Dangote arrests driver over illegal haulage

Dangote Group on Sunday said its patrol team arrested one of its drivers over illegal haulage of timber.

According to a statement made available to journalists by the firm’s Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Mr Anthony Chiejina, the driver and the truck were arrested in the North Central zone and handed over to policemen.The statement added,

“The driver was subsequently charged to a Magistrate Court in Akwanga, Nasarawa State for criminal breach of trust where he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four months incarceration in a correctional centre.

“While the presiding magistrate ordered that the truck and load be released to the company and owner respectively, he advised the company to file a civil case against the owner of the goods.”

The statement added that in the South-West region, the patrol team noticed a third-party truck with, Dangote logo, parked inside a private company’s yard in Ode Remo, Ogun State while offloading granite stone.

Members of the team were said to have reported the case at Ode Remo Police Station and got both the driver and the truck arrested.

The driver, the statement added, has also been charged to court.The statement added,

“The Dangote drivers’ patrol team has made several more arrests and handed the offending drivers to the police and other relevant authorities for prosecution.

“Dangote Management has therefore renewed the warnings to those who illegally transport materials on Dangote trucks, and asserted that such unauthorised goods shall be confiscated while such drivers and owners would face the full extent of the law.”

The firm solicited the assistance of the public in the fight to rid the organisation of illegal haulage activities.

“We hereby alert the public to report any suspected Dangote Truck driver involved in illegal haulage supported with credible evidence of such act,” the statement added.

Dangote fertilizer plant to take-off Q1 2021

After failing to meet the December 2020 target, the Dangote Group has set the first quarter 2021 date for the take-off of its fertilizer plant.

The Urea fertilizer plant will now take-off between February and March this year.

The project, which is operated by Dangote Industries Limited, completed its test run in November last year.

The Head of Corporate Communications, Dangote Group, Anthony Chiejina, had said the COVID-19 pandemic forced the company to push the project take-off to December last year.

The project is expected to save Nigeria’s economy the $500 million spent annually on the importation of fertilizers.

Nigeria consumes 0.7 metric tonnes of Urea fertilizers per annum but Dangote’s fertilizer plant will produce three metric tonnes.

The excess will be exported to other African countries to generate at least $400 million for the nation’s economy.

The plant which is dubbed the largest Urea fertilizer plant in the world is located at the Lekki Free Zone (LFZ) in Lagos.

The project’s first phase cost Dangote $2.5 billion.

‘I never promised her marriage’ —Dangote says as he asks US court to place gag order on ex-mistress

Africa’s embattled richest man, Aliko Dangote, has asked the Miami-Dade County Court in Florida, USA, to place a permanent gag order on his ex-mistress, Autumn Spikes, as he never promised her marriage while their over 10 years relationship lasted.

Dangote and Spikes have been engaging each other in a messy fight following the end of their relationship, with the lady asking to be paid $5 million by the billionaire businessman as alimony.

Filing the gag order suit on Friday, Dangote, through his lawyer, Bruce Fleisher, stated that he (Dangote) did not “promise to marry Spikes as there was never a marital relationship between him and Spikes granting her the right to a alimony, which is the money a court orders someone to pay regularly to their former wife or husband after their marriage has ended.”

“Nevertheless, the defendant has made extortive demands upon the plaintiff pursuant to Fla. Stat. 836.05 unless he provides her with money or support which he is not obligated to pay pursuant to Fla. Stat. 771.01 et. seq.

“The defendant has made a claim tantamount to demand for lump sum alimony of five million Dollars ($5,000,000.00).

“Upon knowledge and belief, Autumn Spikes’ claim is that she will expose the defendant’s private life and family to talk shows and news media unless he complies with her demands.”

The document added, “The plaintiff anticipates an onslaught of social media and/or talk show requests with the service of this action.

“The protection to which the plaintiff is entitled is a preliminary restraint before evidentiary hearing.

“Mr Dangote, who said he anticipates an onslaught of social media has appealed to the court to grant him the protection of a preliminary restraint before evidentiary hearing.”

