· His desperate, bloody business tactics
The fate of Okpella, Edo and Ebira community of Kogi State precariously lie in the palms and insolent whims of Aliko Dangote. If the Chairman of the Dangote Group has his way, peace would be a forgotten feature of the two neighbouring townships sooner than anyone could imagine; in abject desperation to perpetuate his dynasty and lust for wealth, Dangote has ignited a feud between the two communities and stakeholders in the region’s limestone endowment.
This scheming is ably facilitated by the traditional ruler of Ebira, Alhaji Ado Ibrahim; the latter who is on the payroll of Dangote works assiduously to actualize his benefactor’s dream of owning the region’s limestone deposits and perpetuating his business empire in the area.
Trouble loomed soon after Ado Ibrahim, through his company, AICO Ado Ibrahim and Company Ltd. illicitly sold limestone deposits in Obu, Okpella to Dangote Cement Company Plc. A rival cement producer, BUA Group’s Edo Cement Company made inroad into the community and in the wake of its attempt to establish a cement factory in the area, Dangote has declared war on the company and its host community. It is instructive to note however, that Obu, Okpella is falls within neighbouring Edo State and not Kogi State.
The desperation of Dangote Cement Company to thwart its rival, BUA Cement’s forays in the area is eroding the peace and stability of the communities. Dangote’s frantic attempts to frustrate the commissioning of BUA Cement’s factory in the area has pitted the Ebira and Okpella, two erstwhile friendly neighbours against each other. The situation forebodes unprecedented violence and mayhem in the area as AICO and Dangote Cement have recruited heavily armed vigilante groups to wreak havoc in the area and prevent the location of BUA Cement factory in the area.
Findings revealed inciting correspondences between AICO and Dangote Cement top executives; the two partners, via email exchanges plan to distribute guns to Ebira youths and mobilise them to invade neighbouring Okpella and disrupt the peace in the area. The intent is to create chaos and instability in Okpella, venue of BUA Cement’s proposed factory.
It would be recalled that twice last year and some few weeks ago, AICO and Dangote Cement Company armed Ebira youths to the teeth and deployed them to unleash violence and take over a large chunk of Okpella in Edo State, an expanse in which BUA Cement and Edo Cement Company have legally acquired stakes for their cement company in Okpella.
The recent maneuverings of AICO and Dangote Cement has been described as a premeditated onslaught against the launching of BUA Cement in June this year. Dangote Cement believes that the emergence of BUA Cement presents great threat to its monopolistic designs for production and commercial activities in the area. This, according to pundits and opinion leaders of Okpella, flouts common sense and the principles of fair business ethics and morality.
Dangote Cement Company, a subsidiary of the Dangote Group is however, no stranger to controversy.
Recently, cement manufacturers under the aegis of Cement Producers Association of Nigeria (CPAN) called on the President-Elect, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), to assist them in fighting corruption in the sector allegedly perpetrated by a cabal “that has been dictating cement policies for personal interests.”
In a tacit reference to popular businessman and President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, they specifically pleaded with Buhari to assist in reducing the price of cement from N2,200 to N1,000 per bag.
This appeal according to CPAN, will be the first dividend of change for Nigerians. The Chairman of CPAN, Prince David Iweta, in a letter to Buhari dated March 3 congratulating him on his victory in the recently-concluded general elections and obtained by journalists on Wednesday in Abuja, said cement should be allowed to be imported into Lagos, Warri and Calabar.
According to hm, “This cabal makes abnormal annual profit in the region of N200 billion from cement alone for the past six years while same company partnered with the Federal Government to suspend cement import permit granted by late President Musa Yar’Adua to six companies one each from each of the geo-political zones owing to late President Yar’Adua’s fairness, equity and justice style of governance to guarantee that cement sell at N1.000 per bag to Nigerians.
“We wish to use this medium to appeal to you and your government at inauguration to declare a change of price of cement from N2,200 per bag to N1,000 per bag. This will serve as the first dividend of change which the people of Nigeria voted for. The cement industry after the death of late President Musa Yar’Adua has witnessed the worst height of corruption and injustice for the past six years,” he said.
Nigeria is currently the country with the highest price of cement in the world. While the federal Government claims a high degree of success and monumental achievements in the cement sector, the net exporter of cement in the country, Dangote Cement, sells the commodity at N2,200 per bag. This pales in the face of reason as countries that have attained self sufficiency in cement production all over the world sell cement at N500 per bag. More worrisomely, Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Group, has persistently influenced policies that bar new foreign direct investors in the cement industry even as he is empowered to muscle competitors out of the sector. Consequently, what subsists in the country is a Dangote-styled monopoly and the sole beneficiary of this anomaly is of course, Aliko Dangote.
A similar and deviously wrought version of Dangote’s monopolistic machinations is playing out in Kogi State and the natives, predictably, are wholly incapacitated to withstand the titanic businessman’s savage business tactics.
