By Gideon Njoku
For Aliko Dangote, Chairman of the Dangote Group, Thursday, January 4, turned out unpleasant.
On the day it became public that he has lost his position as Africa’s richest man, Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, stormed the head office of his conglomerate, in Lagos.
Dangote who had held the top position as Africa’s richest man for 10 years, lost it to a South African, Johann Rupert. According to Forbes Magazine, Rupert beat Dangote with a little less than two billion Dollars. He boasted the sum of $12 billion to Dangote’s $10.8billion. Dangote’s worth recently dropped by a whopping $4.12b due to Nigeria’s economic crisis.
Just as Nigerians were coming to terms with the loss, reports emerged that the EFCC on Thursday, stormed the Dangote Group headquarters in Lagos and carried out a thorough search.
While it is not yet known why the EFCC took the action, speculations are that it has everything to do with the investigation and prosecution of former Central Bank Governor, Dr Godwin Emefiele.
There have been allegations that Emefiele and Dangote got cosy in some untidy Forex businesses.
Unconfirmed reports insist that Dangote got unprecedented waivers and attention from Emefiele when the later was CBN Governor.
The search by the EFCC on Thursday, according to a report in the Cable, was over Forex allocations to the company.
Neither the EFCC nor the Dangote Group has confirmed the raid, but according to The Cable, an anonymous Dangote staff offered that: “They (EFCC), asked for documents on forex transactions with the CBN.”
Not a few people think that the relationship between Dangote and the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government is not smooth. It is the first time Dangote seems not to be in the “priority” friendly list of a Nigerian President since 1999 – the year Nigeria went back to democratic rule.
