Yar'Adua Refused Sale Of Refineries To Dangote

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has
explained that the sale of two of the nation’s oil oil
refineries had been concluded before he exited
office in 2007, saying his successor, the late
Umaru Yar’Adua, reversed the sale due to
“pressure”.
Obasanjo said this in his serialised interview with
‘Book Club’, a programme on Channels Television,
monitored in Lagos on Wednesday.
The ex-President said business mogul, Aliko
Dangote, leading a consortium of investors, had
paid $750m for two of the refineries, as the Federal
Government was finding it difficult managing the
facilities at the time.
He, however, regretted that instead of the Yar’Adua
administration to consolidate on the sale so that
the investors could turn around the fortunes of the
refineries, his successor succumbed to pressure
and reversed the sale of the oil facilities.
Obasanjo equally revealed that not only did his
successor canceled the sale, he also refunded the
$750m paid by the investors.
He added, “The refineries are old and Dangote and
some investors paid $750m for two of the
refineries. My successor came to office and
reversed the sale; he even refunded the money
they paid.
“So, I went to him and said ‘why did you do this’?
He said it was because of pressure. So, I said ‘so
the pressure of some people was more important
than the interest of the whole nation’!
“Right now, you will hardly be able to sell the
refineries for more than $250m because they are
very old.”
Obasanjo explained that most people, especially
leaders, failed to analyse the decisions of those
before them before upturning those decisions,
pointing out that most leaders yielded to sentiment
than informed opinions.