ATIKU'S "MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING - OR SOMETHING STINKING?"

ZION B-BC

 NEWSLETTER.   

 

 A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church Kpeyegyi Abuja Nigeria.  {Vol. 13. NO 546. 28TH January 2023.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You Free! (John.8:32).  PRAY & FAST EVERY WEDNESDAY TO STOP BLOODSHED IN NIGERIA!

 

ATIKU'S "MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING - OR SOMETHING STINKING?"

Birds of a feather are better qualified to exposed the rot of corruption in the system especially when frustrated and completely shut out!

Former Vice President of Nigeria (1999-2007), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is lamenting bitterly in respect of USD$3.3bn "Crude for Cash Loan Deal" brokered between NNPCL and Afriexim Bank since August 2023! In a very detailed query made public on his verified X handle (formerly Twitter), on Thursday 25th January 2024, the 77-year-old politician who finally lost his appeal against 'Bola Tinubu's choice as Nigeria's 16th President at the Supreme Court, declared that the entire deal was suspect and a humongous fraud!

Below are some excerpts from Atiku's lamentation as published on the SOCIAL MEDIA, LEADERSHIP AND THE CABLE:

NNPCL Deal: Repaying $3.3bn Loan With $12bn Crude Oil By Tinubu Gov’t Puzzling — Atiku

 Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has described as ‘confounding’ a $3.3 billion emergency crude repayment loan secured by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and facilitated by African Export-Import Bank (Afrieximbank) in 2022.

LEADERSHIP reports that the landmark loan deal was sealed in the wake of the free fall of the local currency (Naira) against the United States Dollar and according to the NNPCL at the time, it was to help give support to the Naira and stabilise the Foreign Exchange market. Atiku claimed that the $3.3billion loan, with an interest rate of not more than 12%, will be repaid with the nation’s crude oil worth $12billion, hence the President Bola Tinubu administration owes Nigerians an explanation.

He also queried why the Federal Government would register a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the deal in the Bahamas, a country notorious for being a safe haven for illicit funds.

Atiku, therefore, demanded answers to the five posers on behalf of ordinary Nigerians.

The former VP wrote: “In what appears to be a landmark economic decision of the Bola Tinubu-led administration, the Federal Government last year, precisely on August 16, 2023 through the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) secured a $3.3 billion emergency crude repayment loan, which according to the NNPC, was to help give support to the Naira and stabilize the Foreign Exchange market.

“The curious thing about this transaction is that up till now, the Federal Government continues to keep mum about it, and the only information available to the public on the mega deal is coming only through unofficial sources from the NNPC.

“According to information available, a Special Purpose Vehicle called Project Gazelle Funding Limited is driving the deal, and it was incorporated in the Bahamas.

“The SPV is the borrower while the NNPC is the sponsor, with an agreement to pay with crude oil to the SPV in order to liquidate the loan at an interest rate that is a little over 12 per cent.

“What is even more confounding about this deal is why the Federal Government would register a company in the Bahamas, knowing full well the recent scandal of the Paradise Papers that involved that country.

“Curiously also, Nigeria’s current Barrels Produced Daily (BPD) is 1.38 million, and according to the Project Gazelle deal, Nigeria is to supply 90,000 Barrels of its daily production, starting from 2024 till it is up to 164.25 million barrels for the repayment of the loan.

“Now, this is where the details get disturbing because Nigeria’s benchmark for the sale of crude per barrel in 2024 is $77.96. A simple multiplication of that figure by 164.25 will give us a whooping $12bn.

“It is on this note that we are calling on the Federal Government to speak up on this shady deal.

1) “Has the Federal Government accessed the loan?

2) “ Is the loan in the government’s borrowing plan as approved by the National Assembly?

3) “ Who are the parties to the loan, and what specific roles are they expected to play?

4) “ What are the conditions to the loan, including tenor, repayment terms, the collateral, and the interest rate?

5) “ And, lastly, why register an SPV in the Bahamas knowing the recent scandal of the country’s notoriety for warehousing unclean assets?”

AND PRONTO, ATIKU'S LAMENTATION WAS DISMISSED WITH A WAVE OF THE HAND BY THE RULING PARTY'S ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC), WHICH IS CURRENTLY IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT OF THE CORRUPTION SAGA!

You’re late to the party’ — Tinubu’s aide replies Atiku on $3.3bn NNPC loan.

Olusegun Dada, special assistant to President Bola Tinubu on social media, says Atiku Abubakar, a former vice-president, “fumbled the numbers” on the $3.3 billion emergency loan deal. On Thursday, Abubakar, who was the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) asked the federal government to shed more light on the transaction.

