Obajana: Come clean, provide necessary documents, Kogi Assembly tells Dangote Group

THE Kogi State House of Assembly has called on Dangote Group to come clean and provide all necessary documents as required by the ad hoc committee on the investigative hearing. 

The legislature contended that they are only interested in how to resolve the impasse amicably for the state to have its fair share on the investment and not using any tactic that will jeopardise the peace of the state. 

This was contained in a press statement issued on Sunday by the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Speaker, Mr Femi Olugbemi, which was made available to the Nigerian Tribune. 

“The 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended is clear on the functions of the States Houses of Assembly to make laws that will promote good governance of the state. It also has power on oversight functions to make enquiry or sanction as the case maybe. 

“The constitution further gives power to the legislative arm be it federal or state to set up committees to carry out any specific assignment in this case, the ad hoc committee to investigate the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for Kogi State. Where has the speaker or members of the assembly committed any offence when they are performing their constitutional responsibility upon which the people elected them. 

“It will interest the public to know that for such a transaction of that magnitude to be valid, a resolution of the state legislature is needed to perfect whatever agreement any agencies of government may want to enter; a fact the management of Dangote Group cannot deny. 

Meanwhile, the ownership tussle between the Kogi State government and the Dangote Group over Obajana Cement Company took another dimension on Sunday, as the National Association of Kogi State Students (NAKOSS), vowed to defend the stand of the state government up to the World Court. 

The students, in various institutions across Nigeria, threw their weight behind the state government’s demands in a statement signed by NAKOSS national president and chairperson, Council of 36 States Student Presidents (CSSP), Rachael Mojirola Balogun. 

They argued that the Dangote Group had, for long, carried out devastating economic injustice on the people of the state. 

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According to the indigenes of the state scattered across tertiary institutions of learning in the country, the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello and the state House of Assembly should be commended for insisting on correcting what they described as the age-long economic intimidation and exploitation by the Dangote Group. 

They 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 “that have killed many across Nigeria (countless Kogi State students inclusive).” 

The students maintained that the failure of the management of Dangote Cement to show evidence of transfer of the shares of the company belonging to Kogi State is a pointer to the fact that the group allegedly robbed indigenes of Kogi of their birth rights. 

The statement read: “We have listened to the misleading argument of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in its press statement of Friday, 7th October, 2022, and we are duty-bound to inform the public that the argument of this association, which the whole world knows, is being controlled by Alhaji Aliko Dangote, is lopsided and lacks merit. 

“Let it be clear that we are students of Kogi State learning in higher institutions across Nigeria; but we can safely reflect the minds of even our family members that this struggle is not that of the governor or the House of Assembly alone. It is our collective struggle and we will seek justice as far as the International Court. 

“We acknowledge the efforts of Aliko Dangote to industrialise the country, create jobs and wealth through various factories, but we wish to state unequivocally that he cannot rewrite history in our own case as we know the story of Obajana from inception.” 

But, group of shareholders associations in Nigeria have urged the Federal Government to urgently intervene and prevail on the government of Kogi State to stop further harassment of investors in the state. 

President of the Association for the Advancement of the Rights of Shareholders, Dr. Umar Faruk, while speaking on the development criticised the state government for being insensitive to its populace, thousands of whom are depending on the Dangote Obajana plant for their means of livelihood. 

He stated: “Federal Government should swing into action by protecting investors, else, the efforts being made to attract both foreign and local investors will come to naught. I hope the state realises that Dangote Cement has foreign shareholders. What impression do you want these people to have of our government? 

Also, the president, Pragmatic Shareholders Association, Mrs Bisi Bakare, said: “As an investor, we are not happy about the way things are going. If the state has problems with Dangote Cement on tax issues or any issue at all, there are better, civilised ways of handling it than sealing a factory that is contributing more than 30 percent of the cement Nigerians are consuming.