The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO has said the call by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for the establishment of crude oil storage depots is suspicious and should be rejected because it is ill-motivated, and untenable.
BMO said Atiku Abubakar, who was also the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last elections, has a background of always putting his pocket and those of his friends first, to the detriment of the well-being of Nigeria and Nigerians.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, BMO said Atiku’s antecedents and his open declaration that he would sell 90 percent of Government’s holding in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to his friends with the sole purpose of enriching them, make it expedient that this call be properly scrutinised.
“As an unrepentant person willing to sell the family heirloom to his friends, his advocacy for the establishment of government-owned strategic crude oil storage facilities funded by the government can not be sincere.
“It is misplaced and a mere playing to the gallery because in the countries he cited as a model to learn from, the storage facilities do not belong to the governments of those countries.
“The crude oil storage facilities that hold crude reserves are owned by private sector investors. Instead of trying to con the government to invest in the establishment of crude storage farms, Atiku Abubakar should be sincere and helpful to the friends he planned to sell the NNPC, to invest their own money in developing crude oil storage tanks.
“However Atiku would rather canvass for a non-priority investment by the federal government, ostensibly for him and his friends to later buy off the tank farms as scrap.
“BMO wants to educate Mr. Atiku Abubakar of the fact that ownership of crude reserve storage facilities is more than 90 percent private-sector driven and he should encourage his friends to take the risk of investing in the sector to make money for themselves, instead of asking the government to invest in crude oil storage.
“Mr. Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President, knows that the current oil glut will certainly ease off, but chose to mischievously canvass for crude oil storage facilities, just to appear to be playing opposition icon”, the statement concluded.