Although the NNPC had published details of the loan in a recent document, titled, ‘Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) – Project Gazelle’, the politician questioned why Project Gazelle Funding Limited — a special purpose vehicle (SPV) driving the deal — was incorporated in the Bahamas, a region he described as “a haven for financial secrecy”.

Responding in a post on X, Dada said Abubakar is “late to the party, as usual”, stating that the presidency had explained the deal to Nigerians.

“Project Gazzelle is such a straightforward deal that I do not expect Alhaji Atiku, who prides his whole political aspirations on being an economic reformer, to fumble the simple numbers behind it,” Dada posted.

“For record purposes and to save Alhaji from his self-imposed mystery, here are some explanations to his questions about the conditionalities of the loan in a simpler language.

“The facility is a forward sales agreement between NNPC limited and an SPV (the buyer) where a predetermined number of barrels of oil is sold in advance at an agreed price.

“⁠The sales allow the seller (NNPCLtd in this case) to use the received payment to solve critical and urgent problems with forex scarcity as the problem in Nigeria’s case.

“⁠A lower benchmark is usually adopted as a safe haven for the buyer (the SPV) as oil price tends to remain unstable most times.

“⁠For repayment, an eventual increase in oil prices will result in the SPV returning all excesses to the seller (NNPC Ltd) while the risk which could lead to a rearrangement of the terms is a significant decrease in the agreed price (this case $65 per barrel).

“Oil has been averaging $70-75 per barrel since the deal was agreed, and if things stay the same way, Nigeria will be getting refunds of excess amounts from the SPV once the payment is concluded.”

Dada said there is a big chance that the repayment will be concluded before the agreed time if oil prices continue to increase “as NNPCL had penned a 90,000 barrel per day which will eventually be calculated at the current prices”.

According to the presidential aide, repayment stops when “the agreed amount plus interest is fully paid and Nigeria may be liable to refunds were there to be excesses.”

Dada expressed hope that Abubakar “will allow the financial expert in charge of the country to continue devising innovative ways of funding our expenditures”.

THE MAN ATIKU ABUBAKAR AND HIS CULPABLE PARTY!

And whereas his Party the People's Democratic Party (PDP), could not function as credible opposition since 2015-2023 because it lacked credibility!

During its inglorious tenure of 16 years, 1999-2025, Nigeria was adjudged virtually year-on-year, through international  socio-economic perception indexes as the most-corrupt/bankrupt, poverty-striken/capital, criminally-infested etc, etc, in the world!

IS THIS NOT A CLEAR SCENARIO OF DIGNITY AMONG THIEVES WHO ALL STINK?

THE ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS is poised to be in government for 16 years just as the PDP. But the past 8 years and 7 months of the APC have been the continuation of UNABATED ROBBERY OF THE CITIZENS' COMMONWEALTH AND THIS IS NO LONGER  ACCEPTABLE .

IT IS THEREFORE INCUMBENT ON THEM TO WHOM THE  SOVEREIGNTY BELONGS TO DEMAND FOR A POPULAR REFERENDUM AND END THIS MADNESS ONCE AND FOR ALL THROUGH INTRODUCTION OF A  UNICAMERAL PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY!

"When the righteous are in authority the people rejoice. But when the wicked beareth rule the people mourn.(Proverbs 29:2)."

[EXPECT A PRIME MINISTER IN NIGERIA NOW!]

Please look forward to more divine revelation in the next edition of Zion B-BC Newsletter as you share this with friends and remain blessed in the Lord. [For weekly access, to this newsletter, log on to:  facebook.com/zionfaithbible.believingchurch or http://www.zfbbc1.blogspot.com, 

Please look forward to divine revelations in  The Sure Word Gospel Tracts, Our divinely inspired books on the Amazon KINDLE Store Namely: The Unbroken Chain of Grace, Nigeria’s Pot Pourri (Volumes 1-5), Godly Politicking For World Peace,  and The Wedding Mascot Died

If you have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, don’t miss this great opportunity as you pray  this prayer: Lord Jesus; I confess that I am a sinner who needs to be saved through the grace of the New Testament in your Blood, shed on the Cross at Calvary; I renounce every sin in my life and accept you as my Lord and personal Saviour. Please forgive me and write my name in the Book of Life. Amen. If you prayed this prayer, you have been admitted into the family of sons and daughters of God, who are born-again. Congratulations! 

 I am, yours sincerely, THE WATCHMAN Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor. 08130669886, 08080243066. g-mail-dvdolufon@gmail.