Senator Abdulaziz Yari to chair first Geregu Power AGM after $750 million buyout of Otedola's stake

Senator Abdulaziz Yari, the former Zamfara State governor who took control of Geregu Power Plc in a $750 million acquisition last December, will preside over the company's 14th Annual General Meeting on June 30 — his first as chairman of Nigeria's most capitalized listed power company.

The electronic meeting, scheduled for 11:00 a.m., comes six months after Yari's Abuja-based vehicle, MA'AM Energy Ltd., acquired a 95 percent stake in Amperion Power Distribution Company, the entity through which billionaire businessman Femi Otedola had held indirect control of 77 percent of Geregu's listed shares. The transaction, financed by a bank consortium led by Zenith Bank with Blackbirch Capital as financial adviser, was valued at approximately 1.08 trillion naira ($750 million) and closed Dec. 29, 2025.

Otedola resigned as chairman the same day. Eight other directors stepped down with him, including Chief Executive Akin Akinfemiwa and Deputy Chief Executive Julius Omodayo-Owotuga. Yari was appointed chairman with immediate effect, alongside a new board that includes Abdulkadeer Njiddah as non-executive director and Usman Gur Mohammed, Mahmud Magaji, Mohammed Sani Jaafaru and Neka Uzoamaka Adogu as independent non-executive directors.

The AGM agenda will include shareholder approval of the company's audited financial statements for the year ended Dec. 31, 2025, and ratification of a proposed dividend of 9.00 naira per share — a 5.9 percent increase over the 8.50 naira paid the previous year, amounting to a total payout of 22.5 billion naira.

Geregu reported full-year 2025 revenue of 184.9 billion naira, up from 137.1 billion naira in 2024, with pre-tax profit rising marginally to 41.98 billion naira from 41.26 billion naira the prior year. The company's market capitalization stands at 2.85 trillion naira, making it the tenth most valuable stock on the Nigerian Exchange.

The Ajaokuta-based plant, which operates on gas supplied through the Oben-Geregu pipeline in Kogi State, has an installed capacity of 435 megawatts following a $93 million overhaul carried out with Siemens in 2016. The company contributes roughly 10 percent of Nigeria's average daily power generation. Geregu is also in discussions with Siemens Energy on a 765-megawatt combined-cycle expansion that would raise plant efficiency to 52 percent and reduce gas consumption per megawatt-hour by 27 percent.

Yari, 57, served two terms as governor of Zamfara State from 2011 to 2019, based at Government House in Gusau, the state capital. During that period his peers in the Nigeria Governors' Forum unanimously elected him their chairman. He has represented Zamfara West in the Senate since 2023, where he chairs the Committee on Water Resources. He holds a master's degree in Public Administration, Finance and Investment Management from the University of Salford and a Leadership and Change certificate from the London School of Economics.

MA'AM Energy, through which Yari and co-investors including Abdulkarim Tsafe and Jari Jafar each hold 25 percent stakes, is an Abuja-based company active in electricity generation and supply, oil and gas, and energy trading.

Geregu's new ownership takes the helm in a sector under severe financial strain. Generation companies across Nigeria were owed approximately 6.8 trillion naira in unpaid invoices as of February 2026, according to sector data, with the debt accumulating since 2015 at a pace of roughly 200 billion naira per month. Despite an installed national generation capacity of 15,500 megawatts, actual average output has been between 3,500 and 4,000 megawatts in early 2026 — a capacity utilization rate of about 25 percent. Nigeria's national grid collapsed twice in January 2026, on both occasions dropping generation to zero. Analysts have warned that sector debt could reach 8.8 trillion naira by the end of 2026 without structural tariff reform.

Geregu was incorporated in November 2006 as one of the companies unbundled from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria and began operations in February 2007. Otedola's Amperion first acquired a controlling stake in November 2013. In October 2022, Otedola took the company public at 100 naira per share — making Geregu the first power generation company ever listed on the Nigerian Exchange — with an initial market capitalization of 250 billion naira.