Did Babajide Kolade-Otitoju lie? — by Simbo Olorunfemi

I have been busy offline for quite a bit, but not to the point of not noticing the concerted efforts in the last week or two by an online group to muzzle, cancel, bully or intimidate Babajide Kolade-otitoju.

Predictably, that was largely instigated by that TV Anchor of particular concern whose umbilical cord is apparently tied to the fickleness and negative energy that propels much of what trends on X. It is from that he feeds off and it is that same base he caters to, in a mutually-assured commitment to negativity at all costs. Whoever does not drink from their well of constant lamentation must be maligned, cancelled and insulted.

One would expect that someone who has the privilege of a traditional media platform would subscribe to a bit of circumspection that goes with the practice of the profession and relate with professionals in the field he has found himself with respect and decorum, but apparently the yawning ignorance of professional standards and ethics continue to stand in the way of sound judgement.

This round of attack on BKO is anchored on two feeble legs – 1) Allegations that he injected religious sentiment into Osun politics in the build-up to election in his bias against the candidate adopted by online opposition forces of which he is a prominent spokesperson.

2) A resurrection of the claim that BKO had reported
that the Port Harcourt Refinery was working, whereas that was not the case.

Therr was a conflation of Babajide’s on-site report on Warri Refinery, a factual and expert-sanctioned one, with the report on Port Harcourt Refinery which BKO didn’t visit and never claimed to have visited. Perhaps, deliberately done by some.

This TV Anchor used his X platform to push edited clips of Babajide’s analysis on the Osun election to present an out-of-context narrative, misrepresenting his views, deliberately setting him up for attack by his followers. He also resurrected the false claims he had repeatedly made concerning Jide’s factual report on the Warri Refinery and analysis on the Port Harcourt Refinery based on findings by Industry Experts, Labour leaders and journalists who visited the Refinery as well as the statement by the current Managing Director of NNPC.

I won’t be dwelling on the Osun election analysis as I see that many have competently dealt with that and Jide has equally responded to that.

But the questions must be asked of these folks – How can an analysis of factors that could possibly impact the outcome of an election be reframed as an introduction of a particular element into the election, or a demarketing of one candidate and the promotion of the other? How can anyone logical mind mistake premise for an indrawn conclusion?

I have long made the point here, anyway, that many do not understand what analysis is all about. That explains the tendency here to always read analyses upside down.

People assume analysis to pandering to their whims, sentiment and biases, rather than the facts. They will not engage over the premise or the conclusion of a matter, they will rather introduce the extraneous to muddy the water.

Once it does not suit their narrative or defeats their expectation, the analysis becomes a problem for them. They start fishing for motive. They pin on you one affiliation or the other.

That was the case for some with respect to the analysis by Babajide. For those who instigated the mischief, however, it was a mix of ignorance and intolerance that now manifests itself as confusion.

I return to the Refineries. It is one I have extensively written on, even if many have apparently decided to hold on to their preferred versions of the facts. It is a subject I am familiar with. I also happen to be one of the few Nigerians who visited the Port Harcourt Refinery, along with industry experts for an on-the-spot assessment.

Now to the issues:

1. Warri Refinery
   On May 2nd, 2025, Babajide, who was in Warri for a different assignment, sighted the flare from the Warri Refinery, and as a reporter properly trained with an eye for news, he stopped by to file an on-the-spot report.

Literature review tells us that the presence of a flare is an indication of a refinery in operation, which was exactly what Babajide reported. So, where is the lie?

Whether the level of operation is optimal or commercially viable at the point in time was not the issue and could not have been determined by the sight of a flare by a non-expert, and that was not the question.

Rather, it was whether the refinery was in operation AT THE TIME. It was in operation and that was what Babajide reported. So, what did he do wrong? Where is the lie in his report? Whether the refinery stopped operation the next day or the following month is absolutely irrelevant, the question is whether it was in operation when Babajide reported it to have been in operation, and the answer is Yes.

Journalism, as I know it, is about facts, not emotional outburst on camera, especially when that is not backed by facts, research, investigation or visit to the site. Hearsay cannot torpedo facts.

Despite what we know on the subject, I still decided to prompt AI for its position on this matter.

Prompt:

Is the sighting of a flare an indication of a functioning refinery?

Response :

‘Yes, a large or active flare is a clear indication that a refinery is in an active state of operational transition, though it does not necessarily mean it is running under normal, steady-state commercial production.’

So, what did Babajide get wrong? Where is the lie in his report about the Warri Refinery that this fellow has continued to taunt and troll him for, since then?

2. Port Harcourt Refinery

While Babajide’s on-site report was on Warri Refinery, for some curious reason, there has been confusion or conflation, willful or otherwise, to make it about the Port Harcourt Refinery.

