Omosigho Ero, Edo State and former Napims CEO), Bono Energy (Banjo Omisore, Oyo State), Shoreline Energy (Kola Karim) and Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah’s Masters Energy (Abia).
However, it would be the first crude allocations for Aipec (Tayo Awogboro, formerly Oando, Lagos State) and Emadeb (Adebowale Emmanuel Olujimi). The vastly wealthy Ondo state leader, Fredrick Obateru Akinruntan is also on the list via Obat Oil. The secretary of state to oil, Emmanuel Kachikwu should also be able to push for Northwest Petroleum, directed by his friend Winifred Akpani (Cross River).-Africa Intelligence
