The Executive Director and Group Chief Finance Officer of Oando Plc, Olufemi Adeyemo, has resigned his appointment from the company and the board, the company has announced.

Adeyemo, whose resignation became effective February 18, 2022, has been replaced by Mr Adeola Ogunsemi.

Ogunsemi was the company’s Chief Financial Officer of Oando’s upstream division, Oando Energy Resources, as he joined the company on January 01, 2012.

The company said the new CFO has over 20 years of experience in the oil and gas industry.

Oando also expressed optimism that Ogunsemi, would make a positive contribution to the oil company.

“Adeyemo played a major role in the growth and success of the Oando Group. He was pivotal in the execution of several notable accomplishments, including but not limited to; the 2014 landmark acquisition of ConocoPhillips Nigerian assets, the 2015 Rights Issue, and various restructuring programs within the Group”, the company said of the former staff, who joined back in October 2005.

However, his resignation is coming in the heat of the company’s alleged participation in the importation of off-spec methanol blended fuel into the Nigerian market.

Earlier reports says that the Group Managing Director of the NNPC Ltd, Mele Kyari, had said it received on January 20, 2022, a report from its quality inspector on the presence of emulsion particles in PMS cargoes shipped to Nigeria from Antwerp-Belgium.

He said the methanol blended petrol was imported into the country by the suppliers through four Premium Motor Spirit cargoes under its Direct Sales Direct Purchase (DSDP) arrangement.

Kyari had listed listed the companies – MRS, Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium, Oando, and Duke Oil as the importers of the contaminated product

But disputing the claim, Oando, in a statement signed by the Company Secretary, Ayotola Jagun, had said, it never imported contaminated petrol into Nigeria as alleged and was never involved in such.

Oando maintained that the PMS it supplied met Nigeria’s import specification, adding that it is committed to work with the NNPC to identify the root cause(s) of the subsequent contamination of the PMS supplied.

“Following media reports listing Oando as one of four importers that supplied methanol-blended Premium Motor Spirits into the country, we hereby state that Oando did not import and supply PMS that was adulterated or substandard.

“The PMS supplied by Oando met Nigeria’s import specification. We are committed to working assiduously with the NNPC and industry to identify the root cause(s) of the subsequent contamination of the PMS supplied.

“We want to assure the public that Oando as a responsible corporate citizen, would not partake in the importation, distribution, or marketing of substandard petroleum products”, Oando had said in a statement.