KEY POINTS
- Aliko Dangote has petitioned the ICPC to investigate alleged corruption by NMDPRA chief Ahmed Farouk.
- The petition claims Farouk spent over $7 million on his children’s education in Switzerland without lawful income.
- Dangote says a probe is needed to restore public trust and investor confidence in Nigeria’s petroleum sector.
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has formally petitioned Nigeria’s Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, accusing the head of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority of corruption and abuse of office.
In a petition submitted on Tuesday through his lawyer, Ogwu Onoja, a senior advocate of Nigeria, Dangote called on the ICPC to arrest, investigate and prosecute Ahmed Farouk, the managing director and chief executive of the NMDPRA. The petition was addressed to the ICPC chairman, Musa Aliyu, and alleges financial impropriety linked to Farouk’s conduct while in office.
According to the petition, Farouk is accused of spending more than $7 million on the education of his four children in Switzerland. Dangote claimed the fees were paid upfront for extended periods and that there was no lawful income to justify such expenditure, given Farouk’s career-long service in the Nigerian public sector.
A copy of the petition seen by THISDAY alleged that the payments breached Nigeria’s code of conduct for public officers and amounted to corrupt enrichment and unlawful use of public funds. Dangote said the scale of the spending raised serious questions about the source of the money and whether it could have been derived from legitimate earnings.
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To support his claims, Dangote provided the ICPC with the names of Farouk’s children, the Swiss schools they attend and the amounts allegedly paid for each of them, urging the commission to verify the details independently.
The petition further accused the NMDPRA chief of using the authority of his office to divert public funds for personal benefit, actions Dangote said had contributed to public anger and recent protests linked to Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector. He argued that such conduct, if proven, would represent a serious breach of public trust at a time when the sector is undergoing sensitive reforms.
“It is without doubt that the above facts in relation to abuse of office, breach of the code of conduct for public officers, corrupt enrichment and embezzlement are gross acts of corrupt practices,” the petition said, citing provisions of the ICPC Act that empower the commission to investigate and prosecute such offences.
Dangote maintained that Farouk could not, based on his legitimate income over decades of public service, have amassed the funds allegedly used to finance the education of his children abroad. He said any public officer who uses their position to confer unfair advantage on themselves or their relatives commits an offence punishable under Nigerian law.
The business magnate said he was confident in the ability of the ICPC, working alongside other anti-graft agencies, to carry out a thorough investigation and prosecute the case if a prima facie offence is established. He urged the commission to act swiftly, noting that the allegations were already in the public domain and risked further eroding confidence in regulatory institutions.
Dangote added that decisive action would help protect the credibility of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration and reaffirm the government’s commitment to fighting corruption. He also pledged to provide further evidence to support his claims of abuse of office, corrupt enrichment and impunity.
The allegations follow remarks Dangote made during a media briefing in Lagos on Sunday, where he accused regulators of failures and corruption in the downstream petroleum sector. He warned that unresolved claims of misconduct would continue to undermine public trust and discourage investment in Nigeria’s energy industry.
