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A Nigerian on X posted a video this week complaining about the state of a dirty Dangote fuel tanker parked at the roadside with no driver in sight.
"Dangote, we need a board meeting," he said. "We need to talk."
He had bought ten shares, which cost 5,250 naira, about $4.
The refinery's public offer opened on Sept. 14 and the minimum subscription was set low enough that almost anyone could take part, which has turned the largest share sale in African history into something closer to a national joke. Reuters reported the phenomenon from Lagos on Sept. 18.
What the memes have in common is the same conceit: that a $4 stake makes the buyer Aliko Dangote's business partner.
One user asked whether anybody had a house to rent near the refinery in Lagos, explaining that he had just bought into the offer and needed to see whatever was happening in "our company" 24 hours a day starting the next morning. Another said that after watching a Dangote truck driver misbehave on the road, she needed to call her business partner about changes in the logistics department.
A third posted that he had bought ten shares, and that if his fuel was short by even two drops at the filling station the following day he would be calling a board meeting immediately.
Mock ownership certificates have circulated, bearing people's photographs above titles like chief investment officer and co-founder and partner. Some have updated their LinkedIn profiles to list the refinery as current employment.
Sabinus, one of Nigeria's most-followed comedians, has posted skits playing new investors as overbearing owners demanding updates from refinery management.
Underneath the jokes there was a genuine problem on day one. Digital investment platforms went down as people rushed to subscribe, and users posted about deposits that cleared without showing up in their accounts. One wrote that he was no longer trying to buy shares at all and simply wanted to see his money. Memes followed showing fintech servers cooling themselves in buckets of ice.
Neither Dangote nor the underwriters have disclosed demand figures.
The company marketed this deliberately. Dangote called it an IPO for the people at the signing ceremony on Sept. 7, and said he wanted drivers, cooks and managers able to own a piece of it.
What he has got is several million Nigerians behaving as though they already do. The offer covers 4.1 billion shares at 525 naira each, seeking about $1.63 billion, and it closes on Oct. 13.
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