Dangote’s uncle started his business in Lagos, and Dangote was with him during his early years before gaining his ‘freedom’ and receiving money to start his own business. In effect, Dangote is more of a Lagos boy than a Kano boy.

Dangote monopolised many businesses, chief among them being cement, by leveraging connections with people in power in a manner akin to the Mafia lords of Italy.

However, Dangote has made significant investments in Nigeria, while others have moved their money to other countries, hiding assets, buying properties, and even establishing refineries abroad.

If the government truly means well for Nigerians and wishes to convince us that they have no ulterior motives in frustrating Dangote and neglecting the suffering of the people, they must address all the obstacles Dangote raised in his justifiable outburst. The people do not care about the blackmail and rebuttals against Dangote. What the people want is a working refinery, a drop in PMS prices, seamless supply, etc. The NNPC has shown total disregard for the plight of the people and the economic health of the nation. They simply do not care if refineries work or if petrol prices shoot up to N1,000. Nobody trusts the NNPC. They can deny all they want, but we know there must be a reason why the refineries are moribund, why Dangote can build a refinery in less than ten years, but the government cannot repair existing refineries or build a functional one in over thirty years. Some people are profiting from the people’s suffering. This is why Nigerians are on Dangote’s side at the moment.

Now, who is behind the refinery in Malta? We have seen some names allegedly linked to it, but that too may be false in these times when purveyors of fake information dominate our social sphere. However, if those names are true, one wonders if this government can quell the backlash!