Fight To finish: Dangote, Otedola shun peace meeting by OBJ - YarÁdua to intervene
Idowu Samuel
Saturday, April 4, 2009
THERE are indications that the two Nigeria’s foremost billionaires, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Mr. Femi Otedola who have been at loggerheads on conflicting business interests, are now set to exhaust their strength in battle, the two having shunned entreaties from high quarters for prompt reconciliation.







Fresh findings by Saturday Tribune have revealed that both Dangote and Otedola had repeatedly shunned peace initiatives called, first by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and then President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua long before the crisis of confidence between them hit the roof top lately.

The two billionaires who regard the former president as their father, had though appreciated the peace initiative by Obasanjo by honouring his invitation for peace parley only that they never sat together with him at a roundtable to jointly strike a peace chord.

Findings revealed that Obasanjo had summoned the two business moguls to meetings, twice, long before Femi Otedola scurried out of Nigeria reportedly for security reason, whereas the peace initiative failed because neither Dangote nor Otedola was prepared to meet face-to-face for the possibility of being friends again.

Dangote and Otedola had visited Obasanjo at different times after ensuring that the other party would not be in attendance, although the former president had requested a joint meeting with them.

The duo had equally refrained from meeting President Yar’Adua whom investigation revealed had acted on a personal protest filed by Otedola to him, thus prompting him (President) to urge them to meet him at the Presidential Villa for the purpose of resolving their differences.

Some close friends of the two billionaires confirmed to Saturday Tribune in Abuja that notwithstanding the failure of the initial peace initiatives on the crisis, the former President was not relenting in his efforts aimed at reconciling the money-bags whom he believed have been very close friends.

Femi, son of the former governor of Lagos State, Sir Micheal Otedola, left the shores of Nigeria a couple of weeks ago on alleged attempt to his life through possible food poisoning. The case was said to have been brought to him by one of his domestic staff who reportedly claimed he was approached to that effect.

Both Dangote and Otedola hit national limelight as good jolly friends during the civilian government of Obasanjo, the two having ridden on the crest of heavy patronage by the former president to advance the coasts of their business empires.

Dangote and Otedola, all through the era of Obasanjo in government, clung to one another like Siamese twins. The two at a point became recurring decimals in big time social events organised either by the government or private individuals, while they were both noted as biggest donors during launching programmes at such events. They had both funded the campaigns of former President Obasanjo for re-election in 2003.

As findings revealed, so close were the two billionaires that they became inseparable even to the extent of exchanging visits to their residences both in Lagos and Abuja, as Dangote was said to have almost turned the Abuja residence of Otedola to his second home anytime the duo were in Abuja.

http://odili.net/news/source/2009/apr/4/609.html

dangote versus otedola: mutually assured destruction
Written by Dele Sobowale
Saturday, April 4, 2009
The two acclaimed richest Nigerians are now at war. And if you think that the rift between Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Mr Femi Otedola is no concern of yours; then you must be living in that blissful state of ignorance which the rest of the nation can ill-afford. And, if you are happy about it; then rest assured that your joy shall be short-lived as the consequences of this supposedly private disagreement becoming a national issue.









It is in the national interest to bring this war to an end before it escalates and consumes all of us - including the combatants. Already the seeds of Mutually Assured Destruction, MAD, had been sown by the adverts in the newspapers by AP Plc controlled by Otedola. It is perhaps too late to recap the can of worms that the publication had opened. I pray that will be the last revelation because the consequences are extremely grave for Nigeria at any time but more disastrous at this time.

Like most media practitioners, I have heard rumours of a rift between Otedola and the man he addressed as “My Oga” - Dangote —at the launching of Dangote Sugar Plc, IPO. He went on to demonstrate the depth of their friendship by committing his group of companies to the purchase of three billion naira worth of the Dangote Sugar shares. That disclosure almost brought down the roof as some people with poor listening or semantic habits thought he said three billion shares.

Dangote had to step in to reassure the audience that his friend will not alone mop up the entire offer, especially when it came with a one naira dividend paid up front. While others around me grumbled, I inwardly applauded. Envy has never been part of my make up and I have long accepted that we can’t all be billionaires. What thrilled me was the fact that a northerner and a Lagos state indigene could be so close as to invest so much in each others enterprises. I prayed for more of those; not only between Dangote and Otedola but between other Nigerians.

Thus for me it was a painful experience to learn that this great friendship was crumbling for reasons not yet sufficiently disclosed. I prayed that some mutual friends of the two would step in and mediate the conflict and restore the relationship to what it was before.


Alhaji Aliko Dangote (left)
I have never met Otedola -one on one - despite the fact that we are both from Epe Local Government of Lagos State, but I was always happy that a Lagos boy is showing to the world that Eko is not just “for show”; that in fact, the “good men she (Lagos) breeds are the best of their kind” - to borrow a sentence from Plutarch, AD 46-120, one of the greatest historians the world has produced. Dangote, I had met once and I was deeply touched by his humility and knowledge of media personalities despite his busy schedule.
Since, it is generally assumed that birds of the same feathers fly together, I have no reason to doubt that Otedola would be just as nice in private. Anyone who is fortunate to have a good friend will readily agree with me that that is the most precious possession anybody can have; it is the “all-purpose medicine” which makes it possible at times to maintain one’s sanity in a world which seeks to separate us from our senses. Conversely, the loss of a good friend, irrespective of how it came about, is often very devastating because the impact is immeasurable.

