Adedapo Segun, the chief financial officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have been sued at the Federal High Court in Abuja over the failed refinery rehabilitation and OVH Energy deal.
The plaintiffs who are lawyers accused Mr. Segun, former Executive Vice President – Downstream, of alleged involvement in the failure of the over N5 trillion refinery rehabilitation project, as well as being “involved in another N140 billion deal to acquire OVH Energy by the NNPCL,” which is now under multiple investigations by “relevant agencies and the National Assembly.”
The suit marked: FHC/ ABJ/CS/1580/2025, and filed on Monday under the aegis of Registered Trustees of Rights for All International and led by constitutional lawyer Nnamdi Kingdom Okere, condemned “the lopsided investigation of the refinery rehabilitation that gulped over N5 trillion” and alleged that “the EFCC may be shielding the NNPCL Chief Financial Officer who oversaw the failed rehabilitation.”
In the ex-parte application, Rights for All International listed both the EFCC and Adedapo Segun as defendants.
Among the reliefs sought is: “A declaration that the failure by the EFCC to investigate the fraudulent conduct or role of the 2nd Respondent, as the Chief Financial Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Dapo Segun in connection with the acquisition of the of OVH Energy by the NNPCL and rehabilitation of the Port-Harcourt and Warri Refineries, amounts to a refusal/failure of its statutory and/or public duty and therefore constitutes an abuse of powers, ultra vires and bad faith.”
The plaintiffs also prayed the court for: “An order of mandamus directing and compelling the 1st Respondent by its staff, officers, privies, servants or otherwise howsoever described to within 7 days commence investigation of the fraudulent conduct or role of the 2nd Respondent, as the Chief Financial Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, in connection with the acquisition of the of OVH Energy by the NNPCL and rehabilitation of the Port-Harcourt and Warri Refineries and to publish the Report of the Investigation within 14 days of its conclusion.”
In addition, they are seeking: “An order of mandamus directing and compelling the 1st Respondent by its staff, officers, privies, servants or otherwise howsoever described, where the Report of the Investigation discloses commission of any office, to forthwith arrest and prosecute the 2nd Respondent (Dapo Segun) for the economic and financials offences relating to the acquisition of the of OVH Energy by the NNPCL and rehabilitation of the Port-Harcourt and Warri Refineries.”
The group is also requesting: “An interim order of court directing the 2nd Respondent (Dapo Segun) to forthwith step aside as the Chief Financial Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and cease the performance of any duty pertaining thereto, tampering with or altering any documents or records material to the investigation into his conduct and/or role in the acquisition of the of OVH Energy by the NNPCL and rehabilitation of the Port-Harcourt and Warri Refineries, pending the hearing and determination of the Substantive Motion on Notice for Judicial Review,” he prayed the court.
Kingdom expressed concern that “the man who was in charge of the downstream operations of NNPCL was yet to be brought before the law for his role in the failed exercise,” while calling on the court “to make an order mandating the EFCC to immediately bring the NNPCL Chief Financial Officer to book.”
The plaintiff further urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to “relieve the Chief Financial Officer of his current appointment so as to forestall possible interference with vital evidence.”
The lawyers are also accusing the EFCC of “selective investigation of fraud relating to the repair of refineries by the NNPCL,” warning that such a trend “will ruin the integrity of the process if not immediately fixed.”