What BKO did, in analysing the Port Harcourt Refinery was to make reference to reports by those who visited the Refinery and attested to the fact that it was working. Again, these were industry experts, Labour leaders and Journalists

So, the question is: Was the Port Harcourt Refinery in operation at the time the experts, labour leaders and Journalists, including the lead Business Correspondent for Arise TV, visited?

The answer is a categorical Yes! I visited the Port Harcourt Refinery, and the old plant, as reported, was functioning.

The refusal by those who chose to parrot from the studio false claims by a self-appointed Energy Economist, planted in the media space to sell a contrary narrative in furtherance of a set agenda did not change the facts. The refinery was in operation when we visited.

For whatever reason, there was the desperation to insist that the refinery was not in operation and project reports that it was working as a lie.

Even when the industry experts, including the President of PENGASSAN and TUC, who is a Petroleum Engineer, on different occasions attested to the fact that the refinery was indeed in operation, he was rebuffed, just as experts who came on TV to make this point were hounded by the Interviewer.

When, months after, the new management at the NNPC decided to suspend operations of the Port Harcourt refinery, they latched onto as validation of their patently FALSE claim that the refinery was never operational, whereas that was in fact a validation that the refinery was indeed functional as reported by those of us who visited it.

Contrary to the falsehood peddled to validate their false claim, the current MD of NNPC, Mr Bayo Ojulari never said that the refinery was not in operation at the time he took over or when he decided to shut it down.

His position was that “the decision to OPERATE the Port Harcourt Refinery prior to FULL REHABILITATION was ill-informed and sub-commercial.”

Is that not proof that the refinery was indeed operational, as was reported by those who visited?

So, what have the Journalists who visited Port Harcourt Refinery done wrong by reporting what they saw?

Experts cite the presence of flare as proof that a refinery is operational. So, how did Babajide lie?

What has Babajide Kolade-otitoju done wrong by reporting what he saw?

How can you sit in a studio in Lagos and assume to know what is on the ground that you insist on contesting what those who visited saw? Your senior colleague who works with you in the same station was part of the team that visited the Refinery. Why haven’t you called him out?
The TV station you work for reported that the refinery was working. Why not call your station and bosses there?

What with this unprofessional and irresponsible attack on Journalists who visited a place you did not visit and only reported what they saw?

If the insinuation you pushed that the Journalists, even with audio-visual evidence presented, were indeed compromised, what about the labour leaders, industry leaders and other experts who visited the refinery and attested to the fact that it was working?

It is one thing to be cynical, it is another to insist that it is only your armchair configurations that are acceptable.

How does the fact that the Refineries are not in operation today invalidate the proof that the Refineries were indeed in operation at the time people visited them?

At no point did NNPC claim that the plant was fully operational, it stated then that operation, at less-than-full capacity, had only commenced in the smaller of the two plants in Port Harcourt, while work continued, to upscale production in the smaller refinery, and finish rehabilitation works of the 150kbd plant.

So, the point is simple and straightforward – Was the Refinery in operation, as was reported by the Journalists? The answer is YES.

The Experts and Journalists who toured the refinery went through all the points, from operation to loading. Experts certified that the refinery was functional. Independent marketers testified to the fact that they loaded products (diesel and kerosene) from the refineries, while petrol was exclusively loaded by NNPC Retail arm.

The claim that the refinery was not operational and that Journalists who visited the place lied or misled the public is ridiculous and false.

Speaking months back with the delegation from PENGASSAN, the current Managing Director of NNPC, Mr Bayo Ojulari, restated the position that the refinery was indeed operational, as was reported. His point was that the operation wasn’t optimal and commercially viable.

His words: “When I resumed, one of the first priorities I focused on was the refineries, to have a quick review, to see whether we could quickly fix it.”
“Let’s take Port Harcourt. We were pumping about 950,000 barrels as cargo to go to the refinery. You know that kind of price…What I found is that we were losing between N300 million to N500 million on a monthly basis in the overall refinery.”
Could they have been pumping crude into a refinery that was not in operation?

Again, the Refinery was in operation at the time the Journalists visited. It was in operation at the time I visited and my report is there. I stand by it.

The decision to shut down operations until the full rehabilitation is completed cannot be an excuse to troll Journalists who visited and reported as they saw, just because it does not validate your bias and poorly cooked conspiracy theories.

It cannot be used as a plank to cancel or bully Babajide by those obviously pushing their partisan and nefarious agenda.

On the Refineries, BKO didn’t lie. He reported and analysed the issues as professionally expected of him.

His brief on Journalists Hangout is to offer an opinion based on facts and that’s what he does.

You don’t have to agree with his opinion and can hold on to yours. You are entitled to your opinion, but not a misrepresentation of facts and someone else’s opinion.