Dangote Group has offered detailed clarification regarding the recent visit by officials from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to the company’s Head Office in Lagos State. 

The EFCC’s visit on Thursday was centered around investigating forex allocations to the Dangote Group during the tenure of Godwin Emefiele as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

In response to the EFCC’s visit, the Dangote Management issued a comprehensive statement over the weekend, shedding light on the situation. 

The statement disclosed that the company had received a letter from the EFCC in the first week of December 2023, requesting details of all foreign exchange allocations from the CBN dating back to 2014.

The company acknowledged that similar letters were sent to 51 other groups of companies, all seeking information spanning the same period. 

According to the statement, the Dangote Group promptly responded to the EFCC’s letter, seeking clarification on the specific subsidiaries or companies within the group for which information was required. 

The company also requested additional time to compile and present the extensive documentation spanning ten years.

In the words of the statement, “The EFCC did not provide the clarification sought and also did not honour our request for an extension and insisted on receiving the complete set of documents within the limited timeframe.” 

On January 4, 2024, the Dangote Group delivered the first batch of documents to the EFCC. 

However, the statement noted, “Officers of the EFCC did not accept the documents, insisting on visiting our offices to collect the same set of documents directly.”

The statement emphasized that no accusations of wrongdoing have been made against the company by the EFCC. 

The Dangote Group also clarified that they are simply responding to a request for information to assist the anti-graft agency with their ongoing investigation. “We are responding to a request for information by the EFCC to assist with their ongoing investigation and reiterate that no accusations of wrongdoing have been made against the company,” the statement concluded.