Otedola Says 1 A.M. Call Made Wale Tinubu Divert a Diesel Cargo 

A glimpse into the billionaire’s bold business moves ahead of his memoir launch. Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola has shared an astonishing story of how a late-night phone call helped him clinch a multimillion-naira diesel cargo, an episode that offers a rare look into the aggressive deal-making that built his empire in Nigeria’s energy sector.

In a sneak peek from his highly anticipated memoir Making It Big, scheduled for release later this August, Otedola recounts a high-stakes encounter that happened at 1 a.m., a moment that would go on to define part of his success story in the oil business.

According to the billionaire, the drama unfolded while he was supervising a diesel offloading operation at a depot. From the coast, he noticed the Ocean Challenger, a ship belonging to Wale Tinubu’s Oando Plc. 

The vessel was on its way to deliver diesel to another buyer, but Otedola had other plans.

“I placed a call to Oando’s operations guy and told him I wanted to buy the load,” he recalls. “He said it wasn’t possible.” Not one to give up easily, Otedola went straight to the top. “So I called Wale directly and told him I’d pay N6 extra per litre. Without hesitation, he told his team to discharge it into my tank.”

That extra N6 per litre translated into a N36 million premium, on top of the estimated N180 million value of the cargo at the time. “I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse,” Otedola added, quoting The Godfather.

The cargo, said to be around six million litres of diesel, was one of many power plays Otedola made in the early days of building Zenon Petroleum and Gas, his energy company that would eventually dominate Nigeria’s diesel market in the mid-2000s.

Otedola has a career fueled by bold bets

Otedola’s path into the oil sector was anything but conventional. As the son of a former Lagos State governor, he initially benefited from diesel allocations linked to political channels. 

But when those privileges dried up, he knew he had to build a more reliable and scalable business model.

He approached a private fuel supplier and, rather than request a small allocation, offered to buy the entire depot. Though the asking price was $4 million, Otedola proposed a staggering $20 million, outbidding himself by $16 million to secure total control.

That aggressive mindset laid the foundation for Zenon Petroleum in 2003. By his early 30s, he had become a dominant figure in Nigeria’s diesel supply chain, earning the nickname “The Diesel King.”

From Zenon to Forte Oil and beyond

Otedola’s influence stretched beyond Zenon. He went on to acquire African Petroleum, later rebranding it as Forte Oil. 

His leadership saw the company expand into new energy ventures, upgrade its internal processes, and attract global investment. Eventually, he exited the downstream oil sector and shifted his focus to power and other strategic investments.

With his memoir around the corner, stories like the Ocean Challenger deal provide a glimpse into the boldness, quick thinking, and risk-taking that define Otedola’s career.

If this 1 a.m. call is just a preview, readers can expect even more gripping tales of business brinkmanship when the book finally hits shelves.