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| Walter Wagbatsoma |
-How He Got Caught In The Cold War Between Diezani Alison-Madueke and Stella Oduah
Despite all odds, life is a spectacle and a feast for Walter Wagbatsoma. Walter’s life today, encapsulates the essence and enduring benefits of tact, hard work and perseverance. Having
waded through his crucible of storms to chance on triumph, the Executive Vice-Chairman and founder of Ontario Oil and Gas Limited eventually presents as an extraordinary case in the chaotic, arduous march to entrepreneurial success and acclaim.
The most remarkable feature of his ascendancy to the top is the
| manner in which he comports himself and carries on; like a champion. It’s quite astonishing. He just lets his records do the talking. Walter is to different people, a lot of things but no matter the quality of superlatives deployed to ornament his manhood and his name, almost everyone who had encountered him, friends, rivals and business associates inclusive, agree that he offers a rare window into the Nigerian psyche. |
Walter fundamentally serves as a significant signet by which people – younger nouveau riche in particular – of vastly different socioeconomic and political stripes attain their fortune and individualism till date. But metaphors hardly do justice to him as they would only suggest that he is some sort of passive instrument in the hands of fate and affairs of certain heavyweights in the Nigerian state.
But while Walter’s life today presents the charm of exhibition and a banquet, it is instructive to note that his journey to the top wasn’t without its challenges. Sources very close to him reveal that were it not for the grace of God and Walter’s ability to persevere even in the face of the most daunting odds, he would have become a gory spectacle and his life, a very big predicament. And the sight, predictably, would have been hardly pleasing.
Although, he enjoyed an illustrious and highly rewarding business and personal relationship with Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum, Walter got on the wrong side of his very good friend and Petroleum Minister sooner than anyone could imagine. His travails started shortly after his dalliance with former Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah. Walter, who had erstwhile enjoyed a cordial and very favourable relationship with the incumbent Minister of Petroleum, Alison-Madueke, probably thought his luck had improved when he began to enjoy similar favours and a rewarding relationship with Stella Oduah.
The Capital findings revealed that his relationship with the former Minister of Aviation got equally cordial and even more rewarding that the Aviation Minister generously awarded him very lucrative billion dollar contracts to renovate the country’s airports. And that was how his troubles started.
His former friend and benefactor, Petroleum Minister, Alison-Madueke, didn’t find it funny at all and that was because she and Oduah, Walter’s newfound benefactor, were not on good terms. In fact, it was an open secret on the corridors of power that there was no love lost between the two women and the Petroleum Minister considered it an affront for Walter to have pitched tent with Oduah, just like he did with her.
Consequently, she almost severed all contact and all existing business deals with him in what has been described as a calculated attempt to cut Walter to size and teach him a lesson in loyalty and power. More devastatingly, Walter became the subject of a vigorous investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
A witness for the agency told a court that Walter and his colleagues, Adaoha Ugo-Ndagi, Fakuade Babafemi, Ezekiel Ejide and their firm, Ontario Oil and Gas Limited, received payment in excess of N414 million by filing fraudulent fuel importation claims. The suspects are part of numerous fuel marketers standing trial for allegedly defrauding Nigeria by forging documents that enabled them to receive fuel subsidy payments from the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF).
Notwithstanding the inquisition launched against him by the EFCC, the loss of lucrative oil deals and friendship with the Petroleum Minister, Walter is maintaining a stiff upper lip and carrying on like one at peace with himself and his lot.
While his loss of business deals and friendship with Alison-Madueke may indicate bleakness where he had once enjoyed greener pasture, Walter is doing a very good job picking himself up and succeeding at all costs. Walter has today, bounced back and he is doing better despite the hindrances set on his path by the EFCC and his now estranged benefactor and Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum.
That is however, not surprising given his experience and proficiency at his job. Walter, a financier and arbitrageur of international repute, flaunts global experience in dealing in oil and gas commodities. He is widely recognized as an innovator in the fields of energy and finance having gained recognition through his work in the audit department at Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC). He also has extensive experience working in the banking sector and some of the banks he has worked with include Zenith International, Ecobank, FSB International Bank and Trade Bank, where he was responsible for setting up their energy subsidiary.
Fired by his passion to create the largest Pan-African oil and gas company, Walter left banking to initiate new oil ventures, Dream Perspectives, in 2004, before co-founding Ontario Oil in 2006, with a strategy of investing in growing profitable organizations and emerging opportunities. His long-standing relationships with IOCs and downstream majors (TOTAL, Chevron, Conoil, Mobil and Addax) allow Ontario to provide all-encompassing supply solutions.
His background in accountancy and banking as well as his vast experience in the oil and gas sectors adequately provided for him a dependable competence and knowledge foundation on which he built his oil and gas company.
Walter is an extremely private person. He is very rich and also a generous man. He owns several expensive properties, including a private jet and properties in exclusive, highbrow areas in various parts of the world. Even at that, he is a philanthropist, supporting many varied causes, including the eradication of malaria in African countries and HIV/AIDS in Nigerian children. He also provides active mentoring and guidance to many entrepreneurs.
Source: The Capital
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