From NICOTES To Intels: The untold story

BY KAYODE ARIYO

Since the beginning of the recent face-off between the Federal Government and the Integrated Services Limited (Intels) which culminated in the contract termination/cancellation episode, I knew those who follow me on my social media handles and know the positions I have often taken in defence of Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and part-owner of Intels, will long to hear what I have to say on the developing story.

Because of this, and also for posterity’s sake, I will say the few truths I know about INTELS – the company, the owners and some of the politics surrounding it, in order to help commentators and followers of the never-ending Nigerian drama to make an informed opinion about the situation. I must also add quickly, that the opinions that I will express are from my personal findings through archival investigations and interviews with people who have worked with the company for a couple of years.

1st Era

INTELS, known then as NICOTES (Nigeria Container Services) was founded in the early 1980s by an Italian (from Genoa, Italy), who is now a nationalized 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. Both Volpi and Atiku started off Intels 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. What they do is to use the technical capacity of Intels to offer their services to those who have oil wells 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 had grown so big that Atiku was already tired of being tied down in the Nigerian Customs Service 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 of Customs (citing the fact that Alh. Bamanga Tukur cannot head the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA); Murtala Nyako head the Navy and Atiku Abubakar would head the Customs, when all were from the same Gongola State – now Adamawa and Taraba states. Atiku thus 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 become 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 of obtaining a bank loan in the sum of Four Hundred million Naira to expand the company. This was what prompted Gabrielle Volpi, an Italian who had studied the African business environment 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 which did not know when they were growing the business would not just come and seize 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.

2nd Era

The new INTELS (still NICOTES), began after Atiku’s retirement from the Customs. This new one had Gabrielle Volpi, Atiku Abubakar, late Gen Shehu Yar’Adua, 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 were distributed to the new entrants 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 Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM); such that in 4 years he had already overtaken people he met in politics. If you recall in 1993, when IBB banned Yar’Adua and some first class politicians from contesting 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 are 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, 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 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 Abdulsalami 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 President Umaru Yar’Adua’s tenure. 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 had been transferred to the Yar’Adua family, and the family now had Umaru Yar’Adua (Shehu’s younger brother) as scion. 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 President 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.

Even though the NPA contracts have been cancelled, but I can tell you that the best periods 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 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 narrative about 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.