Popular Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola has recounted a tense moment when former President Olusegun Obasanjo called him at 2 a.m. and, in a fit of anger, referred to him as a “stupid boy.”
The revelation is part of Otedola’s forthcoming book, Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business, set for release on August 18, 2025.
Otedola, who had previously shared how he lost $898 million in 2009, sheds more light on the challenges he faced in the oil and gas sector. In the new excerpt, he details how Obasanjo was furious after learning about a nationwide diesel shortage—an outcome of the deregulation policy Otedola had championed.
According to Otedola, Obasanjo believed he had been misled into approving the deregulation of diesel importation, a move that broke the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) long-standing monopoly. The former president’s outburst came after NNPC allegedly attempted to sabotage the new policy, causing a temporary disruption in supply.
Otedola, founder of Zenon Petroleum, had assured President Obasanjo that the private sector could adequately meet local diesel demand without NNPC’s involvement. At the time, NNPC was selling diesel below market price and receiving subsidy reimbursements from the federal government.
In 2004, the government officially liberalised the diesel market, making it the first petroleum product to be completely subsidy-free and putting an end to the rent-seeking practices tied to its distribution.
The billionaire businessman wrote in excerpts shared with TheCable: “When President Obasanjo deregulated diesel in 2004, Zenon took an unassailable lead in the market. My opponents’ reaction was to tell the president that we’d turned the market upside down [and that the] economy was about to be brought down because there was no diesel, and Obasanjo was mad at me because he’d sought and received assurances from us that NNPC’s exit from diesel importation wouldn’t affect supply. My critics then fanned the flames by telling him there was no diesel in the country, that trucks couldn’t move and that industries were shutting down.”
‘YOU’RE A STUPID BOY’
He continued: “The President… called me at 2am, shouting through the phone. ‘You’re a stupid boy! God will punish you! You persuaded me to deregulate diesel, and now there’s no diesel in the country!’ He was livid. I flew to Abuja the following day. As soon as Obasanjo saw me, he flew into a rage again. ‘What kind of rubbish is this? What kind of nonsense is this?’ He was right in my face, screaming at the top of his lungs. I allowed him to cool down, and when he stopped talking, I tried to explain the situation. ‘Baba, they’re lying to you. It’s all lies. I have six ships waiting to discharge big supplies of diesel.’”
Otedola said he assured Obasanjo that diesel was available nationwide and backed his claim by presenting letters of credit for all the incoming cargoes.
“I was even paying demurrage. I told the president that I was the victim of competitors’ backbiting,” he wrote, saying he asked Obasanjo to “see what they come up with next… You’ll see that it’s me who’s telling you the truth.”
To tackle the disinformation directly, Otedola said he informed Obasanjo of his plan to publish diesel availability and pricing on the front pages of newspapers—an effort to ensure transparency and address concerns over fair and consistent pricing.
“I knew it was people in NNPC – the state monopoly, in their now – teetering positions of power, who were against deregulation – who’d been telling him these lies. They wanted to continue to import, and rake in the subsidy money.
Otedola’s debut book has already received high praise from notable figures, including Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO); Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group; Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group; Samuel Adedoyin, Founder and Chairman of the Doyin Group of Companies; and Arunma Oteh, former Vice President and Treasurer of the World Bank.
As of the moment of filling this content today, August 8th, 2025, Femi Otedola is 62-year-old and former president Olusegun Obasanjo is 88-year-old.