Lara Banjoko’s Awful Experience

Lara Banjoko, CEO, Zone4 Energy Limited, has successfully built a good reputation in the nation’s oil and gas business.

Beautiful and brainy, she is one of the most sought-after female experts in the industry. In fact, not a few chief executives believe that she holds the magic wand that can turn the fortunes of any moribund petroleum company around.

Also, Banjoko, a former chief operating officer of Oando, once bestrode the Nigerian social scene like a colossus, causing many to believe that her name would resonate for a very long time.

But what remains unfathomable is the fact that she has always been dogged by controversies. It all began after she left an oil marketing company owned by a multi billionaire, in controversial circumstances.

Following her resignation, she went under the radar. But she resurfaced on the social scene, particularly after she floated her company, Zone 4 Energy, which has since become one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing indigenous oil and gas brands.

But just when you thought all was looking good for her again, Society Watch gathered that the lady again might have fallen into troubled waters that may take a long time to swim through.

Her firm, has been invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over an allegation that it received N5bn from a former minister.

She has since been fighting through legal means to clear her name. But the more she tries, the deeper she seems to sink, as the EFCC is allegedly tightening its noose around her neck and other executive directors of the company.