Nigeria’s President Tinubu accused of conflict of interest in N15 Trillion no-bid contract to the Chagourys
Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, the first African-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet.
Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s former Vice President in 1999 and the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has, again, spoken to the issue of what he alleges constitutes a conflict of interest for the President.
Atiku named and identified Tinubu’s son, Seyi, as a director on the board of CDK Integrated Industries, a subsidiary of the Chagoury Group. Atiku stated: “Thanks to quality reporting by Africa Intelligence, our suspicions have been confirmed that Chagoury and Tinubu are indeed business partners, and it has been formalized with Seyi on the board of one of Chagoury’s firms.”
Africa Intelligence is based Paris, France where several of the Chagourys reside. The Chagourys and some of their partners constitute major stakeholders in the multi-billion dollar Eko Atlantic project in Lagos, Nigeria. Most of those early and privileged business opportunities took place during the governorship of Mr. Tinubu.
Atiku who has also faced several corruption allegations while and after he served as VP (under President Olusegun Obasanjo), noted that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway was being done in a hurry due to the Tinubu and Gilbert Chagoury relationship. Gilbert is the owner of Hitech, the contractor that was given the Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway contract.
The statement which was signed by Paul Ibe, Atiku’s media adviser concluded that “It is on record that this project is the most expensive single project ever embarked upon by the Nigerian government. The fact that it is happening at a time Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis ever is a red flag…. To add insult to injury, this project that is being done in excess of $13 billion was awarded without competitive bidding. From all indications, the so-called Badagry-Sokoto highway would be awarded in a similar fashion at an enormous cost to taxpayers purely because Tinubu has put his personal interest ahead of the Nigerian people.” By Chido Nwangwu, Founder of USAfrica. Follow him @Chido247
