By Samuel Akpan
Dangote Group has declared that a Kenyan court directive over contested ancestral land will not derail the groundbreaking of its ambitious $16 billion, 700,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery slated for Lamu in the country.
The Malindi Environment and Land Court instructed all parties to preserve the current status of the disputed parcel until October 14 when the lawsuit proceeds to hearing.
The suit was filed by 133 Chandavai residents in Lamu County who insist the site constitutes ancestral territory their families have inhabited, cultivated and improved across generations.
PerSecondNews recalls that Kenyan President William Ruto had visited Nigeria on Friday, September 25, 2026.
He traveled to Lagos on a private working visit following an invitation from billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote.
During the visit, President Ruto toured the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki to inspect its operations ahead of plans for a similar refinery project in Kenya.
They contend the development endangers homes, farms, livestock holdings, mosques, shrines and ancestral graves while demanding compensation for any destruction or forced relocation.
Dangote acknowledged the ruling bars actions that would change conditions on the land before the October sitting and conceded some construction tasks at the location might therefore pause.
Yet the conglomerate remains determined to press forward with the landmark project that marks a major leap in its refining operations outside Nigeria and is designed to supply Kenya plus broader East African markets.
East African nations have been offered a combined 30 percent equity participation in the venture according to David Ndii who serves as economic adviser to Kenyan President William Ruto.
Kenya itself could acquire a 10 percent share worth roughly 500 million dollars while Ethiopia and Rwanda have also signalled readiness to join the investment.
Ndii disclosed at a capital markets gathering in Nairobi that the collective regional stake would amount to approximately 1.5 billion dollars.
PerSecondNews reports that the fight is not mainly about whether a refinery should exist, it is about who owns and occupies LR No. 13061 in the Hindi / Manda Magogoni / Chandavai area of Lamu County, how that land was taken, and whether families already living on it were paid or resettled before machines moved in.
The parcel sits inside a crowded development map, LAPSSET corridor works, Ministry of Defence activity around Manda Bay (including roads linked to the Kenya Navy, US Camp Simba and Magogoni Airfield), and now the Dangote East Africa refinery site.
Justice Onyango’s order is dated 25 September 2026 and became widely public on 28–29 September.
The court did not certify the application as urgent in a way that cancelled the 30 September groundbreaking.
It did not grant a full stop on the project at this stage. It ordered parties to keep the status quo prevailing on LR 13061 until an inter partes hearing on 14 October 2026, and gave respondents 14 days to file replies
A symbolic groundbreaking can still be argued as compatible with “status quo.” Heavy site works that alter the ground are harder to defend.
That is why Dangote and Energy CS Opiyo Wandayi say the ceremony proceeds, while petitioners’ lawyer George Wakahiu says construction should not start before October 14.