Despite selling its downstream operations as far back as 2015, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar on Wednesday accused President Bola Tinubu of mortgaging the oil industry to his family and associates, citing the alleged control of OVH, an oil industry operator, by Oando Plc, owned by Wale Tinubu.
Atiku said he believed that even after Tinubu leaves office, it would be nearly impossible to break the shackles, comparing Tinubu’s alleged integration of his business interests into Lagos’ public enterprises to his current attempts at the federal level.
In a statement by his media aide, Paul Ibe, Atiku argued that , “Just as Alpha Beta, Primero, and others act as Tinubu’s proxies in Lagos, managing critical sectors and generating revenue for him and his family, he has begun to replicate this at the federal level.”
He expressed astonishment at the operations of the NNPC and how the government-owned oil company has allegedly put its retail arm under the control of OVH, a company in which he said Oando, led by Wale Tinubu, owns 49 per cent.
Atiku regretted that his intention to privatise the NNPC and increase its transparency has been overshadowed by what he described as the criminal hijack of the NNPC by corporate cabals around the current president.
“In October 2022, just five months before the elections, the NNPC Retail controversially announced it had acquired OVH and all its filling stations. NNPC already had about 550 filling stations across the country but claimed it was enhancing its capacity by acquiring OVH, which had only 94 stations and 100 others leased.
“The NNPC did not disclose the purchase price of OVH or the terms of the acquisition. A Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Premium Times was also rejected by the NNPC, which claimed to be a private company despite still being government-owned.
“Following this dubious deal, Mele Kyari, was controversially retained as NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer despite his incompetence. Tinubu then appointed his former boss at Mobil, turned ally, Pius Akinyelure, as NNPC Chairman, while he himself took on the role of Minister of Petroleum.
“In a move that defies economic logic, OVH, previously owned by NNPC Retail, has now acquired NNPC Retail. This absurd situation means that Wale Tinubu’s Oando now owns 49 per cent of NNPC Retail.
“Moreover, Nigeria paid Wale Tinubu a significant sum to facilitate the Tinubu family’s acquisition of the national oil company. This represents a clear case of illogical business transactions and abuse of office by President Tinubu, who has prevented NNPC from becoming a public liability company as stipulated by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA),” he alleged.
Atiku acknowledged that the NNPC and its leadership were under legislative investigation but expressed scepticism about the process’ credibility due to the vested interests of those conducting the investigation.
“Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, who is heading the National Assembly panel, is a known supporter of Tinubu. He served as a commissioner under Tinubu in Lagos State and publicly calls him his godfather.
“Given that Tinubu is the petroleum minister, he should be held responsible for the sector’s issues. I doubt Bamidele will conduct a thorough investigation that might implicate his patron,” Atiku said.
On the Lagos-Calabar coastal road, Atike said he had earlier claimed that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project was fraudulent, but the government denied it.
He said that mow that the matter is in court, it was concerning that Chagoury and Tinubu have a business relationship, and their children are business partners, as revealed by OCCRP.
“This indicates a conflict of interest. It is no surprise that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the Sokoto-Badagry Coastal Highway, which together will cost over $24 billion, were approved without competitive bidding. It seems that whatever Tinubu wants, he gets,” Atiku said.
But when THISDAY contacted the Group Chief Executive Officer of Oando, Mr Wale Tinubu on the allegation by the former vice president, he vehemently refuted the allegation, insisting that the company has no stake in OVH.
He stressed that as far back as 2015, Oando sold its stake in the downstream to OVH, wondering how it is being dragged into the matter in 2024.
“We are not the ones who sold the company to NNPC. We sold that company, as far back as 2015. He should stop bullying us. They have been telling lies in public.
“He should not drag us into their politics. Oando bought the company in 2000 or 2002 from him when he was chairman of privatisation and we sold the company, during Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
“We don’t own anything there. It’s deliberate falsehood. As a publicly quoted company, we issued a press statement when we sold that company in 2015,” he said on Wednesday night. “We sold our downstream operations in 2015,” Wale Tinubu maintained.
THISDAY tracked an online link where on June 30, 2015 a press release said that Oando Plc had reached an agreement to sell an equity stake in its downstream businesses to a joint venture consisting of Helios Investment partners and Vitol.
According to the statement, the integrated oil and gas company announced that a definitive agreement had been executed with the firms. “Importantly, the divestment enables Oando Plc to focus on its upstream and midstream businesses,” the statement added at the time.
Emmanuel Addeh and Chuks Okocha
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