In the 1940's Aliko Dangote's Great Grandfather was the richest man in all of West Africa yet he didn't inherit a single kobo of the massive fortune. This is because whatever was left and his father remained for him he donated to charity and started to chase his own prosperity from scratch. Today he is Africa's richest man making his wealth from a variety of ventures which include but are not limited to cement, canned tomatoes and even noodles.
Recently he was on Bloomberg’s The David Rubinstein Show and spoke on a variety of issues one of them being his love for Arsenal and determination to eventually buy the team.
Rewind to July 2018 and when we revisit the billionaire's comments we are reminded that he said: ‘We will go after Arsenal from 2020… even if somebody buys, we will still go after it’ one can see that he has been planning this coup for quite a while.
Despite many in Nigeria clamouring for him to inject his massive wealth into the local domestic league which is now flailing and not even on TV despite been ranked even higher than the Scottish league just 4 years ago, Dangote is adamant that it is Arsenal or nothing.
However, before the Gunner fans start rejoicing about the Nigerian's deep pockets and what his money could do for the team they may need to wait a little longer because Dangote also shared the following:
"It is a team that yes I would like to buy someday, but what I keep saying is we have $20billion worth of projects and that’s what I really want to concentrate on.
"I’m trying to finish building the company and then after we finish, maybe sometime in 2021 we can. ‘I’m not buying Arsenal right now, I’m buying Arsenal when I finish all these projects because I’m trying to take the company to the next level."
Arsenal remains one of the most popular teams in Nigeria with some saying it has more Gunner fans that even in the UK itself.
Nwankwo Kanu (OON) arguably Nigeria's most popular player and certainly its most successful having won a UEFA Champions League medal, a UEFA Cup medal, three FA Cup Winners Medals and two African Player of the Year awards among others. He is one of few players to have won the Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League, UEFA Cup and an Olympic Gold Medal played a massive role in making the team so popular. He was also a member the Gunners famous Invincible team that went unbeaten in the 2003-2004 season.
Regardless of it is sooner or later, based on Dangote's business tenacity and obvious love for the Emirates Stadium and the team that calls it it's home, that when ready he will come out with guns blazing and make this another one of his many dreams that have become a reality.
