Atiku asks Tinubu to tell Nigerians why Oando gets swift approval in AGIP/ENI deal
Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has asked the Nigerian government to explain why Oando Plc, owned by President Bola Tinubu’s nephew, got accelerated approval to buy the onshore assets of AGIP and ENI while other transactions such as the Shell/Renaissance deal and the Mobil/Seplat continue to suffer delays.
Atiku, in a statement on Sunday, criticized the Tinubu administration for implementing what he described as a “sham subsidy regime,”. The Statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, accused President Tinubu of misleading the public about removing fuel subsidies.
He added that despite these claims, the NNPCL has admitted that the government owes it N7.8 trillion.
The 2023 Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, knocked the House of Representatives for failing to take proper action on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, which he said had gone ahead to “mortgage the country’s national oil assets to vested interests”.
The statement read in part; “Tinubu visited the FMDQ in New York, visited Qatar, visited France where he told lies about removing petrol subsidies. Obviously, this is not a man who is serious about attracting FDI. More worrisome is that he is not even brave enough to admit that subsidy is being paid. The NNPCL admits that N7.8tn is owed to the national oil company by the Nigerian government.”
“IMF estimates that subsidy payments this year will constitute 3% of GDP, which is about $7.5bn. This will be about N11.8tn. Yet, the petrol scarcity continues to linger while the Tinubu administration continues to frustrate the Dangote Refinery and even its own NNPCL facilities. Obviously, the subsidy regime has become an even wider conduit pipe through which monies for funding the 2027 election will come from.”
The PDP chieftain claimed that Oando Plc was being given undue and preferential treatment in the oil and gas sector to the detriment of more competent
Within just eight months, the Nigerian Upstream Production Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) approved a deal which saw the divestment of ENI/AGIP onshore assets to Oando. Within that same period, Nigeria controversially withdrew all litigation against Shell/ENI in the OPL 245 scandal in what has been described as a quid pro quo.
“However, the attempt by SEPLAT to buy Mobil’s onshore assets has continued to stall for the last three years even as the consent letter remains on Tinubu’s table. The deal between Renaissance and Shell continues to stall. In fact, the only deal that has fully scaled through so far is the one involving Oando. We now know why it got accelerated approval.
“Ideally, democracy ought to be government of the people, for the people, and by the people. But democracy in Nigeria has become the government of Tinubu, by Tinubu, and for Tinubu and his family members.”
The former Vice President also expressed concerns over rising human rights abuses under Tinubu’s administration.
He pointed to several incidents where journalists and whistleblowers, such as Bristol Tamunobiefiri, have been unlawfully detained, suggesting a deliberate attempt to silence dissent.
“The dangerous trend of enforced disappearances is becoming a national embarrassment,” Atiku warned, urging Tinubu to take immediate action to prevent potential international sanctions.
Atiku concluded by advising the government to address these issues seriously or risk further damaging Nigeria’s reputation and ability to tackle insecurity, especially with the possibility of sanctions from Western powers due to ongoing human rights violations.
