Dangote, Rabiu renew bitter business rivalry, feud, fight dirty

Aliko Dangote and Abdul Samad Rabiu, two Nigerian billionaires, are at each other’s throat again.

They are currently locked up a bitter war over who controls the cement sugar industries in the country.

The latest dangerous trend is an allegation of illegal business deals and economic sabotage.

Dangote is Africa’s richest man and owns Dangote Industries Limited. Rabiu is the founder of BUA Group.

The two moneybags are no strangers to bitter business rivalry and feud. Their business disputes span three decades.

Dangote Cement is considered the largest cement producer in Nigeria, with a market share of over 60 per cent.

BUA Cement is the second-largest producer, with a market share of about 20 per cent.

The latest media war between the duo was ignited on Thursday when Dangote, in an advertorial in the national dailies accused Rabiu of sponsoring false reports against him and his businesses.

The Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) refuted allegations of being engaged in illegal foreign exchange deals, warning those peddling the allegation of economic sabotage against the company to desist.

It boldly mentioned the name of Rabiu in the advertorial.

The company described the report as a rehash of a similar report peddled out of malice in 2016.

But BUA Group, in its response, accused Dangote and his company of trying to ruin its cement and sugar business over the years.

The DIL made reference to an allegation in some online media, suggesting that the company was being probed over alleged illegal foreign exchange laundering running to $3.4bn allegedly perpetrated by the Central Bank of Nigeria under the leadership of Godwin Emefiele over the years.

Dangote 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 company said it was estimated that $3bn had been taken out of Nigeria through these means.

It stated, “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, accusing 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 also stated, “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 garnished, 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.

It said, “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.”

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.

BUA stated, “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 licences.

“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.”