The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) has accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of deploying sophistry to whitewash his abysmal record on the privatisation of Government Owned Enterprises (GOE).
In a statement by its Chairman Emeka Nwankpa and Secretary Dapo Okubanjo, the group said the former Vice President’s response to President Bola Tinubu’s remarks on his record as Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) falls flat in the face of fact.
“When President Bola Tinubu recently questioned former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s record as the chairman of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) between 1999 and 2007, the President was simply re-echoing a well-documented statement of fact.
“He was not speaking from the perspective of an outsider but as someone who was an active participant in governance at the time.
“It is a matter of public record that the privatisation programme of the then President Olusegun Obasanjo was riddled with scandals, brick bats and legal disputes on the watch of the then Vice President.
“We are aware that in an attempt to gloss over President Tinubu’s accusation of mishandling the policy, Atiku’s media handlers rolled out a short list of five out of hundreds of privatisation deals the then NCP oversaw to prove that their principal did a good job. The response was at best a red herring, crafted to divert attention from the real issue.
“What we found amusing, even laughable, is that the President was accused of historical amnesia for pointing at Atiku’s poor record on privatisation in a statement that was long on sophistry and half-truths but short on facts.
“President Tinubu mentioned two of the numerous flawed privatisation deals, Delta Steel Company (DSC) Aladja and Ajaokuta Steel Company, but the Atiku camp sidestepped the poser to proceed to call him names.
“One would have expected a robust response that would entail clearing the air but what we saw was a contrived whitewash, couched in needless sophistry.
“The question remains, how have the two steel companies fared since their privatisation under a process chaired by the former Vice President?,” it said.
TMSG also provided some insights into why President Tinubu alluded to DSC and Ajaokuta out of the numerous state-owned enterprises that were sold cheaply on Atiku’s watch.
“There are indications that as of 2025 when DSC was sold for $30 million to Global Infrastructure Nigeria Ltd (GINL), it was worth over $700 million.
“This revelation came to light during a February 2025 hearing in the National Assembly on the transaction and how the DSC was sold to another company in 2014 by the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) which acquired it after the previous buyers used the company’s assets as collateral for a non-performing bank loan.
“We also need to add that earlier in 2021, the then Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Uche Ogah had told a House of Representatives investigative panel that there were so many anomalies with the privatisation agreement and added that facts at his disposal showed that the ministry was not carried along in the process of the privatisation.
“One would have expected the Atiku camp to prove President Tinubu wrong by defending the sale of the steel companies rather than the diversionary antics.
“In fact, there were other notable assets and enterprises which were sold cheaply including the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited and its mobile arm M-Tel, as well as the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria which have since gone moribund like the President said,” the group added.
The group reminded the former vice president that rather than spend needless energy on diversionary antics, he has the verdict of history to contend with in the long run.
