Intels rejects Atiku’s claim of govt hindering its business

Integrated Logistics Services Limited (Intels) has said its business is not hindered in any way by interference from the Buhari administration.

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar on Monday confirmed that he had sold off his shares in Intels, adding that the action was due to the FG’s efforts at destroying his business interests since 2015.

But spokesman for Intels, Tommaso Ruffinoni, said in a statement that the firm and Orlean Invest Holding, its parent company, were never under any undue political interference.

The company said the “ongoing contradictions are part of a natural commercial divergence, which will hopefully be resolved.”

The company said Atiku’s decision to sell off his shares was based on economic reasons and irreconcilable differences with its new governance structure.

“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,” it said.

It also said, “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.”