NNPCL: We were misled — Protesters U-turn on Mele Kyari probe

Barely a week after staging a protest calling for the probe and prosecution of the former Group Chief Executive Officer, GCEO, of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, Mele Kyari, a coalition of civil society organisations has made a U-turn and withdrawn all allegations against the former state-owned oil chief.
The group, under the auspices of Concerned Citizens Against Corruption, CCAC, had last week led a protest to the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, demanding Kyari’s prosecution.
During the protest, the coalition lamented that despite President Bola Tinubu’s dismissal of Kyari and the entire NNPCL board on 2 April 2025, no steps had been taken to investigate the alleged corrupt practices under the former GCEO’s leadership.
However, in a swift reversal, the coalition, at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, through its convener, Comrade Kabir Matazu, admitted that its 23 April protest at the Federal Ministry of Justice was hasty, premature, and lacking in facts.
He claimed that the group’s earlier decision to launch a nationwide protest and demand the probe of Kyari was driven by a limited understanding of the strategic intents and operations of the NNPC as a limited liability company.
According to him, having consulted widely and reviewed the facts, “We are convinced that Kyari acted within the scope of his responsibilities and in accordance with due process.”
His words: “As responsible corporate citizens, we and all our civil society partners who organised a protest on 23rd April 2025 against Mallam Mele Kyari have taken the hard decision of admitting that our earlier decision to launch a nationwide protest and demand the probe of the ex-NNPCL boss was driven by our limited understanding of the strategic intents and works of the NNPC as a limited liability company under the leadership of Mele Kyari. Our action was therefore hasty, premature, and lacking in facts.
“Despite our constructive and patriotic intentions, which were aimed at fostering accountability and transparency in governance, we were misled by those we trusted to provide us with the basic facts.”
Recall that in recent days, several groups had called for the investigation of Kyari, the former Group Chief Executive of NNPCL.
This followed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 2 April 2025 decision to sack Kyari and the NNPCL chairman, Pius Akinyelure.
NNPCL: We were misled — Protesters U-turn on Mele Kyari probe