*Debunks claims Buhari’s govt hindered its business through political influences

Integrated Logistic Services (Intels) Nigeria Limited has debunked claims that the divestment from the company by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was because its business was being hindered by political influnces from the Buhari administration.

In a statement Tuesday, Intels, Nigeria’s largest logistics company that provides comprehensive integrated services for the nation’s oil and gas industry, said Atiku’s exit from the company was an economic decision in the exclusive interest of the company.

Atiku, a co-founder of Intels, had on Monday announced that he had sold his shares in Intels and was redirecting his businesses through reinvestments.

In a statement by his media aide, Paul Ibe, the former vice president had accused the President Muhammadu Buhari government of destroying businesses that were out to create jobs for the teeming unemployed Nigerians.

While noting that he had been selling his shares in Intels over the years, the former vice president said It assumed greater urgency in the last last five years, because the government of President Muhammadu Buhari had been preoccupied with destroying a legitimate business that was employing thousands of Nigerians because of politics, adding, “There should be a marked difference between Politics and Business.”

But a statement signed by Tommaso Ruffinoni for Intels Nigeria Limited – Orlean Invest Holding debubked the claims.

The statement read: “Intels Nigeria Limited and with it its parent company Orlean Invest Holding in relation to some statements that appeared in the press yesterday and today, categorically denies that its business has at some time been hindered by political influences from the current government. The company has always operated according to market logic, thanks to its history and commitment to the development of the Nigerian economy in the oil and gas logistics sector.

“The ongoing contradictions are part of a natural commercial divergence, which will hopefully be resolved, as in the past, by a new approach, in the interest of all the parties, also according to the social role that Intels plays in the country. The severance from the world of Atiku Abubakar was an economic decision, in the exclusive interest of the company, and to irreconcilable strategic differences with the new governance structure of the Intels – Orlean Invest Group.”

Recall om Monday reported that Atiku had exited the company with his family as at December last year through a series of transactions executed by his family Guernsey Trust, in deals that began in December 2018 and concluded last year.

Atiku was said to have sold his shares in Intels to Orleal Investment Group, the parents company of Intels, for various amounts totalling over $100 million in the deal that spanned two years.

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