* 1st ERA….. INTELS (known then as NICOTES- {Nigeria Container Services}
was founded in the early 80s by an Italian (from Genoa, Italy) , who is
now a nationalised Nigerian – Gabrielle Volpi and Atiku Abubakar. When
they started, Atiku was still in the Nigerian Customs, so he could not be
involved in the day to day activities of the company. While Volpi was the
brain and technical partner, Atiku was the financial, political and
Nigerian partner.
They started its operations from a container office at Apapa Port, Lagos.
The company was simply and strictly into oil servicing on a small scale
logistics. As fate would have it, the company grew in bounds and finances,
especially because it was structured around oil- the gold of the 80s. It
is instructive to add that neither Atiku nor Volpi had an oil block, then,
now or ever; but rather they offered their services to those who do but
who do not have the expertise, finances and man power to drill, transport
or even manage it. This is exactly what INTELS is about.
** In the late 80s (between 1988 and 1989) INTELS, still known as NICOTES
has grown so big that Atiku was already tired of being tied down into the
Nigerian customs rather than having the freedom to live like a wealthy man
that he was and spend his money the way he wanted. This was why, when in
1989, Gen Ibrahim Babangida refused to promote Atiku Abubakar to the post
of Controller General (citing the fact that Alh Bamanga Tukur cannot head
the NPA, Murtala Nyako head the Navy and Atiku Abubakar would head the
customs,when all were from one state {Gongola- now Adamawa and Taraba
states}), Atiku decided to resign rather than waste his time missing out
in Customs and also missing out in expanding his network in Nigeria as a
private citizen.
Before Atiku left the Customs, NICOTES- (INTELS) had already became a cash
spinning enterprise. It was so big and lucrative that Atiku and Volpi,
with an out of this world confidence, were able to take the risk and take
a loan of 400M to expand it. This was what prompted Gabrielle Volpi, an
Italian who had studied The African situation very well, to suggest that
they should invite some big people (in the Nigerian parlance) into the
business. He said they would need influential Nigerians on the board so
that a Government who did not know when they were growing the business
would not just come and sieze it as it is usual practice in Africa.
Atiku, as the Nigerian partner was the one who had to look for the big
Nigerians to be brought in.
*** The 2nd Era. The new INTELS (still NICOTES), began after Atiku’s
retirement from the Customs. This new one had Gabrielle Volpi, Atiku
Abubakar, Gen Shehu Yar’adua( Obasanjo ‘s VP in 1976- 79), HRH Ado Bayero
( The late Emir of Kano) and some other notable Nigerians as directors. A
first class General, a first class King etc were brought in to secure and
solidify the company. Volpi believed it would be very difficult for any
government to seize any business that belonged to these type of
Nigerians.
I must also say it here that the first dividend paid to Gen Shehu Yar’adua
(Atiku Abubakar’s political leader and mentor) was so huge that he had to
invite Atiku and asked him if they were dealing in drugs. Atiku laughed
this off, and explained the business to him. With this, it is clear that
Atiku Abubakar is not the only owner of INTELS, in fact, he is not even
the major shareholder since most of his original shares was distributed to
the new comers from Nigeria. How anyone would call Atiku a greedy man
still beats me.
The unprecedented financial strength that Atiku was able to give Shehu
Yar’adua was the reason why Atiku rose so fast in Shehu Yar’adua’s
movement – Patriotic Front (PF) and later People’s Democratic Movement
(PDM), that in 4 years he has already overtook people he met in politics.
If you recall, in 1993, when IBB banned Yar’adua and some first class
politicians from contesting the elections, it was Atiku that Yar’adua
presented for the SDP primaries, before Kingibe chose to ignore the party
leader’s directives and thus divided the votes which made MKO, who was
also in SDP, but not from PDM to win the primaries.
**** Abacha years. God’s ways is not always our ways. During Abacha’s
years, Atiku Abubakar was part of the few rich Nigerians who refused to
support Abacha till the very end. He also fought Abacha with his
resources. But with all of Gabrielle Volpi’s permutations and plans,
Abacha ended up arresting Shehu Yar’adua, our Intels first class General.
Chased Atiku the young billionaire out of Nigeria, and seized NICOTES.
That company that Volpi had given a first class protection.
Abacha did the unthinkable. He seized it. He did not only arrest Yar’adua
the first class General and the first trans-Nigerian post first republic
politician,he even arrested Obasanjo, a bigger General. NICOTES (intels)
stopped making profits, and almost died. Abacha was never really about the
business. He had more money from the Nigerian Government anyway. He only
seized it to cripple the politicians and the pro-democracy folks.
***** The Rebirth. In 1998, when Abdulsalam Abubakar became the Head of
State, after the death of General Sani Abacha, he returned NICOTES back to
the original owners, and NICOTES was renamed INTELS. Note. Intels was
returned before Atiku became the VP. In fact, even before he became the
Governor elect for Adamawa state.
*# The Cancelled NPA Contract .The contract was signed in 2007 during
Yar’adua’s period. There was no way Obasanjo would have signed such
contract for Atiku during their turbulent and eventful 2nd term. It is
also instructive to know that by 2007, The Shehu Yar’adua’s shares hadd
been transferred to the Yar’adua family, and the family now had Umaru
Yar’Adua (Shehu’s younger brother) as the head. Signing the 2007 contract
may well not be through the efforts of Atiku Abubakar, but that of any of
HRH Ado Bayero, Umaru Yar’Adua or even Volpi.
Ironically, this contract was there all through the Jonathan years, when
Atiku faced him in the PDP primaries, and when Atiku and some others left
PDP for him. Jonathan never cancelled it. You may call it stupidity,
weakness, statesmanship or whatever, but the truth remains that Jonathan
was good enough to separate politics from business.
Conclusion, even though the NPA contracts have been cancelled, but I can
tell you that the best period for INTELS were not the NPA contract years.
I believe INTELS should find their old rhythm and remember how they used
to survive. Buhari may have cancelled their contract, and he probably did
it for political reasons, but he did not seize the company and he didn’t
seize their license from operating as a logistics company.
If indeed Buhari is targeting Atiku financial base because of 2019, then
we need to ask Buhari himself how much he had himself in 2015, before he
was able to win against an incumbent President. Atiku has always contested
from the position of strength and money, and has been failing. Maybe it is
now that he would be the underdog that Almighty God will manifest in his
life.
The long and short of this debacle is that the Buhari camp, just like Lord
Voldermort did in The Harry Potter series, has effectively MARKED Alhaji
Atiku Abubakar The Waziri Adamawa as a formidable opponent for President
Muhammadu Buhari and a potential next President of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.”
~ By Barrister Folarin Sode