Meet super-rich beneficiaries of democracy

The 53-year-old industrialist was said to have started his business career at the age of 21 with a loan from his late maternal uncle, Alhaji Usman Dantata in 1977. Among those considered to have benefitted immensely in the last 11 years of democracy in Nigeria, Dangote is the only one to have been a household […]

The 53-year-old industrialist was said to have started his business career at the age of 21 with a loan from his late maternal uncle, Alhaji Usman Dantata in 1977. Among those considered to have benefitted immensely in the last 11 years of democracy in Nigeria, Dangote is the only one to have been a household name before the advent of democracy in 1999. But nonetheless, the shrewd businessman that he is, he invested in the democratic project by way of donations that he later reaped bountifully from thereafter. He has not looked back since then. In 1998, he donated N150 million to the presidential campaign of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. During the 2003 re-election campaign of Obasanjo, Dangote donated N1billion and a private jet. When Obasanjo launched the Obasanjo Presidential Library project, he donated N201 million to the Library. Dangote also donated N1 billion in 2008 to the building of Peoples Democratic Party national headquarters in Abuja.

Dangote’s reward was he got N40 billion waivers that helped consolidated his dominance of the commodity business in Nigeria, especially in the area of sugar, flour milling, and salt processing and cement importation. Today, he competes favourably with foreign manufacturers of similar products for the Nigerian market and has built factories and established production plants across the country for the various brands, ranging from spaghetti, to cement, salt, flour and sugar, especially with majority shares in Savannah Sugar Company in Adamawa State.

Dangote’s annual turnover is put in the region of N150 billion. He has emerged stronger and more competitive in the last 11 years of democracy in Nigeria.

Femi Otedola

Femi Otedola, in his early forties, is today a household name in Nigeria and one of the very few Nigerians on the Forbes list, with an estimated worth of about $1.2 billion. Not much was known of him before the emergence of President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999. Though his father Sir Micheal Otedola was a businessman and onetime governor of Lagos State. Like Dangote, Otedola was smart enough to invest in the emerging democratic dispensation in 1999. Before 1999, he was said to be an unknown printing consultant in Lagos. Like Dangote, he invested heavily in the former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1998. He donated N150 million to the presidential campaign in 1998. Under the aegis of Friends of Obasanjo and Atiku, he donated N25 million to the rehabilitation of the National Mosque in Abuja, and doled out N200 million to the Obasanjo Presidential Library project. He gave out N150 million in aid of Obasanjo’s re-election expenses in 2003. But by far his biggest donation is  at the ruling People’s Democratic Party fundraising event for its secretariat project, where his N1 billion donation took care of 10 percent of the projected cost of the building.

Otedola’s reward is that Zenon Petroluem and Gas limited, which was established in 1999 is now a major dominant force in diesel business among oil marketing concerns in Nigeria. Apart from being the biggest diesel and kerosene marketer in Nigeria today, he is said to be the biggest ship owner in the country, which partly explains his recent nomination as President of Nigeria Chambers of Shipping, a powerful and highly influential body in the maritime sector. It is said that Otedola and his wife, Nana, now have investments that straddle 16 individual companies, five of which were registered in Europe.

Jimoh Ibrahim

Jimoh Ibrahim, the billionaire business mogul referred to in some quarters as the “mystery businessman” like Femi Otedola, is little-known in the country some few years back. Unlike Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola, he is not known to have donated money towards the Obasanjo presidency. He even attempted to be governor of Ondo State under the platform of ANPP in 1999. But the way and manner he won the privatisation of Nigeria’s foremost insurance giant NICON Insurance all point to the influence of Obasanjo. Jimoh Ibrahim claimed that he started making money during his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme, when he made his first millions and built his four houses in Egbe area of Lagos in 1991 by organising 17 seminars on reforms for local governments during the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida regime through his Africa Centre for Policy Studies.

But he became the new kid on the block during the last administration by acquiring federal government’s over 70 per cent controlling stake in NICON Insurance. Buoyed by that, he bided for and acquired controlling stake in Le Meridien Hotel, Abuja, as well as 51 per cent stake in Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation and NICON Airways within four months. Ibrahim’s acquisition of NICON was reversed by the Yar’adua administration, but he went to court to challenge the action and the firms were later returned to him in an out-of-court settlement. His recent takeover of Virgin Nigeria Airways cements his big player status.

