Intels Nigeria Limited has explained why it 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 in 2020, the statement titled ‘Intels severs ties with Atiku’ read.
In another statement, the Media Adviser to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Mazi Paul Ibe, said Atiku sold his shares in the company because the present administration was destroying the business.
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 $60m.
Part of the statement read, “In the period between April and May 2020, Mr Atiku Abubakar converted his remaining shares into a convertible bond that he subsequently monetised up to a residual sum of approximately $29m.
“When he requested to cash in the above-mentioned sum, our group contested to Mr Atiku Abubakar a debt, towards our group, of $24.1m.
“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 $5.4m.
“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 1st December 2020 our group terminated also the working relationship with Mr Abubakar’s sons, Mr Adamu Atiku-Abubakar and Mr Aminu Atiku-Abubakar, and since that date, our group does not have any contacts, neither direct nor indirect, with members of Mr Atiku Abubakar’s family.”
Ibe also issued another statement titled ‘Atiku redirects his investment in Intels’.
He said, “Atiku Abubakar has been selling his shares in Intels over the years. It 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.”