Presidency Reacts to Atiku: Seyi Tinubu Has Right To Follow Justified Business Interest
According to the Presidency, Seyi Tinubu is free, within the bounds of the law, to pursue his business interests both in Nigeria and abroad.
This is in reaction to a statement made by former vice president Atiku Abubakar criticising the hiring of Hitech Construction Company Ltd. for the Lagos-Calabar coastal route.
Atiku claims that the contract awarded to Hitech Construction Company Ltd. is conflicted because CDK Integrated Industries, a subsidiary of the Chagoury Group, which also owns Hitech, has a director on its board.
Nevertheless, the Presidency charged Atiku of being disingenuous on several national issues in a statement signed by Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy.
Onanuga added that Seyi Tinubu is still free to pursue legal business activities even though his father is currently the President of Nigeria.
The presidential adviser pointed out that Seyi Tinubu represents the interests of an investor business and joined the CDK Board of Directors in 2018, more than six years ago.
Onanuga said he thought it peculiar that Atiku would charge Tinubu with having a conflict of interest in the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway award to Hitech Construction Company. “Is it not funny that the former vice president, who publicly admitted that, while working for the Nigeria Customs Service, he founded Intels Nigeria with an Italian businessman in violation of current public service laws, is now the one charging someone else of conflict of interest?
“He kept up his commercial ties with Intels, which secured significant port concession deals, while serving as Vice President of Nigeria from 1999 till 2007.
“He approved the sale of over 145 State-owned enterprises to his known friends and associates as Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation and openly declared during his unsuccessful presidential campaign last year that he would do the same, if elected.”
As to Atiku’s assertion that the Chagourys own the CDK, he said, revered General TY Danjuma (rtd) is the company’s chairman and largest shareholder. The Chagourys are tiny stockholders in the business, he said, and just one of their clan members sits on the five-person board.
“Let me make it very clear that Seyi Tinubu is an adult of 38 years old who, within the bounds of the law, is free to conduct business and follow his commercial interests both in Nigeria and abroad. Seyi is still free to pursue lawful economic activities even though his father is currently the President of Nigeria.
As per the records, Seyi became a member of the CDK Board of Directors in 2018, which is more than six years ago. He is expressing the interests of an investment business in which he is involved. He is not on the board because the Chagourys are friends with his father.
“The website of CDK and the Corporate Affairs Commission provide free access to public record information regarding owners and shareholders of CDK. Atiku and his proxies might have recycled open-source material without the aid of a well-known journal.
Respected General TY Danjuma (rtd) is both the company’s largest shareholder and its chairman. The company’s five-person board includes just one Chagoury, and the Chagourys are minority stockholders.
The statement said, in part, “We wonder how Seyi’s membership of the CDK board conflicts with Hitech Construction Company’s work on Lagos-Calabar Coastal superhighway.”