Integrated Logistics Services Nigeria Ltd, Intels, a logistics company in Nigeria’s Oil and Gas and Port transport system, has announced that former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar is no longer a majority shareholder, after he sold his shares.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by the company spokesman, Tommaso Ruffinoni, on Monday.
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Intels revealed that Atiku completed the transaction in 2020 after he exited his holdings in Intels through the trust, Guernsey Trust International, which sold shares valued at $60 million between December 2018 and January 2019.
“In the period between April and May 2020, Abubakar converted his remaining shares into a convertible bond that he subsequently monetised up to a residual sum of approximately 29 million dollars,” Intels said.
“When he requested to cash in the above-mentioned sum, our Group contested to Abubakar a debt, towards our Group, of 24.1million dollars.
“Without having received any answer regarding the matter, on Nov. 30, 2020 Abubakar was informed about the set-off of such sum while we made available the remaining sum of 5.4 million dollars.
“With the completion of the above-mentioned transactions, the era of Abubakar family’s involvement with the Group Orlean-Intels is over,” the company added.
Intels also disclosed that they had stopped working with Atiku Abubakar’s sons.
“Since that date, our Group does not have any contacts, neither direct nor indirect, with members of Abubakar’s family,” the statement added.
Last month, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Port Authority, Hadiza Bala-Usman, said that Integrated Logistics Services (Intels) had been using its political influence to operate outside of the legal framework of the Nigerian maritime regulations.
Intels, in October 2017, had been drawn into a battle with the NPA over the termination of the pilotage agreement with the firm, based on advice by Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).
The company had threatened legal action, but later backed down and made assurances that it would comply with the Treasury Single Account (TSA) rules. That led to the issuance of an ultimatum to Intels to pay $48million into the TSA.
The NPA boss said the $48 million was the amount Intels ought to have remitted to the government between November 2016 and December 2017.
Seunmanuel Faleye is a brand and communications strategist. He is a covert writer and an overt creative head. He publishes Apple’s Bite International Magazine.