Fleisher confirmed that the petition for entry of the preliminary injunction has been fixed for February 9, adding that the “gag order” was meant to stop Spikes from carrying out an alleged threat to expose the businessman’s private and family life on social media and media talk shows.

“Wherefore, the plaintiff prays that the court enter order of preliminary injunction and order defendant Autumn Spikes to show cause why she should not be the subject of gag order,” Fleisher said.

The messy affair started on January 1 when Spikes had posted a video on her Instagram page with the handle @allrounda1 which showed herself and Dangote sitting on the same couch with part of his buttocks exposed.

On January 22, Dangote had filed a lawsuit against Spikes where he demanded an “excess of $30,000 from her as damages for libel, cyber stalking, defamation of character and breach of agreement to keep their relationship private and off the social media.”

He also stated in the lawsuit that Spikes demanded the sum of $5 million in exchange for a Non-Disclosure Agreement to keep her mouth shut.

However, in a post on her Instagram page, Spikes said Dangote offered her a ‘paltry’ $15,000 and $2,500 monthly as well as putting pressure on her to sign the first NDA to ‘hush her.’

Dangote, ex-mistress, Autumn Spikes, in messy ‘fight’ over broken affair

The former mistress of Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, Autumn Spikes, has opened up on how he ‘insulted’ her by offering her a ‘paltry’ sum of $15,000 for her to keep quiet over their affair that became public after she shared a viral video clip showing her seated beside Dangote who was lying down on the same couch, with part of his buttocks exposed.

Dangote had reportedly ended the over 10 years old affair and had gone ahead to ask Spikes to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) which he said she breached by leaking the video which exposed the businessman and brought undue negative publicity to him.

The African-American was reacting to a lawsuit filed against her by Dangote at a Miami-Dade County Court in Florida, United States of America, where he demanded an “excess of $30,000 from her as damages for libel, cyber stalking, defamation of character and breach of agreement to keep their relationship private and off the social media.”

He also stated in the lawsuit that Spikes demanded the sum of $5 million in exchange for the Non-Disclosure Agreement to keep her mouth shut.

In the lawsuit, Dangote used the pseudonym John Doe, aka AD, apparently an acronym for his names, Aliko Dangote, in “order to avoid unnecessary publicity designed to impair his right to privacy and to coerce his payment of money he does not owe Autumn Spikes,” according to his lawyer.

Part of the court document filed on January 22, titled ‘Complaint petition for declaratory judgment complaint for (about) extortion petition for injunctive relief,’ stated that Dangote’s “business acumen has made him a target for coercion by the defendant.”

It added that Spikes demanded “meritless claims of $5 million” in the nature of “palimony to which she is not legally entitled.”

“Palimony is an amount of money a law court orders someone to pay regularly to a former partner whom they were living with but were not married to.

“Autumn Spikes has made a demand that the plaintiff pays her five million dollars ($5,000,000.00) as shown in Exhibit 1.”

However, in a post on her Instagram page with the handle @allarounda1 on Wednesday, Spikes said Dangote offered her a ‘paltry’ $15,000 and $2,500 monthly as well as putting pressure on her to sign the first NDA to ‘hush her.’

“I was insultingly offered $15,000 and $2,500 a month to sign an NDA but I declined,” Spikes stated in the post.

“I gained legal counsel in which we countered his offer. Mind you, his first initial offer wasn’t disclosed in the terms of his proposed NDA.

“Therefore I was pressured and influenced to sign which was already a violation of his own NDA.”

Spikes who shared parts of the court documents filed by Dangote on the Instagram page, denied threatening the billionaire businessman with blackmails on the social media or through media talk shows as claimed by his lawyers in the lawsuit.

She maintained that she had kept her affair with Dangote private and expressed surprise that she could be sued for extortion by the wealthy businessman.

“He denied knowing me and our relationship to his lawyers and we’re asked for proof of our affair… now I’m being sued for extortion?

“This is such a manly egotistical move. I’ve kept it private but you made it public with the lawsuit.

“All these claims of interviews and talk show threats will have to be proved in court so… & I haven’t spoken to anyone regarding our relationship.

“I have not been served. Since this is a public record, let’s discuss it. What are your thoughts? Dangote’s suit will be dismissed.”

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