By Josiah Adedayo
Against the run of play, Atiku promoted acute corruption as an art of governance, celebrating kickbacks, survival-of-the-fittest-and-elimination-of-the-weakest race for government patronage. He diminished and depleted us until we we slide to dwarfism and became a beggar nation
In 1999, Atiku Abubakar was nominated by the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, as chairman, National Council on Privatization, NCP. The government had decided to sell various state-owned assets to private companies to raise bonds, and also in exchange for equities in certain international brands. What followed next was the worst privatization sales in human history.
Multi-billion dollar public investments were sold at derisory prices to his and Obasanjo’s cronies. As head of the NCP, from 1999, Atiku dug Nigeria’s economic grave for today’s extreme poverty and unemployment.
There were over 600 federal assets when the NCP began auctioning sales.
To name but a few: National Electricity Power Authority, NEPA; NAFCON, Eleme Petrochemical, Daily Times, Ughelli Power Plant, Egbin Power Plant, NICON Insurance, ALSCON, Transcorp Hilton Hotel, NICON Luxury Hotel, Sunti Sugar Limited, NetCom House, Bacita Sugar Limited.
To those marketing Atiku, let us remind ourselves of the Senate public hearing of August, 2011, which succinctly captured how Atiku, through a retinue of cohorts, fronts, shell companies, ring fenced over 70 per cent of Federal Government’s assets through brazen daylight robbery he supervised in the name of privatization.
In 2007, Onigbolo Cement, operating at 500,000 tonnes per annum, was sold to Dangote at N1.7 billion.
ALSCON, which Nigeria built with $3.2 billion, was sold to a Russian firm, Russal, for $130 million. As of the time of sale, ALSCON had received $120 million for the dredging of Imo River, but was never done. ALSCON had been given $120 million for the dredging of the Imo River, but this was never carried out. Russal and Atiku disappeared with the money.
The Igbos are complaining about the dredging of the River Niger, but only few remember that the ALSCON deal was supposed to dredge the Imo river, which is easier and more economically viable than the River Niger because it flows into the Forcados River which is a major tributary of the River Niger. Atiku and Russal disappeared with the money till date. Same persons are now campaigning for Atiku.
When the Senate public hearing of August, 2011 asked the Russian company the whereabouts of the $120 million meant for the dredging, the company’s Deputy Managing Director, Vitaly Kuzrestov, alleged that the money had been used for “Environment Impact Assessment, EIA.”
In order, if the $120 million is taken into account, it’s safe to say that a $3.2 billion dollars company was sold for $10 million by Atiku!
The Federal Government’s five per cent share in Eleme Petrochemical, worth $27 million, was never presented to the National Council on Privatization before the company was sold to Indorama.
Under Atiku’s watch, the Vaswani Brothers ‘cheated’ Nigeria by short-circuiting due process, under a company called Avolon, to acquire Germany’s 51 per cent in Volkswagen.
According to Presidency sources, it was a breach of the pre-emptive rights of the Federal Government of Nigeria stated in section 151 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990.
Atiku liquidated NAFCON in 2005 for the sole purpose of selling it to O’Secul Nigeria Limited, owned by his James Ibori for $153 million.
Delta Steel, which was set up in 2005, at a cost of $1.5 billion, was sold to Global Infrastructure for just $30 million without entertaining any bidding as stipulated by the law. Atiku claimed that it is in the best interest of Nigerians. He ignored all recommendations from the Bureau of Public Enterprise, BPE, and due process to sell Delta Steel Company to Global Infrastructure instead of the winner of the bidding process, BUA Group.
In fact, Oby Ezekwesili attained celebrity status when she insisted due process must be followed to curb Atiku and Obasanjo’s excesses, in a move that later earned her the nickname “Madam Due Process.”
Atiku literally dashed Daily Tines of Nigeria, to the Anosike brothers – Noel and Fidelis Anosike.
According to court records, Atiku did not privatize Daily Times in the true sense of the word. Daily times’ assets worth over $3 billion was used to secure a mortgage that paid for the take over. In other words Atiku packaged Daily Times to sell and buy itself. Once the assets was stripped, Atiku took off with the Anosike brothers to the next unlucky company
Nigeria’s assets fell into the sinister hands of waiting carnivores, who devoured our collective destinies for five years, under Atiku’s reign as NCP chairman, Nigeria was held hostage, thoroughly stripped, beaten and milked dry of its fortunes in a once in a lifetime scam called Privatization and Concessioning.
Kaduna Refinery was concessioned to Blue Star under Atiku’s privatization. The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, governor as at that time swore an affidavit that the $250 million paid by the consortium never got into the Federation Account. An asset of the state sold while the money just vanished, just like that.
In 2007, the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, forwarded charges made by Nigeria’s anti-corruption body,tbe Economic and Financial Crime’s Commission, EFCC, to the Senate. He had helped divert $145 million from Nigeria government accounts to banks. Some of the money was then “fraudulently converted as loans” for three companies connected to the Vice-President.
Today, Atiku, whose tasks among numerous others was to oversee the privatization of National Electric Power Authority, NEPA, to ensure that Nigeria overcame her epileptic power supply problem, which was the biggest threat to economic growth, now owns one of the biggest industrial sized generator manufacturing company in Nigeria, MIKANO.
With these and many other gargantuan scruples, those that put forward Atiku as an alternative to President Muhammadu Buhari knew they had an unwinnable war in their hands trying to sell a moth-ridden candidate to Nigerians, who are still reeling from the debilitating aftermath of the corrupt acts of Atiku. They know Atiku’s liabilities are far too weighty to be ignored by Nigerians in choosing who leads them from 2023, but they were simply overwhelmed with the scent of his dollars to believe they will bluff their way through with Nigerians.
•Concluded
