Obasanjo and TransCorp
I got emailed this article about Obasanjo and TransCorp. We all know OBJ oversaw the creation of Transcorp based on South Korea’s chaebols.
There is yarn* that OBJ owns $9 million TransCorp shares. TransCorp recently acquired the state telecoms giant, Nitel in a bidding process most observers believed wasn’t very transparent. That was a shame, however I don’t understand why the presidential spin doctor doesn’t know whether OBJ owns shares or not in TransCorp.
A presidential spokeswoman said she did not know if the president owned shares in the company, and the company also denied knowledge of any presidential holding.
I thought spin doctors were briefed before press conferences.
As if that wasn’t enough, I don’t understand why TransCorp doesn’t have a shareholder list.
Transcorp spokesman Adedayo Ojo said the company did not have a full list of shareholders: “No one in Transcorp can talk about what the president has or does not have.”
Is this dude kidding me? TransCorp is a private company. They intend to list on the Nigerian Stock exchange soon, at least the prospectus should detail their existing shareholders. I hope so anyway.
So “Does Nigeria really have hope”?
*yarn, slang ; talk on the street, rumour
Tags: Business, Investments, Nigeria, Trancorp
Comments (9)
The constant comparison of Transcorp to Chaebols by Transcorp’s promoters is irritating. Chaebols gave the world globally renowned brands like Samsung, Hyundai and Daewoo which created loads of jobs and helped South Korea towards rapid industrialization.
Transcorp on the other hand, bought a dying brand (Nicon Hilton) and a dead brand (NITEL). I am very disappointed that their first purchase was the Hilton because it really does not add much value to the economy. When they bought NITEL, they were unable to pay the bid price in the stipulated time … what sort of mega conglomerate does that ?
I knew Transcorp was not serious when Fola Adeola was sacked. That dude is a class act! GTBank and Fate Foundation speak for themselves and this dude was the only Nigerian in Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa and his sort of international connections should be an asset for any company that truly wants to be global.
Chaebols is a mega corporation but Transcorp is just a group of Nigerian businessmen that have come together to maintain their stronghold on the Nigerian economy and right now they are running it like a market stall in Alaba Market.
OBJ has 200 million shares in Transcorp through Obasanjo Holdings. Where is Ribadu o? He is conveniently playing blind, deaf and dumb.
If it were Atiku that had only 10million shares, EFCC will make a lot of noise about investigations and arrest him in the commando style way that they used for Adenuga and Marwa.
I am not a supporter of Atiku, Marwa etc but I am a supporter of justice and this Transcorp affair should be investigated if EFCC wants to really prove that it is an anti corruption body and not just a tool to intimidate OBJ’s opponents.
Over to you Ribadu, I know you read this wonderful blog - we are waiting for BABA’s arrest!
Re: Wonderful blog ;p thanks.
Obasanjo is Ribadu’s boss. It is unlikely that Ribadu would want to cross Obasanjo.
One wonders if OBJ does not have a mirror and if indeed he has one if the creases and lines don’t tell him a story of fast decay.
African leaders really dont learn lessons from history. Where is the once famed Mobutu or the shamed Taylor.
They all “chop” and “chop” and leave no legacy behind.
Shame to Africa.
Hearing about the Obj - Atiku crisis made me take more of an interest in the on goings of Nigerian politics.
I opine that there should be one law across board and nobody is above the law. If Obj has broken the law, he should be brought to book, just as Atiku or the common man on the street.
Why should EFCC ask who the shareholders of Globacom are if Transcorp cannot declare its shareholders. If none of these companies have share holders, the parastatals of the state should ‘take it over’ until such a time as the ‘owners’ can come forward. If it is then established that these ‘owners’ used state money to buy the shares, then simple, the SHARES BELONG TO THE STATE!!!
TANSCOPR IS SUPRA ADVANCED 419. PERIOD
[…] The roadshow presentation was not what I expected. Standing for thirty minutes and listening to someone defend Obsanjo’s Tata idea for Nigeria was not cool. […]
We may cry as much as we dare, argue as much as we care, and hope as long as we live, but public opinion has not yet been relevant in nigeria. What with one-sided approach to corruption and related asserts in de country. Come may 2007, we shall be free.
Is quite unfortunate we find ourselfves in the part of the world where the so call leaders cannot tell the subjects the simple. OBJ and the so called EFCC are very big falure to this genaration.
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