Abuja — Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) yesterday advised Acting President Goodluck Jonathan not to cancel the bid for Nigeria Telecom-munications Plc, which New Generation Tele-communications Limited Consortium won at $2.5 billion.

National Publicity Secretary of CNPP, Mr. Osita Okechukwu who spoke to newsmen yesterday in Abuja said, "it will be too early in the day for the Acting President to allow predators and scavengers who are alleged to have collected huge sums in dollars to deceive him into canceling the NITEL bid."

Okechukwu said CNPP was outraged that 23 days after the Technical Committee of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) and Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) concluded the NITEL bid, the rule of law and due process seemed to have been abandoned. He added that, "to add salt to injury the Director-General of BPE, Dr. Christopher Anyanwu sacrificed in the alter of intrigue, manipulation and self serving officials of NCP."

"We are further embarrassed that the Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan wittingly or unwittingly is allowing the rule of law, due process and the nation to lose the $2.5billion, after exhaustive due diligence was carried out by both the Technical Committee and the transaction advisers, BNP Paribas Consortium, if the bid where the New Generation Telecommunications won is cancelled," he stated.

Okechukwu alleged that "information reaching CNPP is that the new cabal around the Acting President is persuading the Acting President as the chairman of NCP to cancel the bid, with utter disregard that Unicom China had stated clearly the Unicom Europe is in contact with New Generations Tele-communications' bid, thus reversing their earlier position."