The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has slammed Aliko Dangote’s recent accusations against Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), calling them “blackmail.”

Dangote had claimed during a Lagos briefing on Sunday that Ahmed spends $5 million (over N7 billion) on his children’s education in Switzerland and accused him of encouraging fuel importers, which he described as economic sabotage.

Reacting, PETROAN’s National President, Billy Gillis-Harry, dismissed the allegations as petty and unconvincing. “From a moral standpoint, this seems more like blackmail than a genuine accusation. There is no concrete evidence to support such claims,” he told Daily Post.

Gillis-Harry also questioned the likelihood of the claim, saying, “It’s hard to believe that Ahmed Farouk would spend such an amount on secondary school. The allegation is too trivial to be taken seriously.”