President Bola Tinubu’s nephew, Wale Tinubu, filed a lawsuit against Peoples Gazette and demanded N1 billion as compensation for a confidence crisis Oando Plc claims to have suffered due to a report published by the masthead.

Mr Tinubu sued The Gazette in August 2024 over the newspaper’s coverage of Oando’s acquisition of Agip Nigerian assets at the FCT High Court.

The story, published in July 2024, explained that the Nigerian government —after previous reservations and pushbacks from NNPC— greenlit the sale of Nigerian Agip Oil Company to Oando, run by the president’s nephew.

Wale Tinubu’s grouse was that The Gazette’s report implied that Oando’s takeover of Agip’s assets in Nigeria was based on family influence, given his uncle was the nation’s number one citizen.

The oil company’s CEO said the takeover had been initiated long before his uncle declared his intention to run for the presidency. However, it only got finalised after his election to office.

“The Defendant alleged that the 1st Claimant’s acquisition of Agip Oil’s stake in the NNPC/NAOC/Oando Joint Venture was unduly influenced by Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (the “President”), owing to the family relationship between the 2nd Claimant and the President.”

The Oando CEO also claimed that The Gazette’s report portrayed his oil company as a “corrupt and inefficient organisation that can only achieve its business targets through unethical and unscrupulous means.”

The company’s press statement in 2024 showed that Oando recorded a staggering loss after tax of N81.2 billion during President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime in 2022 but swiftly bounced back with a profit after tax of N60.3 billion in 2023 — the year Mr Tinubu assumed office. 

The company’s market valuation jumped from N70 billion to N1 trillion within the first year of Mr Tinubu’s presidency.

“Notably, Oando achieved a remarkable turnaround, transitioning from a loss in 2022 to a profit-after-tax of N60.3 billion in 2023,” the oil company admitted in a statement in November 2024.

Despite public statements announcing Oando’s “remarkable turnaround” and transitioning from billions of naira in losses to billions in profits under separate administrations, Wale Tinubu has been deploying police officers to harass The Gazette’s newsroom for months.

He insisted that the oil company did not enjoy any benefits and influence from his uncle, the president. 

The Oando chief demanded an apology be published on The Gazette’s website to redeem its image before hundreds of thousands of the newspaper’s international readers whose confidence in Oando might have waned.

Additionally, Mr Tinubu asked the court to order the masthead to publish an apology letter in three national newspapers, pay N1 billion for damages caused and N25 million for legal fees.

But The Gazette stands by its story, emphasising that the “truth” is its strongest defence.

Deputy Managing Editor Boladale Adekoya said that all publications undergo a rigorous editorial process, a fact the newspaper is ready to prove in court.

Mr Adekoya further asked Mr Tinubu to stop hounding The Gazette’s reporters with “hot-tempered” police officers and allow the law take its due course.

“All our stories on Wale Tinubu and Oando are properly sourced and followed our rigorous editorial processes,” Mr Adekoya said in a text message reaction to the lawsuit. “We welcome the opportunity to present our facts in court.”

“It has long been established that truth is the strongest defence against baseless accusation of defamation,” the newsroom manager added. “We now hope that Mr Tinubu and his billion-dollar oil firm would allow this legal process to play itself out and stop harassing our journalists and other staff members with hot-tempered police officers.”

Another grouse was an exclusive report by The Gazette publishing information from credible sources who said the president had a stake in the deal. 

“He (petroleum minister Heineken Lokpobiri) kept saying the president had an interest in the deal,” an official said. “We later found out that the deal was the main reason the president travelled to Paris.”

Sources said the Nigerian leader returned deepwater oil field OPL 245  to European oil majors Eni and Shell preceded by an arrangement for Oando to acquire Nigerian Agip Oil Company Ltd and other Nigerian assets of Eni towards the end of 2023.