KEY POINTS

• Dangote Group has rejected as false a publication alleging a rift between Aliko Dangote and Tony Elumelu.
• The group denied claims that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery was financed through personal borrowing from friends.
• The company warned individuals creating fake AI-generated content of Dangote’s likeness, threatening legal action.

Aliko Dangote, the president of the Dangote Group, has hit back at a publication that claimed he had distanced himself from billionaire Tony Elumelu and financed his refinery through personal borrowing from friends. The group dismissed both claims as false, malicious and baseless.

Anthony Chiejina, the group’s chief branding and communications officer, signed the rebuttal. He said neither Dangote nor the group ever made the statements appearing in the article, and that the publication misrepresented both personal and corporate positions.

A flat denial on the refinery story

Specifically, the group rejected the suggestion that personal borrowing from friends funded the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals project. Chiejina said the assertion is wholly inaccurate and amounts to a deliberate misrepresentation of facts.

“As a matter of principle, Aliko Dangote neither finances his projects through personal borrowing from friends nor engages in lending arrangements of that nature. Any individual making such claims should provide verifiable evidence to substantiate them,” the statement said.

Furthermore, Chiejina said the suggestion of any estrangement between Dangote and Elumelu is equally false. The two billionaires, he said, maintain a longstanding and cordial relationship that no third-party report can rewrite.

Notably, Elumelu chairs Heirs Holdings and United Bank for Africa, while Dangote runs Africa’s largest industrial conglomerate. Both men sit at the top of the continent’s wealth rankings, making any rumored fallout instantly newsworthy.

A wider warning on AI fakes

Beyond the immediate denial, the group raised the alarm over what it called a rising pattern of fabricated statements and the unauthorized use of Aliko Dangote’s name, likeness and image in AI-generated advertisements and other misleading content.

Specifically, Chiejina said these actions amount to reputational harm and potential fraud. He put all individuals, organizations and platforms involved in creating, publishing or sharing such content on notice to stop immediately.

Additionally, the group warned that it will take appropriate steps, including legal action where necessary, to protect its reputation and that of its leadership. The warning frames AI-driven misinformation as both a personal and corporate threat.

Meanwhile, the rebuttal lands at a moment when Dangote’s profile has reached new highs. Forbes recently valued him at $30.3 billion, and his refinery is now exporting jet fuel to Europe and petrol to West Africa. Visibility brings rumors, and the group is signaling it will police the narrative.

Crucially, the group reiterated its commitment to upholding the highest standards of integrity while continuing to drive industrialization, economic self-sufficiency and sustainable development across Africa. The closing line read like a values check on top of the legal warning.

With AI-generated content getting harder to separate from authentic statements, Dangote’s group is making clear that it will not let fabricated narratives drift unchallenged. Whether the threat of legal action curbs the spread of fake content, or simply pushes producers to other formats, will shape how Africa’s most valuable companies handle misinformation in the months ahead. The Dangote camp seems prepared for the long fight.