Otedola denies funding claims in Dangote refinery row

Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola has dismissed reports suggesting he financially supported the construction of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, insisting the claims are false and misleading.

The clarification comes amid a viral post allegedly linked to Aliko Dangote, which claimed that during the refinery’s construction phase, he sought financial backing from several top Nigerian business figures, including Tony Elumelu, Abdulsamad Rabiu, Mike Adenuga, and Otedola.

The post also alleged that Elumelu had pledged about $20 million but later became unreachable, while other business leaders reportedly contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to support the project.

However, Otedola strongly denied the claims in a statement shared on X, describing them as “completely and utterly false.”

He stressed that he has never invested any money, whether naira or dollars, in the refinery project. According to him, the report was a deliberate attempt to create unnecessary tension among Nigeria’s top private sector leaders.

Otedola further explained that rather than funding the project, he had actually shown interest in participating in the refinery’s future public offering, not in its construction financing.

He also rejected the idea that Dangote ever approached him or the other named business leaders for funding, insisting that the Dangote Group is fully capable of raising capital independently through structured financial arrangements.

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The businessman warned against spreading what he described as fabricated stories on social media, saying such narratives only seek to damage reputations and create conflict among respected figures in the country’s business community.

Meanwhile, the Dangote Group had earlier also denied the viral claims, stating that the information circulating online did not originate from the company or its founder.

The controversy has since sparked wider discussion about misinformation online and the tendency for unverified claims involving high-profile business figures to spread quickly across social media platforms.