Tinubu has turned Nigeria into his private enterprise - Atiku

Nigeria is fast becoming "a government of Tinubu, by Tinubu, and for Tinubu," according to former vice president Atiku Abubakar. His media adviser, Paul Ibe, stated in a statement on Wednesday that the president, his family, and allies have almost mortgaged the future of Nigerians. Even after Tinubu leaves office, the Peoples Democratic Party's (PDP) presidential candidate for 2023 stated that he believes it will be very difficult to remove these restrictions. Atiku likened Tinubu's efforts at the federal level to his incorporation of his economic interests into Lagos's public companies.

Atiku stated, "Tinubu has begun to replicate this at the federal level, just as Alpha Beta, Primero, and others act as his proxies in Lagos, managing critical sectors and generating revenue for him and his family." He expressed shock at the way the NNPC operates and the way the state-owned oil firm has given OVH, a business that Oando, under the leadership of Wale Tinubu, controls 49% of, authority over its retail division. Atiku expressed sadness that the unlawful takeover of the NNPC by corporate cabals around the present president had eclipsed his plans to privatize the organization and bring more transparency to it.

Five months before the elections, in October 2022, the NNPC Retail made the contentious announcement that it had bought OVH and all of its filling stations. OVH possessed only 94 filling stations and 100 others were leased. NNPCL claimed to be expanding its capacity by acquiring OVH, even though it already had over 550 filling stations nationwide.The conditions of the transaction and the purchase price of OVH were not disclosed by the NNPC. The NNPC denied Premium Times' request for Freedom of Information, claiming to be a private firm even though it was still owned by the government. Mele Kyari was controversially kept as NNPC GMD despite his inefficiency after this questionable arrangement. Pius Akinyelure, Tinubu's erstwhile Mobil executive who later became an ally, was then named NNPC Chairman.