In what could be summarized as a desperate, but fangled attack on the reputation of Segun Adebutu, Petrolex chairman and younger brother to a 2019 PDP gubernatorial aspirant in Ogun state, certain falsehood and deliberate fabrication of events have been peddled across the media with the aim of securing low-priced political advantage. Their poorly and hurriedly thought-out concepts can best be described as entertaining to the comity of naysayers, and an unfair treatment of a man who has impacted his environment greatly.
Not a lot of people are attuned to the various charitable gestures and ground-breaking trends which Segun Adebutu has done that warrant the pitiful payback he is getting from politically motivated merchant of counterfeit news. That his compassionate gestures spread across to the old, young and even the middle-aged people in the society is not a fact to contest.
Through his Oladiran Olusegun Adebutu (OOA) Foundation, he has been able to provide for orphans, vulnerable children, women, and youth. He currently caters for over 400 children under his foundation, providing for their food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, and education.
Segun Adebutu has also employed over 1,000 young people in various skilled and non-skilled jobs, empowering them to be able to face squarely, life’s various challenges. This very act places Segun Adebutu as a champion of humanitarianism and philanthropy.
The public would have been abreast of Segun Adebutu’s activities in Russia by now, with photos of him together with Russia’s Deputy Energy Minister, Anatoly Yanovsky flooding the newspaper and other online news, negotiating foreign direct investment (FDI) from Russia in the indigenous energy sector.
This negotiation, when finalized, will help change the face of business and trade in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. Already, the new face of Nigeria’s energy industry is starting to take Petrolex’ shape, as they currently own the largest petroleum product depot in Nigeria, which is first of its kind the oil and gas sub-division of sub-Saharan Africa. The storage which has a capacity of 600 million litres of petroleum products every month, has transformed petroleum products storage and distribution in Nigeria by covering up to about 60 percent of needs in the country.
It is however instructive that mischief-makers steer clear from dishing out forged information which contradicts the good persona that Segun Adebutu is known for and to quit from exciting cynics with fake news.
Clearly, while the allegations about Segun Adebutu are not only untrue and represent a pitiful smear campaign gone sour, it is still necessary to help educate stakeholders who may be liable to believe fictitious tales of tragicomedy.
Consequently, let mischief-makers leave him alone, and allow the breathing space to continue breeding impactful gestures to humanity, while blazing new trail in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria.
Adegbite Oni, a social economist, writes from Osun
