Anthony Chiejina, speaking for Dangote Group, issued a statement on Saturday denying that Aliko Dangote fell out with Tony Elumelu and describing a viral post on X as "false, malicious, and baseless."
The denial came after a post by the account Oghneminehhhhh on X that claimed Mr. Dangote had told associates that in 2021 his refinery was only half-completed and he had run out of funds. The post alleged Dangote reached out to Femi Otedola, Abdulsamad Rabiu and Mike Adenuga for help, said Tony Elumelu had promised $20 million and later blocked contact, and claimed other colleagues raised $500 million to assist, with Femi Otedola contributing $300 million. The episode has prompted what the company is calling a dangote group elumelu rift denial and a formal rebuttal.
In the statement, Dangote Group said the post titled “Aliko Dangote Speaks Out on Why He Distanced Himself from Tony Elumelu,” is false, malicious, and baseless and stressed: "At no time did the president or the group make such statements or express such sentiments." The company added that the founder does not borrow from friends to finance projects and warned that the material in circulation was not genuine.
Dangote Group went further: "The group categorically rejects claims that the development of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals was financed through personal borrowing from friends." The statement said the claims about refinery financing are "These assertions are wholly inaccurate and constitute a deliberate misrepresentation of facts," and asked that anyone making lending-arrangement claims provide verifiable evidence.
The company said it has seen a rising pattern of fabricated statements and unauthorized use of Dangote’s name, likeness and image, including in AI-generated advertisements and other misleading content, which it said amount to reputational harm and potential fraud. Dangote Group warned the creators and disseminators of such materials to desist and announced it would take legal action against those behind the post.
The core of the friction lies between the narrative in the viral post — which ties a supposed 2021 funding shortfall to both the refinery’s development and a personal rupture with Tony Elumelu — and the company’s categorical denial. Dangote Group explicitly rejected the account that friends had stepped in to bankroll the Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals and called the social-media story a deliberate misrepresentation.
That contradiction is the story’s tension: a named social-media post lays out detailed dollar figures and personal interactions, while the company’s public rebuttal insists none of those statements were ever made and that the relationship between Aliko Dangote and Mr Tony Elumelu remains intact. As the statement put it: "Equally false are suggestions of any estrangement between Aliko Dangote and Mr Tony Elumelu, with whom he maintains a longstanding and cordial relationship."
The next act is legal. Dangote Group said it will pursue remedies against those responsible for creating and spreading the fabricated material, and it has asked for verifiable proof from anyone making lending claims about the refinery. The company’s warning and the promise of legal action leave the central unanswered question sharply defined: will the originators of the post be identified and held to account for what Dangote Group calls reputational harm and potential fraud?
