The war of words has continued
between BUA group and Dangote group over claims on its cement holding in Edo
State, just as BUA says Dangote claims stink, reports NaijaAgroNet.
The Group Head, Corporate Communications, Otega Ogra told NaijaAgroNet that latest claims by the Management of Dangote Group which is being syndicated to various new publications related to the ownership and operations of BUA’s mining sites in Obu, Okpella, Edo State, fall short of facts.
This latest statement by Dangote
Group, Ogra noted, stinks of desperation in its continued attempt to disregard
the judicial process and scheme a viable competitor out of business as has been
their legendary antecedent. We thus wish to reiterate once again that whilst we
do not want to join issues with anyone on this matter as it is currently before
a court of competent jurisdiction, we are however compelled to use the
opportunity presented by Edwin Devakumar’s reckless statements to clarify the
cycle of misinformation being proliferated.
Specifically responding to Edwin
Devakumar of Dangote Group’s claim of BUA operating on ML2541 in Okene, Kogi
State, “we wish to restate that
BUA does not have any operations whatsoever in Okene, Kogi State where the
purported ML2541 is situated. Our Mining operations are limited to Obu-Okpella,
Edo State for which licenses ML18912 & 18913 were issued and revalidate by
the same ministry in a publication.”
These licenses, he said, have been
owned, operated and fulfilled by BUA and its predecessors-in-title since 1976,
as it is also a notorious fact that “we have exercised total control and
possession over the mining area covered by the above mining leases since 1976
when we operated under the name of Bendel Cement Company Limited. We are thus
wont to excuse Edwin’s claims to a lack of basic knowledge and understanding of
the geography of Nigeria but he will be better served if he seeks professional
opinion in critically understanding the geography of Nigeria or he should
otherwise refer to documents from the boundary commission which clearly
delineates boundaries within Nigeria.”
BUA group therefore asked, “Why is Dangote, an international company
which is also listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, so averse to letting the
rule of the law and judicial process take its course? The court has maintained
that Status Quo be maintained (This includes BUA’s current ownership of our
mines in Edo State) but the management of Dangote Group Dangote, as has been
their strategy in the past to other companies in competition with them, is
still seeking to out-muscle competition through backdoor means rather than let
the court decide. If anyone is not satisfied, they should write to the courts
as an independent arbiter for an interpretation of “maintaining status quo”
rather than spread misinformation in the court of public opinion.
“It is
public knowledge that neither Dangote nor AICO or anyone for that
matter can claim ownership of ML2541 as was stated in a court injunction by a
Federal High Court sitting in Lokoja in suit FHC/LK/CS/25/2017 between Alhaji
Mohammed Otaru Adeika & Ors. Versus AICO Ado Ibrahim and Company Limited,
Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel, The Mining Cadestre Office and Dangote
Industries Plc. How then can they continue to claim in obvious disregard of
that court order that the ML2541 belongs to them? No one is above
the law.
“The antecedent of Dangote Plc
in trying to outmuscle competition is not in doubt. Various cases abound within and outside the cement
industry – one of which was their taking over of the limestone deposits of
another competing entity in the south-south region of Nigeria until they ceeded
him 25 per cent of their company. This was in turn resold to them for hundreds
of millions of dollars. Or is it the case of Ibeto whose business was almost
driven under but for the prompt intervention of the then late President Umaru
Musa Yar’Adua. Or is it the case of Polo House Jetty Tincan previously owned by
his uncle, Usman Dantata, whose License was revoked by NPA and reallocated to
Dangote on the same day in order to prevent a sugar refinery to be sited there
by a competitor.
“The facts of the matter as far as
we are concerned are that BUA’s operations are in Obu, Okpella, Edo State and
not Okene Kogi. We once again ask that all parties should wait for the court to
resolve the issue. We will not be cowed or intimidated and will continue to
seek redress through the proper legal channels,” BUA group submitted.
Isaac Oyimah/GEE
