Otedola tells court: I was the one that alerted Jonathan to fuel subsidy scam

Femi Otedola, billionaire businessman, says he was the one that alerted former president Goodluck Jonathan to the fuel subsidy scam in 2010, even though he was later blackmailed by the house of reps committee that probed the fraud.

He was testifying at an FCT high court on Wednesday as a prosecution witness in the criminal case against Farouk Lawan, who chaired the house probe committee, by the federal government.

Otedola, who owns Zenon Oil and Gas Ltd and Forte Oil (formerly called AP), told the court that when he informed Jonathan that many companies were collecting subsidy payments without importing any product, the president did not believe him.

He thereafter went on to inform Senator Bukola Saraki, who raised the issue on the floor of the senate.

Otedola told the court: “Between January to April 2012, I was resident in Lagos. I knew the defendant (Lawan) as the chairman of…