President Bola Tinubu has removed Saidu Mohammed as the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
Naija News understands that Mohammed was on official duty in Berlin, Germany, when his removal was announced on Wednesday.
In a post on at 4:05 pm, the oil industry regulator said Mohammed had led NMDPRA delegates to the Pipeline Technology Conference in Germany.
The agency wrote, “The Authority Chief Executives, Engr. Saidu Mohammed leads NMDPRA delegates to the Pipeline Technology Conference taking place in Berlin, Germany, from 27th to 30th April, 2026.”
Umar named the replacement
About two hours after the post, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, announced Mohammed’s removal.
Onanuga said Tinubu had appointed Rabiu Abdullahi Umar as the new CEO of the NMDPRA.
He added that the President thanked Mohammed for his service and wished him well in his future endeavours.
According to Onanuga, Tinubu remains committed to ensuring capable leadership in key regulatory institutions to advance energy security, sector reform and sustainable economic growth.
Mohammed’s removal came about five months after he withdrew his decision to join the board of Seplat Energy as an independent non-executive director in December 2025.
Tinubu had appointed him as NMDPRA CEO following the resignation of Farouk Ahmed on December 17, the same day Seplat announced that Mohammed would be joining its board.
The development also comes months after Tinubu removed Ogbonnaya Orji as Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in November 2025, while he was away on a foreign trip.