As Customs Officer, I Was Allowed To Buy Private Company Atiku| FlycomNews

The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party , Atiku Abubakar, says as an officer of the Nigeria Customs Service , he was allowed to buy major shares in a private company .

Atiku said this at an event titled, ‘ The Candidate’ , in Abuja on Wednesday.

The moderator , Kadariah Ahmed, had asked Atiku whether it was right of him to set up a logistics company to do clearing and forwarding at the Apapa Port while he was still in active service.

However , Atiku said he did not set up the company but only bought shares at the time .

He said, “It was not an abuse of office because it was an issue of share purchase and at that point it was very lawful for public officers to buy shares. I don ’ t know how old you were but there was the Indigenisation Decree which was passed by the military government which allowed public officers to legitimately acquire shares .”

The former Vice - President said the company , which eventually metamorphosed into INTELS , was an oil and gas company and not a clearing and forwarding company as alleged.

He said INTELS is not a monopoly as reported .

“There was competition . It was not a monopoly , ” he said .