Two Nigerian billionaires, Aliko
Dangote and Abdul Samad Rabiu are currently in a bitter war over their
businesses and who controls the industry.
Dangote, Africa’s richest man is
the owner of Dangote Industries Limited while Rabiu is the founder of BUA
Group. The two billionaire businessmen had been locked in disputes several
times, spanning three decades. The battle is simply about who controls the
sugar and cement sectors and soon there will be a battle of who controls the
oil sector as Rabiu is also building his own refinery, while Dangote had already
completed his own.
Dangote owns
the largest industrial conglomerate in West Africa. The Bloomberg
Billionaires Index estimated his net worth at $16.1 billion in
November 2023, making him the richest person in Africa, the
world’s richest black person, and the world’s 107th richest
person overall.
On the other hand, Rabiu is Dangote’s rivalry in the sugar and cement businesses. On 7 July 2020, Forbes estimated Rabiu’s wealth at $3.2 billion, putting him 716th in the global billionaire’s club. In January 2022, he was reported to be the second richest man in Nigeria. In April 2022 he was reported to be the fifth-richest man in Africa, with a net worth of $6.7 billion. In January 2023, Rabiu was reported to have become the 4th richest man in Africa.
According to Morebranches Dangote
Cement is the largest cement producer in Nigeria, with a market share of over
60%. BUA Cement is the second-largest producer, with a market share of around
20%. The rivalry between the two cement companies began in 2008, when BUA Cement
entered the market. BUA Cement quickly established itself as a major competitor
to Dangote Cement, and it began to gain market share.
In 2020, the rivalry between the
two companies escalated when BUA Cement accused Dangote Cement of blocking
access to its limestone quarry in Edo State. Dangote Cement denied the
allegations, but the case is ongoing in court.
The recent battle and media war
between the duo was ignited on Thursday when Dangote, in an advertorial in the
dailies accused Rabiu of sponsoring false reports against him and his
businesses.
The Dangote Industries Limited
(DIL) sharply refuted allegations that it is engaged in illegal foreign
exchange deals, warning those peddling the allegation of economic sabotage
against the company to desist from such underhand practices. It even mentioned
the name of Rabiu in the said advertorial.
The company described the report as a rehash of a similar report peddled out of malice by a “competitor masquerading as a concerned Nigerian” in 2016.
But BUA Group, in a sharp response attacked Dangote, accusing him and his company of trying to ruin its cement and sugar businesses over the years.
The DIL made reference to unfounded allegation making the rounds in some online media, suggesting that the Company is being probed over alleged illegal foreign exchange laundering running to $3.4bn allegedly perpetrated by the Central Bank of Nigeria under the leadership of Mr. Godwin Emefiele over the years.
Dangote’s company said as an
organisation, it was not in its custom to respond to any spurious allegation,
but that “since it is a rehash of a
similar report peddled out of malice by a competitor masquerading as a
concerned Nigerian in 2016, we are constrained to provide context to this
issue.”
“The reporting of this spurious
foreign exchange allegation by some media houses was turned down by some
credible traditional and online media news until it was featured as a paid
advertorial in two Nigerian Newspapers BusinessDay and Leadership (Published on
March 14, 2016) titled “Acts of Economic Sabotage by Dangote Cement” published
in the name of David Osa Ighalo, from Benin, Edo State.
“It is saddening to note that
this publication of Monday, March 16, 2016, in BusinessDay and Leadership
newspapers wherein the author alleged that ‘monies went from the company in
question to other sister Dangote Companies Outside Nigeria,” the DIL said.
The company said it was estimated that almost $3bn, if not more, had been taken out of Nigeria through these means.
“This encourages round-tripping
and, in effect, money laundering since there is no proper documentation has
recently been given a fresh false slant by one Ahmed Fahad, purporting it to be
a new petition directed to the attention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Mr.
Jim Obazee, the Special Investigator probing the CBN.”
