Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has accused French cement giant Lafarge of trying to stop Aliko Dangote from succeeding in the cement business, saying the company placed obstacles in his path across Africa.

Obasanjo made the remarks on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Dangote Lamu refinery in Kenya. He said Lafarge “put every obstacle” on Dangote’s way and was still doing the same to Nigerians today.

He singled out Senegal as the most traumatic experience. Dangote completed a five-million-tonne cement plant there, but it could not produce a single bag for two years. Obasanjo said Lafarge instigated a legal fight to keep the factory shut. Dangote eventually won in court, but had to pay $12 million before he could operate the plant. According to Obasanjo, Lafarge wanted to monopolise the African cement market, and the company is now out of Africa.

Obasanjo’s comments come as Dangote’s rise in cement has long been tied to his relationship with Lafarge, then a dominant force on the continent. Lafarge’s African assets were consolidated after its merger with Swiss giant Holcim in 2014.

Dangote, who began with a single plant in Nigeria, has since grown into one of Africa’s biggest cement producers, with operations across multiple countries.

Kenyan President William Ruto also spoke on the subject at the event, recounting how Lafarge left his country. He said that in 2023, his government placed a levy on imported cement because Kenya has the raw materials to produce its own.

Lafarge, which was an investor in Kenya through Bamburi Cement, then chose to leave. Ruto said the firm refused to put more money into expanding its Kenyan facilities and preferred to keep importing clinker from elsewhere. He noted that Bamburi, under new management, is now building a new facility to expand cement production, and that the industry is now controlled by Kenyans, other East Africans and Tanzanian partners.

The discussion has also revived questions about Dangote’s own failed attempt to build a cement plant in Kenya. He announced a $400 million plant in 2013 and later eyed limestone in Kitui, but the project was dropped by 2018. Ahead of the Lamu ceremony, Dangote said he declined to pay bribes demanded during the Uhuru Kenyatta administration, stressing that he did not want to go to jail over an investment meant to create jobs.

Dangote Cement’s chief executive, however, has given a different reason, saying Kenya has no limestone deposit that is big enough, clean enough or close enough. Kenya is, for now, not in the company’s medium-term plans.

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