Ibadan electricity company sale confirmed as AMCON announces N100bn deal. Legal battles follow, but handover to new owners expected soon

Ibadan electricity company sale has officially been concluded, with the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) confirming that its 60 percent stake in the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) has been sold for N100 billion.

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The announcement was made on Thursday by Gbenga Alake, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of AMCON, during a press briefing with media executives.

This sale is part of the federal government’s broader plan to divest its interests in five power distribution companies that were previously under the management of commercial banks and AMCON.

In April 2024, the government had indicated its intention to offload its holdings in these companies, which include the Abuja, Benin, Kaduna, Kano, and Ibadan DisCos.

At the briefing, Alake revealed that AMCON had rejected a previous offer for the DisCo, citing the need for a more competitive bid.

“Today, I announce to you that Ibadan DisCo has been sold,” he said.

“When we came in, it had already been sold. We said no, it cannot be. We asked the bidder to go and submit a new offer. We were not going to accept that value. At the end of the day, we got almost double of what Ibadan DisCo was going to be sold for.”

According to him, the sale price now stands at N100 billion, though the identity of the buyer has not been made public.

He confirmed that AMCON would soon complete the handover process to the preferred bidder.

The transaction has not been without controversy. Alake admitted that legal disputes have emerged since the sale was finalised.

“So many interests are now fighting and writing. We have sold it… and whatever is still happening in court, we will face it,” he said confidently.

As of now, AMCON holds 60 percent of the Ibadan DisCo, while the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) owns the remaining 40 percent.

This sale affects only AMCON’s portion of the company, a detail clarified after early reports misrepresented the scope of the deal.

On May 15, a civil society group, the African Initiative Against Abuse of Public Trust, filed a lawsuit at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/866/2025, names AMCON, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), BPE, and IBEDC as defendants.

The CSO alleged that the sale of the 60 percent stake was “secretive and illegal,” and claimed the $62 million figure attached to the transaction represented a gross undervaluation.

In its filing, the African Initiative argued that the government stood to lose $107 million from the deal when compared with the $169 million paid for the same stake during the 2013 privatisation exercise.

The group described the transaction as a violation of public trust and transparency principles.

Despite the legal challenge, AMCON insists that it followed due process in the transaction and remains optimistic that the sale will hold.

Alake stated that the corporation is ready to respond to all legal matters arising from the deal and reaffirmed that the handover to the new owners will proceed.

Observers say the Ibadan electricity company sale signals renewed momentum in the government’s efforts to restructure the power sector, though concerns around transparency and valuation continue to dominate public discourse.

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As legal battles unfold and regulatory scrutiny intensifies, stakeholders will be watching closely to see how this landmark transaction reshapes ownership dynamics within Nigeria’s fragile electricity distribution landscape.