Africa’s richest man and sugar magnate, Aliko Dangote has revealed his reasons for wanting to purchase Arsenal FC.
The 58-year-old businessman is of the opinion that buying a Premier League team will help to improve upon the image of Nigeria in the international community. Dangote received a ton of criticisms from both Nigerians and foreigners accusing him of ignoring the development of football in his country while storing up treasures in another man’s land.
Aliko, countering the criticisms in an interview with Forbes, explained that the North London club is a better project to invest in. He said, “The issue is that if I buy all the Nigerian clubs, the Nigerian flags will continue to remain here. Buying Arsenal will take the Nigerian flag worldwide. Just like whenever (Chelsea owner) Roman Abramovich is mentioned, the name of his country comes up. Everyone knows he’s Russian.”
Dangote made a move to buy a small stake in Arsenal five years ago but it was unsuccessful. He tried to take control of the 15 per cent stake in the club owned by Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith. Unfortunately, she sold it to another bidder, Stan Kroenke.