Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Africa, was met with a lot of criticism from various quarters in his home country Nigeria. When he made known his interested in buying a stake in the English Premier League team, Arsenal. Most of those criticizing his announcement argued that his money would be put to better use if he buys a stake in one of the many local Nigerian football clubs. Thus, promote the Nigerian football scene as opposed to a foreign club.
On Saturday, Dangote came out to clear the air about his intentions for buying a stake at Arsenal. While speaking to a Nigerian journalist in Lagos, the billionaire explained himself that he is interested in buying into the Premier League to fly the Nigerian flag internationally.
“The issue is that if I buy all the Nigerian clubs, the Nigerian flags will continue to remain here. But buying Arsenal will take the Nigerian flag worldwide. Just like whenever Abramovich is mentioned, the name of his country, Russia comes up. Everyone knows he’s Russian,” Dangote explained.
The Nigerian billionaire had made an unsuccessful attempt to buy a stake in Arsenal in the past when his bid was rebuffed. However, he has not lost his interest in the Premier League club, Arsenal but was recently quoted having said that he will buy the team at the right price.
American billionaire Stan Kroenke and Russian steel magnate Alisher Usmanov currently own 66.6 percent stake and 30 percent stake in Arsenal respectively. Neither of these two billionaires has expressed interest in selling any stake to the Nigerian billionaire or anyone else for that matter.
