The verbal war going on between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the opposition led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over governance issues has intensified. After firing several salvos at the President, the former Vice President has shown no indication of relenting, as he has continued hammering on the governance style and outcomes, since Tinubu emerged as President.
However, the Tinubu camp seems to have had enough and has come out with its counter-offensive. This much is apparent in a statement released today by Bayo Onanuga, President Tinubu’s Special Assistant on Information and Strategy. In the statement, Onanuga lashed out at the former Vice President, accusing him of “fast developing a reputation for distorting and manipulating facts.”
On the opposition’s charge that Tinubu has not brought in substantial investments despite travelling all over the world, Onanuga argued that contrary to Atiku’s claim, the Tinubu administration, within its first year, has attracted over $20 billion into the economy. He said: “While President Tinubu was in New Delhi, India for G20 Summit last year August, Indian business leaders committed over $14 billion in new investments. A substantial part of this sum is already in the country. In an unmistakable vote of confidence in the economic reforms being executed by the Tinubu administration, foreign investment in Nigeria’s stock market has ballooned, from N18.12 billion in Q1 2023 to N93.37 billion in Q1 2024, an increase of 415%.
“The last time Nigeria saw such level of investment was in the first quarter of 2019, when N97.6 billion was invested. The market, since Tinubu came to power, has broken records and created more wealth for the investors.”
Subsequently, the President’s media aide narrated that during Tinubu’s recent trip to Netherlands, the Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, announced a fresh $ 250 million investment by Dutch businesses in Nigeria.
His words: “Different sectors of the economy, especially telecoms, manufacturing, solid minerals, oil and gas, e-commerce, and fintech, are attracting new Foreign Direct Investments from discerning investors who know Nigeria is a good market for bountiful returns.”
On the controversial Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road project, Onanuga expressed the Presidency’s surprise that Alhaji Atiku could accuse President Tinubu of conflict of interest in the award of the highway to Hitech Construction Company, which he (the former Vice President) announced is owned by Chagoury family because the President’s son, Seyi Tinubu, sits on the board of CDK, a tiles manufacturing company, based in Sagamu, Ogun State.
Onanuga went on to assail Atiku’s records on issues of transparency and accountability. He said the former Vice President was in no place to pontificate on the issues of integrity and probity. His words: “Nigerians should, by now, be well accustomed to Atiku’s hypocrisy on many national issues. Is it not amusing that the former Vice President, a man who openly said he formed Intels Nigeria with an Italian businessman when he was serving in the Nigeria Customs Service, a clear breach of extant public service regulations, is now the one accusing someone else of conflict of interest?
“When he was Vice President of Nigeria between 1999-2007, he maintained his business links with Intels that won major port concession deals.
“Was this not an abuse of office, a flagrant violation of his oath, that a company where he was a co-owner won major government contracts and concessions when he was vice president? As Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation, he approved sales of over 145 State-owned enterprises to his known friends and associates and openly said during his failed campaign for the presidency last year that he would do the same, if elected.”
The statement went on to add that Seyi Tinubu is a 38-year-old adult who has a right to do business and pursue his business interests in Nigeria and anywhere in the world within the limits of the law.
“The fact that his father is now the President of Nigeria does not disqualify Seyi from pursuing legitimate business interests. For the records, Seyi joined the Board of Directors of CDK in 2018, more than six years ago. He is representing the interest of an investor company, in which he has interest. He is not a board member because his father is a friend of the Chagourys.
“Information about owners and shareholders of CDK is a matter of public record that can be openly accessed from the website of the Corporate Affairs Commission and CDK’s. Atiku and his proxy did not need a little-known journal to recycle open-source information to make a fallacious argument. The Chairman of CDK and the highest shareholder of the company is respected General TY Danjuma (rtd). The Chagourys are minority shareholders in the company, and only one member of the clan is on its five-man board.”
Subsequently, the statement wondered how Seyi’s membership of the board of CDK conflicts with Hitech Construction Company’s work on Lagos-Calabar Coastal superhighway. The Presidency therefore condemned the former Vice President for what it described as the unrelenting war he has been waging against the highway project, which it described as an all-important and transformative project for no justifiable reasons other than bad politics.
“Atiku knows that its grand success and other projects to be unfurled, such as the Badagry-Sokoto superhighway, will be a major boost for President Tinubu and finally upend his perennial presidential ambition. If not blinded by political ill-will, Alhaji Atiku knows that the right thing for him to do is to applaud President Tinubu for the ambitious and audacious Lagos-Calabar Highway, which was authorised by the Federal Executive Council.”
