By Munachimso Obienyi
The tug of war between Dangote Cement Plc and the Kogi State government has taken yet another twist as certain interest groups from the organised private sector (OPS) as well as students of Kogi origin have waded into the conflict.
While the interest groups have condemned the state government for deploying strong-arm tactics to bully the company into submission, the students, on the other hand, hailed the actions of the state government, pledging to support the contention of the ownership of the cement plant even to the highest courts of the land.
It will be recalled that the Kogi State Government revealed that it will be ready to enter into negotiations once Dangote Group is ready to admit that Obajana cement plant does not belong to it.
Governor Yahaya Bello stated this on Thursday while presenting documents to back the state’s claim to the ownership of the plant.
According to him, the claimed transfer of Obajana to Dangote Industries Limited was “invalid, null and void.”
However, a group of shareholders’ associations in Nigeria and other interest groups have condemned the Kogi State Government over its harassment of Dangote Cement Plc with regard to the ownership of the Obajana Cement Plant.
The shareholders urged the Federal Government to urgently intervene and prevail on the government of Kogi State to stop further harassment of investors to avoid a complete loss of investors’ confidence in the state.
Speaking to NwafoLive, the President of the Association for the Advancement of the Rights of Shareholders, Dr. Umar Faruk, criticised the state government for shutting down a company providing employment opportunities and economic empowerment for the local community of Obajana.
“Why should the governor of a state in Nigeria, mobilise vigilantes to seal a publicly quoted company? The same Governor did exactly the same thing to First Bank, making the bank close some of its branches in the state. Is that not executive rascality, using the state assembly to commit such an atrocious act?” he queried.
However, undergraduates, under the aegis of the National Association of Kogi State Students, have thrown their full weight behind the state government.
In a statement signed by the National President, NAKOSS National, and Chairperson, Council of 36 States Student Presidents (CSSP), Rachael Mojirola Balogun, the students alleged that the Dangote Group had, for long, carried out devastating economic injustice on the people of the state.
They also accused Dangote of unfairly exploiting the state for years, with many either dying daily from environmental hazards arising from the Company’s activities in the area or in the hands of its reckless drivers.
