- Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, built a career across commodities, property, mining and infrastructure before becoming the 51st Ooni of Ife.
- His official biography says he helped facilitate Dangote Group’s entry into an up-country supply-chain consortium between 1996 and 1999.
- His business interests included property development and helping establish a lead and aluminium recycling plant in southwestern Nigeria.
- In 2002, he led a government delegation to Canada to promote mineral investment, including bitumen, granite and dimension stones.
Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, the second of his name and the 51st Ooni to sit on the ancient throne of Ile-Ife in western Nigeria, is the traditional ruler Dangote credits with helping clear one of the most unusual obstacles standing in the way of his $20 billion refinery
The story has gained fresh relevance as Dangote Petroleum Refinery opens its initial public offering on September 14, giving investors an opportunity to buy into one of Africa’s largest industrial projects
The company is seeking about N2.15 trillion ($1.6 billion) by selling 4.1 billion shares at N525 (about $0.40) each, with the offer closing on October 13 and trading expected to start in late November
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Dangote revealed Ogunwusi’s role in December 2025 during the unveiling of Dangote Group’s “$100bn Vision 2030: Accelerating Africa’s Industrialisation.”
“I must recognise and thank the Ooni of Ife for enabling the building of our factory. What happened was that when we got there, there were over 19 shrines at the site,” Dangote said
According to the billionaire, workers were unwilling to approach the shrines until Ogunwusi personally intervened
“Nobody was able to go near there to do anything. But Ooni went there, stood there and said ‘remove all of them. Let the gods come and talk to me’.”
Dangote added: “Your royal majesty, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart because without that singular act of yours, I don’t think we would have been able to build the refinery.”
The relationship between the two men, however, stretches back years before Ogunwusi ascended the throne in 2015
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Before becoming Ooni, he built a career spanning commodities, property, mining and infrastructure, with his official biography saying he helped facilitate Dangote Group’s entry into an up-country supply-chain consortium between 1996 and 1999
His industrial interests included mining and property development, as well as helping facilitate a lead and aluminium recycling plant in southwestern Nigeria
In 2002, he also led a government delegation to Canada to promote the mineral potential of southwestern Nigeria, including bitumen, granite and dimension stones, an initiative that produced a state-owned mining and exploration company
That commercial background also mirrors the legacy of his predecessor, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II, who ranked third on Forbes’ 2014 list of Africa’s five richest kings, with an estimated fortune of at least $75 million from construction, property and oil
Ogunwusi now occupies one of Nigeria’s most prominent traditional thrones, with Ile-Ife regarded as the ancestral and spiritual home of the Yoruba people in Nigeria and across a diaspora stretching to Brazil, the Caribbean and the wider Americas
His expanding business portfolio could also return the Ooni of Ife to the ranks of Africa’s wealthiest monarchs
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Nearly a decade after construction began, the refinery has moved from one of Dangote’s biggest private bets to one of Africa’s most closely watched corporate assets
Dangote has described the refinery as the “biggest business risk” of his career after the project faced financing pressures, foreign-exchange shortages, Covid-19 disruptions and delays before operations began
The IPO now marks another stage in that journey, allowing ordinary and institutional investors to own part of the business for the first time
Dangote has also said shareholders could eventually receive dividends in U.S. dollars, with regulators reviewing the proposed structure
Bloomberg estimates the listing could lift the 69-year-old billionaire’s net worth to as much as $58.2 billion, potentially putting him ahead of Ken Griffin and Eric Schmidt
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Beyond the listing, Dangote is pursuing a much larger expansion plan aimed at turning the group into a $100 billion annual revenue business by 2030 through refining, petrochemicals, fertiliser and other industries
“By 2030, the Dangote Group will become a $100 billion revenue enterprise,” Dangote said
He has also said the group could eventually exceed $200 billion in market capitalisation
The refinery is central to that ambition, with Dangote planning about $14.3 billion in additional investment to double its processing capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day by 2029, yet the project might have been far harder to realise without the traditional intervention that helped clear the way for what is now one of Africa’s biggest industrial projects