* 1st ERA…..\u00a0INTELS (known then as NICOTES- {Nigeria Container Services}
\nwas founded in the early 80s by an Italian (from Genoa, Italy) , who is
\nnow a nationalised Nigerian – Gabrielle Volpi and Atiku Abubakar. When
\nthey started, Atiku was still in the Nigerian Customs, so he could not be
\ninvolved in the day to day activities of the company. While Volpi was the
\nbrain and technical partner, Atiku was the financial, political and
\nNigerian partner.<\/p>\n
They\u00a0 started its operations from a container office at Apapa Port, Lagos.
\nThe company was simply and strictly into oil servicing on a small scale
\nlogistics. As fate would have it, the company grew in bounds and finances,
\nespecially because it was structured around oil- the gold of the 80s. It
\nis instructive to add that neither Atiku nor Volpi had an oil block, then,
\nnow or ever; but rather they offered their services to those who do but
\nwho do not have the expertise, finances and man power to drill, transport
\nor even manage it. This is exactly what INTELS is about.<\/p>\n
** In the late 80s (between 1988 and 1989) INTELS, still known as NICOTES
\nhas grown so big that Atiku was already tired of being tied down into the
\nNigerian customs rather than having the freedom to live like a wealthy man
\nthat he was and spend his money the way he wanted. This was why, when in
\n1989, Gen Ibrahim Babangida refused to promote Atiku Abubakar to the post
\nof Controller General (citing the fact that Alh Bamanga Tukur cannot head
\nthe NPA, Murtala Nyako head the Navy and Atiku Abubakar would head the
\ncustoms,when all were from one state {Gongola- now Adamawa and Taraba
\nstates}), Atiku decided to resign rather than waste his time missing out
\nin Customs and also missing out in expanding his network in Nigeria as a
\nprivate citizen.<\/p>\n
Before Atiku left the Customs, NICOTES- (INTELS) had already became a cash
\nspinning enterprise. It was so big and lucrative that Atiku and Volpi,
\nwith an out of this world confidence, were able to take the risk and take
\na loan of 400M to expand it. This was what prompted Gabrielle Volpi, an
\nItalian who had studied The African situation very well, to suggest that
\nthey should invite some big people (in the Nigerian parlance) into the
\nbusiness. He said they would need influential Nigerians on the board so
\nthat a Government who did not know when they were growing the business
\nwould not just come and sieze it as it is usual practice\u00a0 in Africa.
\nAtiku, as the Nigerian partner was the one who had to look\u00a0 for the big
\nNigerians to be brought in.<\/p>\n
*** The 2nd Era.\u00a0\u00a0The new INTELS (still NICOTES), began after Atiku’s
\nretirement from the Customs. This new one had Gabrielle Volpi, Atiku
\nAbubakar, Gen Shehu Yar’adua( Obasanjo ‘s VP in 1976- 79), HRH Ado Bayero
\n( The late Emir of Kano) and some other notable Nigerians as directors. A
\nfirst class General, a first class King etc were brought in to secure and
\nsolidify the company. Volpi believed it would be very difficult for any
\ngovernment to seize any business that belonged to these type of
\nNigerians.<\/p>\n
I must also say it here that the first dividend paid to Gen Shehu Yar’adua
\n(Atiku Abubakar’s political leader and mentor) was so huge that he had to
\ninvite Atiku and asked him if they were dealing in drugs. Atiku laughed
\nthis off, and explained the business to him. With this, it is clear that
\nAtiku Abubakar is not the only owner of INTELS, in fact, he is not even
\nthe major shareholder since most of his original shares was distributed to
\nthe new comers from Nigeria. How anyone would call Atiku a greedy man
\nstill beats me.<\/p>\n
The unprecedented\u00a0 financial strength that Atiku was able to give Shehu **** Abacha years.\u00a0 God’s ways is not always our ways. During Abacha’s Abacha did the unthinkable. He seized it. He did not only arrest Yar’adua ***** The Rebirth.\u00a0In 1998, when Abdulsalam Abubakar became the Head of Ironically, this contract was there all through the Jonathan years, when Conclusion, even though the NPA contracts have been cancelled, but I can If indeed Buhari is targeting Atiku financial base because of 2019, then The long and short of this debacle is that the Buhari camp, just like Lord * 1st ERA…..\u00a0INTELS (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 –…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nYar’adua was the reason why Atiku rose so fast in Shehu Yar’adua’s
\nmovement – Patriotic Front (PF) and later People’s Democratic Movement
\n(PDM), that\u00a0in 4 years<\/span><\/span>\u00a0he has already overtook people he met in politics.
