Arewa Youth Assembly for Good Leadership (AYAGL) in collaboration with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has condemned the recent calls for the removal of the group chief executive officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, describing it as mischievous and the handiwork of enemies of progress.

The speaker, AYAGL, Ambassador DanBature said the call for Kyari's sack was yet another subtle way to get at President Bola Tinubu after their failed efforts to hijack the recent peaceful protests to destabilise the country.

He averred that those sponsoring and clamouring for his sack are those who engaged in oil theft who no longer have the opportunity to continue with such business and are committed to getting at the president using the call for Kyari's sack as a cover in the first instance.

According to DanBature, it is a public knowledge that from a low of 900,000 barrels monthly oil production in the last quarter of 2022, under the Kyari-led NNPCL, Nigeria in July 2024 hit 1.53 million barrels per day, including condensates, according to data from the upstream regulator.

He recalled that, "When Kyari assumed duty as the head of NNPC on July 7, 2019, it was at a critical period not only in the life of the corporation but for the entire Nigerian oil and gas sector as well as the national economy. It was a turbulent period characterised by low production, burgeoning vandalism of oil pipelines, oil theft on a grand scale and demoralised staff of the corporation."

The speaker also averred that Kyari has been a beacon of transparency and accountability. "His scorecard is impressive and his efforts have not gone unnoticed. However, with great success comes great envy and Kyari is now facing opposition from forces of evil who seek to tarnish his reputation," the group said.