I was still thinking of ways to get in touch with both of them when I saw the advert by AP Plc, alleging grievous infractions of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, regulations, and impliedly, that of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, by Alhaji Dangote and Nova Finance and Securities Plc, resulting in steep decline of the price of AP Plc shares.

I was alarmed for two reasons. First, this step, by AP Plc, which could not have been taken without the approval of Otedola, was capable of escalating this conflict beyond any peaceful settlements -if it has not done so already. Second, it will, unquestionably, damage the capital market further by undermining the confidence of investors at a time when doubts regarding the integrity of the market can be ill-afforded.

As it turned out, I started writing this article on Thursday, March 26, 2009 at nine o’clock at night; but I did not finish it. The next morning, virtually all the newspapers had reports about the suspension of Nova Finance and the fine imposed. One of the papers also reported about shareholders of AP Plc asking what the NSE and SEC would do to Dangote -who incidentally seats on the Board of the NSE.

No one needs to be a prophet or jujuman to predict what would happen next. Those who were old enough to remember the “If you Tarka me, I’ll Daboh you” incident of the 1970s must expect not only a retaliatory response from Dangote and Nova but an expansion of the revelations that will involve other shares on the capital market demonstrating, or seeking to do so, that Otedola and some stockbroker have also been involved in share price manipulation.

When that happens, Nigerians will witness the destruction of two reputations that the two men have laboured over the years to build. I have mentioned reputation because I consider integrity as the most valuable possession any human being can have. And, despite the rumours that always swirl around the names of wealthy people about the sources of their wealth, nobody has been able to establish any criminal activity on their part -until now.

The fine and suspension of Nova has changed all that; it has also opened several avenues of inquiry which have the potential of doing further damage. From information available to me, the knives are already being brought out from several quarters which will bring to the lime light many things that the two combatants will eventually wish had not been uncovered.

“Crossing” which was the vehicle allegedly used to bring down the price of AP Plc shares has now come under the searchlight. And the issues involved are too numerous to discuss in this short piece. But, let me draw the attention of our readers to a few.

First, if “crossing” can be used to artificially devalue the shares of a firm, why can’t it be used to artificially inflate it? A call to a retired stockbroker friend confirmed to me that it has been used and abused widely in the NSE in the past and perhaps it is still in use and still being abused even now.

He went on to state that the use is most prevalent when firms already listed on the exchange want to go to the capital market for additional funds.

Then crossing had been used to boost the price of shares to lure investors. If that is true, the NSE has done a superficial job by just imposing a fine and suspension on Nova; it must go beyond that and carry out a forensic study of all the shares whose prices have appreciated astronomically from 2006 to 2008 May; and whose directors and management have sourced funds from the capital market during the period under review, to determine how many have been subjected to share price manipulations by a few people for their own benefits and to the detriment of the millions of investors who have been under the illusion that the NSE was operating a free market.

As a necessary corollary to that inquiry, the rest of us, because I am also involved, would want to know who, if anybody, were the people involved in these shady deals because we certainly have several dates in several courts with all of them.

I hope no bank is caught in the web of the conspiracy that fraudulent manipulation of crossing represents because millions of Nigerians invested in their securities based on the unprecedented appreciation of their share prices before each and every IPO. The invasion of Rome by the barbarians and the rapine and pillage that accompanied it will be child’s play compared to the wrath of investors who paid N45, N36, N30 for shares that are now tending towards N5, N4 or N3. If it turns out to be so, not only will the banks Boards and directors face violent uprising, they would have destroyed the Nigerian Stock Exchange beyond repair for years to come.

It goes without saying that not only would the NSE and the SEC Boards, Management and the Stockbroking firms will also come under scrutiny but they would also have lost the most important element in their operations - investor confidence. And they should expect it, because of what use is it for millions of people to be tricked into playing a game in which the deck is stacked in favour of a few and the stock brokers knew it all along?

However, while we must ascertain the truth; we must be very careful that we don’t, out of perhaps justified anger, destroy more than we should. Until another exchange is created, and a case can be made for the establishment of a rival exchange because of the known evils of any monopoly, we should not completely destroy this one in the interim. We should balance anger with reason.

These are some, but by all means not all, of some of the consequences of this private war between the two men. And that is the reason for calling on friends, relatives, advisers (especially lawyers) of the parties to mediate and prevent further escalation. Former President Obasanjo, as well as President Yar’Adua might even find the time to call the two to Aso Rock for a peace meeting.

The truth is; if they go down on account of deliberate or inadvertent self-destruction, they will take a lot of Nigeria’s economy down with them. War is hell. And hell is one more thing we don’t need in this country right now; at least not one between two people who hold some of the keys to our future advancement. If ever this nation needs experienced mediators, this is the time and this is the conflict requiring their services; for the sake of Nigeria.

http://odili.net/news/source/2009/apr/4/307.html

Africans destroy themselves because they want to flex their muscle. If care is not taken, these two giants will fight themselves to poverty and render millions jobless.