Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has described insinuations that he is a beneficiary of the reinstated contract between Integrated Logistics Services Nigeria Limited (Intels) and the federal government as mischievous.
Atiku, on his X handle, said he had sold his shares in the company he co-founded, adding that his divestment from the company has not been reversed.
The former PDP presidential candidate’s reaction came against the backdrop of a memo by the Nigerian Ports Authority reinstating Intels as the authority’s service boats operations monitoring provider in the pilotage districts.
The memo, dated November 30, 2023, said the reinstatement followed a presidential directive dated August 18, 2023. It also added that the reinstatement was in consent to a court judgement in Lagos State dated September 21 2023. Intels is a logistics company.
Reacting to insinuations that he stands to gain from the reinstatement of the company, Atiku said, “In January 2021, I made public the sale of my shares in Integrated Logistic Services Nigeria Limited (Intels) to Orlean Investment Group, the parent company of Intels.
“The phased sale of those shares that commenced in 2018 peaked in December 2020. Intels also made public my exit from the oil and gas logistics company, meaning that a different entity now owns those shares I sold.
“My divestment from the company that I co-founded has not been reversed. Consequently, I cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be a beneficiary of the reinstatement of the boat pilotage monitoring business that was taken away from Intels by the Federal Government.
“Therefore, the insinuation that I am a beneficiary of the decision to rescind the cancellation of the contract between Intels and the Federal Government is untrue and should be seen for what it is: mischief. -AA,” he said.