Atiku sells his N40billion shares in Nigerian company to funds 2023 election bid

A report by ThisDay indicates that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has divested from Integrated Logistic Services (INTELS) Nigeria Limited.

INTELS is reputed to be Nigeria’s largest logistics company that provides comprehensive integrated services for the nation’s oil and gas industry.

The company has been at loggerheads with the Nigeria Ports Authority in recent times, a feud Atiku insists is politically-motivated.

INTELS' spokesman, Mr Tommaso Ruffinoni, told ThisDay that Atiku exited the company with his family as of December last year.

The former vice president was said to have sold his interests through a series of transactions executed by his family Guernsey Trust, in deals that began in December 2018 and concluded last year.

According to the report, Atiku sold his shares to Orleal Investment Group, the parent company of Intels, for various amounts totalling over $100 million in the deal that spanned two years.

It was learnt that Atiku was paid $60 million, $29 million $24.1 million in three installments. When converted to naira, the money is close to N40billion.

Analysts believed that with that amount of cash, Atiku may be ready for another presidential bid.

The former vice president had in 2015, described Intels as his most successful business.

Before venturing into politics, Atiku was a successful businessman, but his position as Nigeria's number two man between 1999 - 2007, further boosted his profile due to what many say is a result of political patronage.

However, outside the corridors of power, Atiku has continued to prove his business acumen with successful investments in various sectors of the economy.

The former vice president's investment portfolio spans across various sectors which include food and beverages, oil and gas, agriculture, education, media, logistics, hospitality, property and haulage.

With his deep pocket and a likely final push for the presidency in 2023, Atiku is seen one of the favourites to clinch the presidential ticket of Nigeria's main opposition party - the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Already, there are insinuations that the current leadership of the party favours handing their ticket to the Adamawa-born politician in the 2023 polls.

Meanwhile, Apostle Vitalis Odumma, a United Kingdom-based Nigerian cleric, has declared that the presidency won't go to the southeast in 2023.

The Imo-state born preacher stated this while interacting with select journalists including a Legit.ng reporter in Abuja on Friday, December 19.

Odumma is famed for correctly predicting the emergence of Senator Hope Uzodinma as the Imo state governor in a prophecy he delivered as early as March 2019.

According to him, politicians of Igbo stock jostling for the presidency in 2023 should wait for their turn, adding that God has not sanctioned the emergence of an Igbo as the country's number one citizen.

In a related development, 2023 presidential campaign posters of Kogi state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello have surfaced on some major roads in Kano state.

The posters carrying inscriptions suggesting the governor’s 2023 presidential ambitions, were spotted in some areas of the foremost northern commercial city recently.

Buhari's successor is not a pastor, he's inside Aso Rock - Prophetess| Legit TV