As the crisis trailing the ownership of the Cement Factory at Obajana, Kogi State lingers on between the Kogi State Government and Dangote Industries Limited, the State Government, has responded to Dangote Industries Limited’s insistence on 100 per cent ownership of Obajana Cement Company, saying that DIL’s efforts at making Kogi State’s demand appear unreasonable had only justified the state’s protest against what it described as “callous and deliberate asset grabbing.”
The state government maintained that Obajana Cement Company was solely founded in 1992 and owned by the state, which held 100 per cent of its shareholding in trust for its people, long before DIL ventured into the state and longer still before Dangote Cement Plc came into existence.
In a detailed response to Dangote Group’s advertorial, titled, “Separating Facts From Fiction”, the Kogi State Government noted that successive administrations had always invited Dangote Industries Limited and Dangote Cement Plc to prove that the Group paid anything at all for the purported acquisition of Obajana and its alleged 100 per cent ownership, “but each time, DIL and DCP have woefully failed to do so”.
In the response titled, “Separating Acquisition From Asset-Grabbing,” the Kogi State Government disclosed that it took a loan of at least 15million Deutsche Marks to conduct feasibility assessments, which confirmed the existence of those ‘vast limestone deposits’ that DIL found so enticing years later.
“Sadly, for over a decade after DIL and DCP started posting profits from the operations of the Obajana plant, the Kogi State Government was still labouring to pay off the said loan and interests accruing thereon,” the statement highlighted.
The State Government therefore said in the interest of humanity and truth, it was pertinent to ask the questions: “How come years after DIL and DCP claim they acquired 100 per cent of the equity and assets of Obajana Cement Plc, Kogi State officials were still listed as shareholders of the company, holding shares for and on behalf of the people of Kogi State in filings made by DIL and DCP at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)?
“Is the above not evidence that DIL and DCP which do not deny that Kogi State invited them to invest in Obajana Cement Plc in the first place, are lying when they defend their rapacity and duplicity by claiming that Kogi State allegedly abandoned her allotted shares and was subsequently kicked out of the company she founded by them, thereby allegedly extinguishing all rights and interests of Kogi State and her people in the operations of the company?
“By what rules of corporate acquisitions or even buy-outs are DIL and DCP operating in their highhanded dealings with Kogi State and people? At what point was DIL and DCP able to raise money and Kogi State Government not able to raise money to take up their allotments, resulting in the alleged transfer of Kogi’s shares in Obajana to DIL/DCP?
“Which money or consideration did DIL provide in 2002 for the alleged acquisition of the 90 per cent equity in Obajana Cement Plc, which used to be vested in the Kogi State Government and what money or consideration did DIL and DCP pay in 2003 to acquire the remaining 10 per cent of Kogi’s shares in Obajana Cement Plc?”
The state government invited Nigerians and all persons of goodwill everywhere to ruminate on the issues raised and draw conclusions “on the ways and manner in which DIL and DCP have shamelessly gone about their conspiracy to dispossess Kogi State and her people of their rightful assets.”
However, the Kogi State government has earlier said that only proof of ownership and not confrontation could settle the issues at Stake, stating that, the ownership of Obajana Cement Company was not that of an individual but a collective agitation by indigenes of the state who had felt short-changed for too long as regards the subject matter.
This was contained in a statement from the State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Hon. Kingsley Fanwo, who on behalf of the State Government advised the Dangote Group and its image makers to focus on “proving its ‘total ownership’ of Obajana Cement Company rather than chasing shadows”.
The commissioner, responding to a statement allegedly issued by the Dangote Group, titled: “Dangote not involved in Kogi Assembly Outbreak,” said was a deliberate attempt to malign the state government, insisting that the State Government has a “well defined channel of communication that is known to the public”.
According to Hon Fanwo, the current struggle over the ownership of Obajana Cement Company was never that of an individual but a collective agitation by indigenes of the state who had felt short-changed for too long as regards the subject matter.
“We remain resolute on our position on the Obajana Cement Company and that remains the matter to be determined rather than any attempt to drag the state government into any mud fight.
“A few days ago, we released a credible intelligence to the public, of plans by Dangote Group to attack the state and officials of Government, among many other measures at stifling the voice of the Kogi State Government in the on-going battle for the ownership of the Obajana Cement Company.
“A few days later, our Legislative Complex was razed down by fire. In the official statement of the Government of Kogi State, we called on security agencies to thoroughly investigate the matter and make their findings public. We reiterate that anyone found to be involved in burning down the Kogi State Assembly Complex will be prosecuted and made to face the test of justice.”
The commissioner noted that only the truth could resolve the on-going ownership tussle, maintaining that the State will not succumb to any psychological warfare.
“We are aware of emails and deliberate harassment of the media to concoct unfounded stories around Kogi State and Governor Yahaya Bello. But this would do nothing to change the facts around the ownership of Obajana Cement Company, which the Kogi people, and indeed, Nigerians, are interested in,” the Commissioner declared, pointing out that the struggle was about the good people of Kogi State and also the integrity of the nation but not an individual matter. It is a battle we need to fight for the generation-next, while also setting a standard of transparent corporate governance.
“The present administration has created a conducive environment for investment and business growth. Many business entities have come into the state to benefit from our economy and the people and they have very good stories to tell. What we demand here is what belongs to the state,” Fanwo emphasised.
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