\nIf you recall, in 1993, when IBB banned Yar’adua and some first class
\npoliticians from contesting the elections, it was Atiku that Yar’adua
\npresented for the SDP primaries, before Kingibe chose to ignore the party
\nleader’s directives and thus divided the votes which made MKO, who was
\nalso in SDP, but not from PDM to win the primaries.<\/p>\n
\nyears, Atiku Abubakar was part of the few rich Nigerians who refused to
\nsupport Abacha till the very end. He also fought Abacha with his
\nresources. But with all of Gabrielle Volpi’s permutations and plans,
\nAbacha ended up arresting Shehu Yar’adua, our Intels first class General.
\nChased Atiku the young billionaire\u00a0 out of Nigeria, and seized NICOTES.
\nThat company that Volpi had given a first class protection.<\/p>\n
\nthe first class General and the first trans-Nigerian post first republic
\npolitician,he even arrested Obasanjo, a bigger General. NICOTES (intels)
\nstopped making profits, and almost died. Abacha was never really about the
\nbusiness. He had more money from the Nigerian Government anyway. He only
\nseized it to cripple the politicians and the pro-democracy folks.<\/p>\n
\nState, after the death of General Sani Abacha, he returned NICOTES back to
\nthe original owners, and NICOTES was renamed INTELS. Note. Intels was
\nreturned before Atiku became the VP. In fact, even before he became the
\nGovernor elect for Adamawa state.
\n*#\u00a0 The Cancelled NPA Contract .The contract was signed in 2007 during
\nYar’adua’s period. There was no way Obasanjo would have signed such
\ncontract for Atiku during their turbulent and eventful 2nd term. It is
\nalso instructive to know that by 2007, The Shehu\u00a0 Yar’adua’s shares hadd
\nbeen transferred to the Yar’adua family, and the family now had Umaru
\nYar’Adua (Shehu’s younger brother)\u00a0 as the head. Signing the 2007 contract
\nmay well not be through the efforts of Atiku Abubakar, but that of any of
\nHRH Ado Bayero, Umaru Yar’Adua or even Volpi.<\/p>\n
\nAtiku faced him in the PDP primaries, and when Atiku and some others left
\nPDP for him. Jonathan never cancelled it. You may call it stupidity,
\nweakness, statesmanship or whatever, but the truth remains that Jonathan
\nwas good enough to separate politics from business.<\/p>\n
\ntell you that the best period for INTELS were not the NPA contract years.
\nI believe INTELS should find their old rhythm and remember how they used
\nto survive. Buhari may have cancelled their contract, and he probably\u00a0 did
\nit for political reasons,\u00a0 but he did not seize the company and he didn’t
\nseize their license from operating as a logistics company.<\/p>\n
\nwe need to ask Buhari himself how much he had himself in 2015, before he
\nwas able to win against an incumbent President. Atiku has always contested
\nfrom the position of strength and money, and has been failing. Maybe it is
\nnow that he would be the underdog that Almighty God will manifest in his
\nlife.<\/p>\n
\nVoldermort did in The Harry Potter series, has effectively MARKED Alhaji
\nAtiku Abubakar The Waziri Adamawa as a formidable opponent for President
\nMuhammadu Buhari and a potential next President of the Federal Republic of
\nNigeria.”
\n~ By Barrister Folarin Sode<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"