Dangote Petroleum Refinery says the claim by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited that the refiner sold petrol at N898 per litre is misleading.

In a statement on Sunday, the company described the claim by NNPC as “mischievous”.

Earlier, Olufemi Soneye, the chief corporate communications officer of NNPC, said that “this initial loading, it was N898 per litre so far”.

On Saturday, NNPC mobilised over 100 trucks to Dangote refinery to load petrol after the federal government said the national oil company will be the sole distributor for petrol produced by the refiner.

Addressing the price announced by NNPC, Dangote refinery said Nigerians should disregard the “malicious statement” and await a formal announcement on the pricing by the technical sub-committee on naira-based crude sales to local refineries.

Dangote’s statement below:

“Our attention has been drawn to a statement attributed to NNPCL spokesperson, Mr. Olufemi Soneye, that we sell our PMS at N898 per litre to the NNPCL,” the company said.

“This statement is both misleading and mischievous, deliberately aimed at undermining the milestone achievement recorded today, September 15, 2024, towards addressing energy insufficiency and insecurity, which has bedeviled the economy in the past 50 years.

“We urge Nigerians to disregard this malicious statement and await a formal announcement on the pricing, by the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries, appointed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, which will commence on October 1, 2024, bearing in mind that our current stock of crude was procured in dollars.

“It should also be noted that we sold the products to NNPCL in dollars with a lot of savings against what they are currently importing. With this action, there will be petrol in every local government area of the country regardless of their remote nature.”

Dangote refinery assured Nigerians of the availability of quality petroleum products and ending petrol scarcity in the country.

The company commenced petrol production on September 3.

On the same day, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) said the Dangote refinery is expected to supply 25 million litres of petrol daily in September and will subsequently increase the volume to 30 million litres daily from October.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has arrived in Minna, Niger’s capital, to meet with Ibrahim Babangida, the ex-head of state.

Obasanjo arrived in Minna Sunday evening after felicitating Gabriel Igbinedion, the Esama of Benin Kingdom, in Edo State, over his 90th birthday.

The meeting with Babangida also had Abdulsalami Abubakar, former head of state, and Aliyu Gusau, an ex-national security adviser (NSA), in attendance.

Kehinde Akinyemi, media aide to Obasanjo, confirmed the meeting.

It was not immediately clear what issues were discussed by the former Nigerian leaders, but multiple reports said the meeting was connected with pressing national issues that border on the current economic challenges.

However, Akinyemi said Obasanjo visited the former head of state to also celebrate his birthday.

Babangida turned 83 in August.

With days to the September 21 Governorship Election in Edo State, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun says quasi-security outfits won’t be allowed to intervene in election security in the South-South state.

He stated this Sunday during the Edo Election Security Townhall, a programme organised by Channels Television in partnership with the Kimpact Development Initiative and the UK International Development.

Egbetokun said, “We will be impartial, we will be professional, and we will be vigilant whilst providing a level playing ground for all the political parties and their candidates.

“Quasi-security organisations would not be allowed to take part in this election. They will not be allowed to intervene in the election security. Just as we have done in previous elections, only the police and other security agencies will be lawfully deployed for this exercise.

“For those who may be thinking of using violence to disrupt the election, I have a warning for them. Any person or persons found bearing any offensive weapon on the day of election will be treated instantly as an armed criminal.”

Egbetokun assured citizens of the state of “peaceful outcomes”.

With the IGP’s comment, the Edo State Security Network and other state-run and private-run outfits are banned from election security next Saturday.

The political temperature in the state has been turbocharged in the last year. Of note, 95 cases of violence including 35 incidents of electoral violence have been recorded since January this year in the state. Last week, the Peoples Democratic Party declined to sign a peace pact signed by 16 other parties fielding candidates in the poll.

Analysts have described the forthcoming poll as a three-horse race involving Asue Ighodalo of the People Democratic Party (PDP), Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP).