Dangote and BUA are in a dual battle of supremacy and it’s getting intense…
You’d recall that BUA Cement announced plans to Reduce Cement prices.
BUA RESPONDS TO DANGOTE
It’s with a profound sense of responsibility and a heavy heart that we address the claims and very cheap attempts at blackmail levelled against BUA by Aliko Dangote in a recent 7-page editorial following months of sponsored campaigns of calumny against us using third-party platforms.To put things in perspective,it’s imperative to revisit history-a history not of rivalry but of resilience; not of enmity, but of endurance.
In August 1991,a young BUA was doing its commodities trading business just as Nigeria faced a scarcity of sugar.As sugar was scarce,BUA was luckyto be one of the few with any stock for sale, and we stood prepared to supply the nation’s needs as best as our stock could.It was during this period Aliko Dangote approached us to purchase sugar. If only we knewhe was setting the first of many traps in our business history.
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He gave us a Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria Cheque, which bounced upon presentation to the bank.Unbeknown to us,this was a ruse that would lead to a court-sanctioned freeze of our assets orchestrated by Dangote.For three agonising months,our accounts were garnisheed,warehouses shuttered,and our spirit tested.Yet,from the ashes of deceit,BUA survived.(see attached court order)
Fast forward a few years later,we decided that since we were making good progress in our various businesses, we should open a sugar refinery. We approached one Usman Dantata (now late), Aliko Dangote’s uncle,and leased his NPA waterfront land (4.5 hectares) at the Tincan Island port,’Polo House’. We took the land,signed an agreement with the consent of NPA,and paid all applicable dues.Dangote waited until our contractors and equipment had been mobilised to the site,then he went to former President Obasanjo.President Obasanjo had the land revoked entirely and gave the lease to Dangote.As a result,even his uncle lost the land.BUA was only given 24 hours to vacate the land.
It took us over a year to get another land.
How?
Our survival as a business especially our Lagos sugar refinery is a legacy handed to us by a loving father who,seeing his son’s distress, did what only the noblest and kindest of hearts could do. With unwavering faith,our Chairman’s late father-may his soul rest in eternal peace-handed him the land on which our Lagos Sugar Refinery stands today.This land was the location of one of his thriving businesses with a warehouse,which he shut down and
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