Andy Uba

Dr. Emmanuel Nnamdi Uba, popularly called Andy Uba, burst on the National political scene in 1999 after his appointment as a Special Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on domestic affairs. Though Andy Uba didn’t make headlines from donations to the Obasanjo project, their relationship was said to have predated his presidency. Reports had it that Andy Uba was the one who came to the aid of Obasanjo when he was released from gulag in 1998. Late Stella Obasanjo was said to have taken the then newly released Obasanjo to United States of America (USA) for medical attention following his prison ordeals and Andy Uba became a source of tremendous help to them in the U.S. From then on, they struck a relationship that catapulted Uba to national limelight once Obasanjo became president.

Throughout the eight years of Obasanjo’s regime, Uba was so close to Obasanjo  so much so that he remarked in the last January Anambra gubernatorial campaign of Andy Uba in  Awka that this is the man “who wakes me up and watches me till I sleep.” Uba, on the other hand, is alleged to have been in charge of oil deals where he was said to have made money.

Johnson Arumeni-Ikhide

Mr. Johnson Arumeni-Ikhide, was a major contractor to the government of Rivers State having been awarded several contracts by the state government, including the Independent Power Programme (IPP), supply of buses and cars, etc. According to the report done by the EFCC while investigating former Rivers State governor, Peter Odili, Ikhide had been having deals with Odili. As an executive director of Negris Engineering Nigeria he got contracts for the company to the tune of over N400m to supply and install generating sets for the Rivers State government.

Abba Aliero

Abba Aliero is a household name in Kebbi State because of his political influence, wealth and connections in both business and government circles. Abba, who is in his fifties, came to limelight between 1999 and 2003. Within the first four years of democracy he acquired more popularity among the political class such that he invariably partake in major decision making in the running of affairs of Kebbi government under the administration of his elder brother, Adamu Aliero, the immediate-past minister of FCT. Abba is a business mogul who at present controls a business empire.

Apart from his dominant role in Kebbi politics, Abba Aliero is also a contractor who won many fat contracts, which constituted capital projects executed by the administration of his elder brother. Where his political tentacles could not reach, Abba would use his capital base to achieve his target, and eventually became part and parcel of those who call the shots.

Alhaji Dahiru Mangal

Katsina-based business mogul, Alhaji Dahiru Bara’u Mangal is no doubt the most influential businessman in Katsina State today that can be described as the greatest beneficiary of the advent of the recent democratic dispensation in Katsina today. Prior to the advent of this democratic dispensation in 1999, little was known about the now famous Alhaji Dahiru Bara’u Mangal until his political romance with the then governor of Katsina State, Umaru Musa Yar’adua whom he allegedly met during his campaign days and was widely to be one of his major campaign financiers.

Investigations by Weekly Trust revealed that before the emergence of Umaru Musa Yar’adua as governor in 1999, Mangal was known as a local businessman dealing in textiles materials and little oil businesses within Katsina and Kano states.

Checks indicated that Mangal gradually got involved in politics when he became the closest ally of the late Umaru Yar’adua, whereas his company Afdin Ventures became the major contractor in Katsina enjoying the highest patronage from the government of the state.

Investigation further revealed that it was the then state governor that help him in facilitating many big contracts from the then President Obasanjo-led federal government, including a leverage to open an airline business that was later granted permit to begin hajj operation in the country.

He was additionally said to have influenced the appointment of many people in both states and federal government appointments and was in Katsina seen as an institution unto himself, partly due to his philanthropic disposition.    

Umarun Kwabo

Umarun Kwabo maintained a powerful position during the administration of Alhaji Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa as governor of Sokoto between 1999 and 2003. He had a say in the running of the government though he was not occupying any elective position neither was he a civil servant. He did quite a lot in ensuring that Bafarawa came to power as the leader of Bafarawa gubernatorial campaign committee.

Dahiru Shekarau and others in Kano

As soon as his brother assumed office as governor of the state, the current Permanent Secretary Ministry of Science and Technology, Kano State, Dahiru Shekarau, who was then holding sway at the state Teachers’ Board, began to gain influence. The former Head of Department (HOD) of Carpentry in Government Technical College, Bagauda, has a virtually omnipotent aura of influence in the state’s affairs. It was learnt that seeking audience with him is akin to seeking audience with the governor himself.

Like miracle, Dahiru, who lives in his family house in Giginyu area of Kano State, transformed the house into a wonderful edifice. As he gradually bought the houses in his area, the name of the neighbourhood was changed officially from Bakin Layi to Layin Dahiru Shekarau.