The sack of Mr. Funsho Kupolokun as the group managing director (GMD) of the Nigerian Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), confirmed by the Federal Government, Friday, is causing unease among other executives of government owned parastatals with speculations that they have also been penciled down for the boot.

The chief executives of two parastatals under the Ministry of Information and Communication with wide outreach to several millions of Nigerians were among those Sunday Vanguard learnt have been narrowed down for removal. The sack of Kupolokun, Sunday Vanguard also gathered, came upon the insistence of top officials of the Presidency and was achieved despite last minute lobbying by sympathizers of the sacked oil man. His sack was, at the weekend, welcomed by some senators who described his tenure as a failure on account of the repeated products price hikes and his failure to provide regular fuel supply.

Senator Uche Chukwumerije (PPA, Abia North), while assessing Kupolokun’s tenure as that of incompetence, nevertheless, admitted that Kupolokun’s failings could not be divorced from President Olusegun Obasanjo who he said ran the oil industry. Chukwumerije said Nigerian patriots were looking forward to the day that security agencies would beam their searchlight on the alleged mismanagement of the NNPC during the Obasanjo/Kupolokun years.

Other senators who commented on Kupolokun’s tenure were Senators Heniken Lokpobiri (PDP, Bayelsa West), Enyinniya Abaribe (PDP, Abia South) and George Sekibo (PDP, Rivers). They all agreed that Kupolokun’s failure to run the refineries made his stewardship a failure. Kupolokun, Sunday Vanguard learnt, had earlier been penciled down for sack last Monday but the move was temporarily delayed upon serious lobbying by a top security chief under Obasanjo administration. The former security man, Sunday Vanguard learnt, was dragged into the bid to rescue Kupolokun’s job on account of his (former security chief's) role in his (Kupolokun) appointment.

The former top security chief, Sunday Vanguard learnt, was introduced to Kupolokun through some Yoruba friends and thus his appointment as special assistant to the president on petroleum before his elevation to the post of GMD. Besides the security chief, former Vice president Atiku Abubakar was said to have been a one-time godfather of Kupolokun. The lobby efforts of the former security man and other top Nigerians, however, did not persuade the Presidency which only deferred by shelving his removal by a few days. At the weekend, the sack fever was spreading in two parastatals of the Ministry of Information and Communications with critical influence and outreach among Nigerians.

Responding to Kupolokun’s sack, at the weekend, Chukwumerije said: “To assess Kupolokun’s legacy, one must begin with one realistic question: Was Kupolokun ever a free agent? The general impression is that Kupolokun was not a free agent. He came out as a mere shadow of President Obasanjo. His legacy, therefore, cannot be honestly assessed in isolation but in the context of the authoritarian temperament of President Obasanjo who remained by and large the dejure and defacto oil minister throughout the whole tenure. The period was a period of monumental incompetence.

“The collapse of domestic oil production, in spite of unprecedented amount of money sunk into the refineries, the endless yearn in search of fuel and kerosene by the citizens of an oil producing country, the sleaze evident in the massive laundering of oil resources through PTDF to partisan political purposes including third term and the fact that a public concern like NNPC has never been audited speak eloquently of President Obasanjo’s economic reform and the managers like Kupolokun who he handpicked. All patriots are eagerly looking forward to the day when EFCC will turn its searchlights into the gross mismanagement of NNPC and its affiliates during the tenure of Obasanjo and Kupolokun.”

In his reaction, Sekibo said: “To me, naturally, it is to congratulate the former GMD who has been relieved of his appointment. I will congratulate him because as a Nigerian he has also given his best. Somehow, it is not everyone that can give what Nigeria needs at every point in time. He has served the country for over three years, he has tried, but his best was obviously not enough.”

Lokpobiri said: “Kupolokun has served this country for a number of years and his removal is something that shouldn’t worry Nigerians or anybody at all. It is something that is legal, his appointment was at the discretion of Mr. President. Having served as group managing director for almost four years, I think the man has contributed his own quota. I think that Nigerians suffered more under him, when we had so many price increases because during his tenure, we had more price increases than during the time of any other GMD. His removal, I think, is a great opportunity for others to also come out and offer what they can. There has to be vacancy for other people to come out."

Abaribe said: “It is the responsibility of the president to choose his team. Having spent three years, it is okay to have a new man at the helm. His tenure was marred by his inability to solve the perennial fuel crisis since he could not get the refineries to work”.