BUA Group and Hadiza Bala Usman, former Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) managing director, are embroiled in a public dispute over a terminated Rivers port concession.
According to The Cable, the conflict began after Abdul Samad Rabiu, BUA Group chairman, published “Two years of President Tinubu: A business perspective,” claiming the NPA under Usman’s leadership abruptly revoked his company’s concession without notice to favor Usman’s associates. Usman, now President Tinubu’s special adviser on policy coordination, dismissed Rabiu’s account as “barefaced lies” aimed at misleading the public.
BUA’s allegations
In a May 31 counter-statement, BUA restated its accusations, claiming Usman acted unilaterally while flouting a court order and disregarding the concession agreement’s arbitration clause. The company said it had been working with the port authority to address infrastructure problems before Usman’s appointment.
“Rather than act constructively, Ms. Usman used that letter as a pretext to issue a termination notice and summarily shut down the terminal, without providing any prior warning or consultation,” BUA stated.
BUA accused Usman of violating a federal high court injunction and ignoring the lease’s arbitration process. The company estimated losses exceeding $10 million from the shutdown, describing Usman’s actions as motivated by “personal animosity and abuse of office.” BUA also rejected Usman’s claim that former President Buhari was misinformed when he reversed her decision.
Usman’s defence
Niran Adedokun, Usman’s media adviser, dismissed BUA’s allegations as “half-truths and outright falsehoods,” insisting the company received “a series of default notices and warnings” before termination.
Adedokun said the NPA complied with the court order, allowing BUA to operate from January 2018 until June 2019. He revealed that BUA itself raised safety concerns in May 2019, writing that “the jetty is in a state of total dilapidation and urgent need of repair or reconstruction” and that their engineers advised “the jetty is liable to collapse at any moment.”
Following this letter, the NPA’s engineering department recommended decommissioning the terminal until reconstruction details were approved to prevent endangering lives and nearby facilities.
Adedokun concluded by accusing BUA of misleading the public “while in reality, it operates with the air of a conglomerate that considers itself above the laws of the land.”
