“South African President Owns Appreciable Shares In MTN” – Oshiomhole… Not True, The Senator Lied – Rufai Oseni

By Adesina Soyooye 

One of Arise Television’s Anchor persons,  the fiery Rufai Oseni, on Wednesday put a lie to Senator Adams Oshiomhole’s claims that South African President,  Cyril Ramaphosa owns appreciable shares in  MTN.

Oshiomhole made the claim, Tuesday, May 12, when he appeared as a guest on Arise Television’s flagship programme, The Morning Show.

Asked by Oseni why he called, on the floor of the Senate Chambers, for the nationalisation of South African companies because of Xenophobic attacks on Africans, especially, Nigerians in that country. In answer, Senator Oshiomhole doubled down. He said more companies than he mentioned on the floor, owned by South Africans, should be given same treatment. And when Oseni really took him up on that and the impact it will have on Nigeria, a country looking for investors, Oshiomhole raised the antenna and flaunted what his contribution on the floor achieved.

He began by claiming that President Ramphosa is a big time investor in MTN and that after his call, where he also threatened that Ramphosa will beg Nigeria on his knees, the South African President quickly condemned Xenophobia, and warned his subjects to stop – something he had not done before. He claimed the glory for that, indirectly, some people say, confirming that the Federal Government of Nigeria, has been soft on South Africa.

Oshiomhole’s words: “After I spoke and accused the South African President of doing nothing and that he will go on his knees to beg when we hit him, he has made a broadcast condemning the attack which he did not do before I said it”

And on Oseni’s argument on the loss of jobs, and Nigerians who hold shares there, Oshiomhole says those do not compare to lives.

But on Wednesday, May 13, during the Arise TV Morning Show, Oseni let it be known that Oshiomhole got his facts wrong on Ramphosa and his MTN shares.

According to Oseni, from “empirical evidence”, Oshiomhole was wrong. The South African President, he said, has no shares in MTN. He had an interest in a company, 30 percent, he said, which invested in MTN. However, Oseni disclosed, Ramphosa had since a number of years, divested his interest from the company.

However, most Nigerians are in support of Oshiomhole’s tit-for-tat stand against South Africa over their atrocious treatment of Nigerians in their country. “HIT BACK AT SOUTH AFRICA”, they chorus.