Dangote Group calls reports of rift With Tony Elumelu false and malicious

The Dangote Group has issued a formal denial of reports claiming its president, Aliko Dangote, has distanced himself from Tony Elumelu, chairman of United Bank for Africa, calling the claims false, malicious, and baseless.

The denial came in a statement on Saturday from the group's spokesperson, Anthony Chiejina, who said the circulating publication — titled "Aliko Dangote Speaks Out on Why He Distanced Himself from Tony Elumelu" — was fabricated. "At no time did the president or the Group make such statements or express such sentiments," Chiejina said.

The group also rejected a separate allegation that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals, which cost $20 billion and took 11 years to build, was financed through personal borrowing from friends — a claim it described as equally without basis.

On the Elumelu relationship specifically, the group was direct: both men "maintain a longstanding and cordial relationship," it said. The denial lands against a backdrop that makes the original claim particularly implausible. Just weeks ago, in April, Elumelu wrote Dangote's profile for the 2026 TIME100 list — calling him indefatigable, resilient, and one of the greatest African entrepreneurs of their era, and noting that "when faced with difficult moments of my own, I will often ask myself: what would Aliko do?" It was a reversal of the roles from 2020, when Dangote wrote Elumelu's own TIME100 tribute.

The statement went further, flagging what the group described as a growing pattern of fabricated statements and the unauthorized use of Dangote's name, likeness, and image in AI-generated advertisements and other misleading content. The group warned all individuals, organizations, and platforms involved in creating or distributing such content to cease immediately, and said it would pursue legal action where necessary.

The Dangote Group is currently preparing a pan-African IPO of 5 to 10 percent of the refinery across the Nigerian Exchange and multiple other African bourses, with Stanbic IBTC Capital, Vetiva Advisory Services, and FirstCap appointed as advisers. The IPO planning makes reputational management particularly sensitive for the group at this moment.