By Jane Okafor, Abuja
Amid flurry of litigations, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has disclosed that the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) has been sold.
Gbenga Alake, the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of AMCON, disclosed details of the sale during a media parley with media executives on Thursday.
The federal government had in April 2024 said it would sell five power distribution companies under the management of AMCON and banks
The federal government listed IBEDC, a DisCo managed by AMCON as one of five listed firms.
Others are Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, Kano Electricity Distribution Company, Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) and Benin Electricity Distribution Company.
The Daily Crucible learnt that AMCON controls 60 percent of Ibadan DisCo, while the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) manages the remaining 40 percent stake.
However, addressing a press conference, Alake said the corporation has sold its stake in the DisCo for N100 billion.
He also said the AMCON will soon hand over to the preferred bidder.
Alake revealed that the sale has threw up legal battles, with “so many interests now fighting and writing” to have stake in the DisCo
He said though the matter is in court, the AMCON is convinced that the right thing was done.
“Today, I announce to you that Ibadan DisCo has been sold. When we came in, it has already been sold. It was sold for how much?” the AMCON boss said.
“We got in and said no, it cannot be. We said they should go and submit a new offer that we were not going to sell for that.
“At the end of the day, we got almost double of what Ibadan DisCos was going to be sold for.
“We have sold it… and whatever is still happening in court, we will face it,” he said.
The Daily Crucible reports that on May 15, a report circulated that the African Initiative Against Abuse of Public Trust, a civil society organisation (CSO), had filed a lawsuit before the federal high court in Abuja against AMCON, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), and the Ibadan DisCo.
The said lawsuit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/866/2025, sought to halt an alleged proposed sale of a 60 percent stake in IBEDC for $62 million, a move the CSO described as “secretive and illegal.”
The group claimed claimed that the alleged amount is “corruptly undervalued.”
The African Initiative also claimed that the deal would lead to a loss of $107 million compared to the $169 million paid for the same stake during the 2013 privatisation of IBEDC.
