Intels Nigeria severs ties with Atiku

Nigeria’s leading oil and gas logistics company, Intels Nigeria Limited, said it has severed ties with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who was one of its major shareholders.

Intels said it severed ties with Atiku and his family after the former Vice President sold off his shares and exited the company last year.

In a statement on Monday, Intels spokesman, Tommaso Ruffinoni, said Atiku, through his trust named Guernsey Trust International, sold shares of Orlean-Invest Group, Intels parent company, between December 2018 and January 2019, for a sum of approximately $60 million.

“In the period between April and May 2020, Mr. Atiku Abubakar converted his remaining shares into a convertible bond that he subsequently monetized up to a residual sum of approximately $29 million.

“When he requested to cash in the above mentioned sum our Group contested to Mr. Atiku Abubakar a debt, towards our Group, of $24.1 million without having received any answer regarding the matter, on 30th of November 2020 Mr. Atiku Abubakar was informed about the set off of such sum while we made available the remaining sum of $5.4 million.

“With the completion of the above mentioned transactions, the era of Mr. Atiku Abubakar family’s involvement with the Group Orlean-Intels is over.

“On the December 1, 2020, our Group terminated also the working relationship with Mr. Atiku Abubakar’s sons, Mr. Adamu Atiku Abubakar and Mr. Aminu Atiku Abubakar, and since that date our Group do not have any contacts, neither direct nor indirect, with members of Mr. Atiku Abubakar’s family,” Ruffinoni stated.

Giving reasons why he sold his stake in the company, Abubakar, revealed that he fast-tracked the sale of his shares in the company because the All Progressives Congress (APC) led administration has been destroying legitimate businesses.

The former vice president who noted that he has been selling his shares in Intels over the years, added that he has redirected his investment to other sectors of the economy.

Atiku in a statement by Paul Ibe, his media adviser, said the sale of his shares in Intel “assumed greater urgency in the last five years, because this government has been preoccupied with destroying a legitimate business that was employing thousands of Nigerians because of politics.

“There should be a marked difference between Politics and Business. Yes, he has sold his shares in Intels and redirected his investment to other sectors of the economy for returns and creation of jobs.”