He revealed this in an interview with the Financial Times, highlighting a contentious decision made by the previous administration.

Elumelu alleged that he had been looking to purchase the oilfield since 2017 and raised $2.5bn for it, but Buhari and his late Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, blocked the deal.

He stated that he was advised Nigeria could not permit something of such strategic importance to be handled by a private operator.

“The rejection defied logic,” Elumelu expressed in the interview, highlighting his disbelief at the administration’s decision.

“We would have been purchasing it from a foreign company, so why was it such an issue?”

Elumelu, also the chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA), emphasized that his company’s offer was not merely a business transaction but a potential boost to Nigeria’s economy by retaining valuable assets within the country.

“We wanted to become a Fortune 500 company and we estimated what we needed. It’s not naira, it’s huge dollars. Energy security is crucial for a country that doesn’t produce enough electricity for its roughly 200 million citizens,” he added.