Five Private Jets And The Shameful NNPCL Kigali Retreat - Yusuf El Yakub

 Five Private Jets, and The Shameful NNPCL Kigali Retreat.

This is not reform. This is rot.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) board and senior management have returned from their much-criticised retreat in Kigali, Rwanda. But what Nigerians are now learning about that trip is even more alarming than the retreat itself.

Five private jets. Yes, five. Chartered to ferry top executives, including Group CEO Bayo Ojulari and board members, to and from Rwanda, all for a two-day retreat.

This is not reform. This is entrenched rot.

Multiple sources confirm that the private jets were provided by Abdullahi Bashir Haske, owner of the now-defunct Etihad Oilfield Services. Haske’s company once handled NNPC’s turnkey drilling projects in Nigeria’s frontier areas and is now mired in debt, controversy and lawsuits. He reportedly owes millions of dollars to local contractors and international service providers, including Schlumberger. He has also been dragged before the EFCC for defaulting on payments to several Nigerian firms after been fully paid by the National Oil Company.

Yet this is the man who flew Nigeria’s top oil executives to Kigali. This is the man NNPCL, under Bayo Ojulari’s leadership, is now seen openly fraternising with. Where is the conscience? Where is the leadership?

Investigations show that Haske’s company was blacklisted from NNPC’s turnkey projects after years of benefiting from inflated contract variations, especially on drilling work in Gombe State. When he held sway under the previous management, Haske was reportedly involved in similar arrangements, including the provision of private jet services at exorbitant cost. Now, under Ojulari, the same pattern is repeating itself. The conflict of interest is glaring. The optics are disgraceful. The financial implications are disturbing.

Our findings also reveal that Bayo Ojulari once worked under Haske, and that prior relationship appears to be translating into questionable favours. Despite growing public outrage and warnings, Ojulari reportedly failed to cancel the private jet arrangement. Why? According to sources, it was “because of the money they stood to make.” If true, this is not just incompetence. It is a betrayal of public trust.

Even more troubling, Haske is said to be the son-in-law of a prominent 2027 presidential aspirant. Nigerians must now ask: Is NNPCL being turned into a tool for political calculations? Is public money being used to fuel private ambitions?

Rather than driving reform, Bayo Ojulari appears entangled in a web of political loyalty, corporate compromise, and personal connections. The recent resignation of the Chief Corporate Communications Officer speaks volumes. It was no coincidence. Insiders confirm it was a principled decision, a protest against Ojulari’s refusal to take hard stances and his insistence on protecting entrenched interests.

Let us be clear, NNPCL is not working. The corporation is sinking under bloated costs, unpaid contractors, and a leadership that seems more interested in luxury travel and loyalty deals than in transparency and progress.

Mr. Bayo Ojulari, you owe Nigerians answers. You owe the struggling contractors a response. And you owe it to the institution you lead to separate personal loyalties from national responsibilities. This is not the time to politicise NNPCL. It is time to clean it up.

Five private jets for a retreat. Provided by a failed contractor under EFCC investigation. Previously blacklisted by NNPC.

That is not reform. That is a scandal.

And the question Nigerians must now ask is this? How much deeper can this system sink before someone steps in?

Mr. President, the time for silence is over. The time for action is now.

Yusuf El-Yakub is an Investigative Journalist in Abuja

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) board and senior management have returned from their much-criticised retreat in Kigali, Rwanda. But what Nigerians are now learning about that trip is even more alarming than the retreat itself.

Five private jets. Yes, five. Chartered to ferry top executives, including Group CEO Bayo Ojulari and board members, to and from Rwanda, all for a two-day retreat.

This is not reform. This is rot.

Multiple sources confirm that the private jets were provided by Abdullahi Bashir Haske, owner of the now-defunct Etihad Oilfield Services. Haske’s company once handled NNPC’s turnkey drilling projects in Nigeria’s frontier areas and is now mired in debt, controversy and lawsuits. He reportedly owes millions of dollars to local contractors and international service providers, including Schlumberger. He has also been dragged before the EFCC for defaulting on payments to several Nigerian firms after been fully paid by the National Oil Company.

Yet this is the man who flew Nigeria’s top oil executives to Kigali. This is the man NNPCL, under Bayo Ojulari’s leadership, is now seen openly fraternising with. Where is the conscience? Where is the leadership?

Investigations show that Haske’s company was blacklisted from NNPC’s turnkey projects after years of benefiting from inflated contract variations, especially on drilling work in Gombe State. When he held sway under the previous management, Haske was reportedly involved in similar arrangements, including the provision of private jet services at exorbitant cost. Now, under Ojulari, the same pattern is repeating itself. The conflict of interest is glaring. The optics are disgraceful. The financial implications are disturbing.

Our findings also reveal that Bayo Ojulari once worked under Haske, and that prior relationship appears to be translating into questionable favours. Despite growing public outrage and warnings, Ojulari reportedly failed to cancel the private jet arrangement. Why? According to sources, it was “because of the money they stood to make.” If true, this is not just incompetence. It is a betrayal of public trust.

Even more troubling, Haske is said to be the son-in-law of a prominent 2027 presidential aspirant. Nigerians must now ask: Is NNPCL being turned into a tool for political calculations? Is public money being used to fuel private ambitions?

Rather than driving reform, Bayo Ojulari appears entangled in a web of political loyalty, corporate compromise, and personal connections. The recent resignation of the Chief Corporate Communications Officer speaks volumes. It was no coincidence. Insiders confirm it was a principled decision, a protest against Ojulari’s refusal to take hard stances and his insistence on protecting entrenched interests.

Let us be clear, NNPCL is not working. The corporation is sinking under bloated costs, unpaid contractors, and a leadership that seems more interested in luxury travel and loyalty deals than in transparency and progress.

Mr. Bayo Ojulari, you owe Nigerians answers. You owe the struggling contractors a response. And you owe it to the institution you lead to separate personal loyalties from national responsibilities. This is not the time to politicise NNPCL. It is time to clean it up.

Five private jets for a retreat. Provided by a failed contractor under EFCC investigation. Previously blacklisted by NNPC.

That is not reform. That is a scandal.

And the question Nigerians must now ask is this? How much deeper can this system sink before someone steps in?

Mr. President, the time for silence is over. The time for action is now.

Yusuf El-Yakub is an Investigative Journalist in Abuja