Aliko Dangote has filed a formal petition with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) against the CEO of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
In a statement by the ICPC spokesperson, John Okor Odey, the commission confirmed the receipt of the petition on Tuesday, December 16, 2025.
“The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) writes to confirm that it received a formal petition today Tuesday, 16th December, 2025 from Alhaji Aliko Dangote through his lawyer. The petition is against the CEO of the NMDPRA, Alhaji Farouk Ahmed.
“The ICPC wishes to state that the petition will be duly investigated,” the commission stated.
What Dangote’s Lawyer said
Dangote’s lawyer, Innocent Adoh, said they submitted the petition against Farouk Hamit over alleged undue benefits from public office, citing evidence of misconduct under Section 19 of the ICPC Act.
“We attached evidence of monies that are being expended as school fees for his children in excess of $7 million annually. And we wonder how a civil servant in Nigeria gets that kind of money to pay school fees alone and other logistics on behalf of his children. So, our client has the right as a taxpayer to present this petition against the excesses of the public officer. It’s for the commission to investigate,” he said
Adoh said that if the ICPC finds evidence of wrongdoing by Farouk Ahmed, formal prosecution will follow.
Backstory
The dispute escalated after Dangote publicly accused the NMDPRA boss of corruption and economic sabotage, including claims that Ahmed spent around $5 million on the overseas secondary education of his four children, a figure Dangote says is inconsistent with the income of a public official.
Dangote has also criticised the regulator for issuing what he described as reckless licences for the importation of petroleum products despite sufficient local refining capacity, suggesting that such actions undermine domestic production and favour import interests.
He also alleged that the agency has been releasing figures that do not accurately reflect the actual production at its Lekki-based refinery, insisting that the regulator’s reports present a distorted view of operations.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on Nigeria’s anti-corruption agencies, including the ICPC, EFCC, and Code of Conduct Bureau, to urgently investigate allegations of corruption at the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA). SERAP urged the agencies to question Ahmed, identify those responsible, recover any illicit funds, and enhance transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
What you should know
The tension between Dangote’s refining interests and Nigeria’s petroleum regulator stretches back to earlier in 2025, when Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE filed a N100 billion lawsuit at the Federal High Court in Abuja challenging import licences issued by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and others, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
The refinery argued that the regulator continued to grant licences to import refined petroleum products despite domestic production capacity, claiming this violated sections of the Petroleum Industry Act and harmed local refining growth.
However, the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1324/2024, was formally discontinued in July 2025, with Dangote’s legal team filing a notice of discontinuance to withdraw the case against the NMDPRA, NNPCL and other defendants.
