Ejiofor Alike
Aiteo Group has described as scandalous
and defamatory, a publication alleging without any foundation
whatsoever, that the company maintained a corrupt relationship with the
erstwhile Nigerian Minister for Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani
Alison-Madueke.
According to a statement issued saturday
by the Senior Manager in charge of Corporate Communications at Aiteo
Group, Mr. Ndiana-Abasi Matthew, the company stated that any objective
reader of the defamatory article published by an online newspaper,
Premium Times, “would readily come to the irresistible conclusion that
the publication is, to all intents and purposes, prejudicially designed
to tarnish the image and reputation of the company as well as that of
our Executive Vice Chairman.”.
“As some of these matters are
sub-judice, we are unable to comment entirely on all issues raised.
However, global best practice demands that we tender this rebuttal for
the sake of shareholders, host communities, over 11,000 people who
derive their livelihood from the company and the general public,” said
the statement.
The company further said at no time in
its history, had any of its directors or employees ever been involved in
any form of criminal or immoral business, other conduct or activity
with the former Petroleum minister, any NNPC or other government
official or agent.
Aiteo also said it never benefitted from the Strategic Alliance Agreements (SAAs) referenced in the article.
“We were a major player in the Nigerian
oil sector importing petroleum products for NNPC and exporting naphtha,
fuel oil and condensates and already a flourishing and prosperous group
by any standards long before Mrs Alison-Madueke’s appointment as
Minister of Petroleum Resources. Aiteo’s core area of business has been
the trading and distribution of sundry petroleum products since its
inception in 1999. Furthermore, the NNPC has publicly confirmed that no
Aiteo entity is indebted to NNPC or any of its subsidiaries,” Aiteo
said.
The company said, “The article purported
that Aiteo has been linked to the alleged 2015 INEC bribery scheme but
failed to state in which way it arrived at this conclusion simply
because no such reality exists. It is only those seeking to deliberately
besmirch the hard-earned reputation of Aiteo as Nigeria’s foremost
indigenous oil and gas company that will dubiously link the company, in
the manner that the publication has done.”
The company said it was with respect to
the false inferences concerning OML 29 that the true motive of the
authors of the publication came to light.
“The truth is that the sale of OML 29 to
the Aiteo Consortium by Shell, was conducted under international best
practices, with Aiteo emerging as the preferred bidder due to its
superior technical and commercial competence. The rigor and transparency
under which the bid was conducted by the owners of the purchased
interest, Shell, Total and Agip, made it unnecessary and impossible for
anyone to influence the outcomes inordinately. These allegations are
therefore wrong and should not have been published,” Aiteo explained.
“That Aiteo is able to announce a
production increase of 400 per cent from about 23kbpod a year ago to
averaging over 90kbpod, is a testament to the technical robustness of
our work force and the prudence and professionalism of our management
team,” Aiteo added.
“Despite our open-door policy to media
enquiries, the authors claimed to have attempted to contact us several
times. However, it is a shame that none of those efforts extended to
using the contact details on our corporate website. We have long seen
this coming, as it is apparent to Aiteo and any keen observer, that
there is vested interest behind the unsavoury publications, and that
there is an orchestrated campaign of calumny on an international level
against an indigenous company that has gone global in outlook and
outreach,” Aiteo explained.
The company further stated: “We are now
left with no choice but to consider legal action against organisations
who have or will allow themselves to be irresponsibly and unlawfully
used in this smear campaign. Aiteo Group’s contribution to the overall
financial capacity of the country cannot be overemphasised. Our
activities have contributed several millions of US Dollars to the
country’s coffers and led to direct foreign investment worth more than
US$4 billion, in addition to several other corporate social
investments.”
It said, “Despite laborious struggle to
present Aiteo as a corporate entity with questionable credentials and
poor track record in the industry, we make bold to say that our business
is driven by a commitment to integrity, transparency and
accountability, and that commitment is the cornerstone of our resilience
and accomplishments, and which underpins Aiteo’s resolve to provide
Nigeria consistently with integrated energy solutions that power the
future.”
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