BUA fired back in a statement,
accused Dangote of cheap attempts at blackmailing the company. BUA alleged that
in August 1991, “a young BUA was doing its commodities trading business just as
Nigeria faced a scarcity of sugar. As sugar was scarce, BUA was lucky to be one
of the few with any stock for sale, and we stood prepared to supply the
nation’s needs as best as our stock could.
“It was during this period Aliko
Dangote approached us to purchase sugar. If only we knew he was setting the
first of many traps in our business history. He gave us a Societe Generale Bank
of Nigeria Cheque, which bounced upon presentation to the bank. Unbeknown to
us, this was a ruse that would lead to a court-sanctioned freeze of our assets
orchestrated by Dangote. For three agonising months, our accounts were
garnisheed, warehouses shuttered, and our spirit tested. Yet, from the ashes of
deceit, BUA survived.”
BUA also alleged that a few years
later, it decided that since it was making good progress in its various businesses,
it should open a sugar refinery.
The company said they approached
Usman Dantata, Dangote’s uncle, and
leased his NPA waterfront land (4.5 hectares) at the Tincan Island port, ‘Polo
House.
“We took the land, signed an
agreement with the consent of NPA, and paid all applicable dues. Dangote waited
until our contractors and equipment had been mobilised to the site, then he
went to former President Obasanjo. President Obasanjo had the land revoked
entirely and gave the lease to Dangote. As a result, even his uncle lost the
land. BUA was only given 24 hours to vacate the land,” the company said.
BUA said it took them over a year
to get another land, saying that its survival as a business, especially its
Lagos sugar refinery was a legacy handed to it by a loving father who, seeing
his son’s distress, did what only the noblest and kindest of hearts could do.
“With unwavering faith, our
Chairman’s late father–may his soul rest in eternal peace handed him the land
on which our Lagos Sugar Refinery stands today. This land was the location of
one of his thriving businesses with a warehouse, which he shut down handed to
us without asking for compensation. He just saw the pain of our chairman, Abdul
Samad Rabiu, called him one day and handed him the papers to the land. His
gesture was a beacon of hope in one of our darkest hours.
“And so, BUA survived again
another Dangote trap. Today, we are now the largest Sugar refining concern in
West Africa. Our businesses continued to surge forward amid several other
attempts, too many to mention now. In 2007, under President Yar’Adua’s
visionary mandate to broaden Nigeria’s cement industry and break the monopoly
in the sector, BUA was among the six companies selected and granted licenses.
“Our approach was unconventional
but effective: we introduced a floating terminal – ‘BUA CEMENT I’, which is a
cement factory built into a large ship, as a stopgap while we were working on
securing our land-based cement plant. What followed, however, was another act
intended to drive us out of business. Our application to dock the floating
terminal in Lagos met with resistance.
“We then decided to berth the
ship at the terminal we owned in Port Harcourt. Despite this, we faced
considerable pushback and it took the decisive intervention of late President
Yar Adua, who directed that the Minister of Transport and the Chairman of NPA honour
our right to contribute to the nation’s growth,” the company explained.
“But the hurdles didn’t end
there. The drama intensified when Orwell Brown, a Deputy Comptroller General
who was also an older brother to a Dangote Staff, launched a sudden strike,
attempting to deport our vessel’s entire expatriate crew. It was a Friday that
is forever seared into our memory-the shock of our expatriates rounded up,
their confusion as they were shepherded onto a Dangote-funded one-way local
flight from Port Harcourt to Lagos en-route Asia via Emirates.
“Upon hearing of what had
happened, we reached out to Tanimu Yakubu, the then Chief Economic Adviser, who
acted with the urgency that the situation demanded. His call to the CG of
Immigration was a lifeline, and our expatriate team was brought back from the
Emirates aircraft and not deported. The aftermath was swift action by the
President, who ensured that such a misuse of power would not go unchecked. DCG
Brown, caught in a tangle of undue influence, admitted what he did to the
Minister, and he was later dismissed,” BUA added.
In April 2021 when the two
billionaires from Kano state had a public spat over sugar, then Governor
Abdullahi Ganduje intervened and reconciled them at a meeting in Abuja.
Maybe Governor Bala Yusuf will
intervene this time around.
culled: PM News
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