Nigeria, Oct. 24 -- Nigeria's billionaires control assets worth trillions. But now they want to control politics.

This week, Africa's richest man and Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote; Founder and Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu; and Femi Otedola, the billionaire son of Michael Otedola, who spent nearly two years as governor of Lagos State before General Sani Abacha forcefully truncated Nigeria's Third Republic, met privately at a dinner with Obafemi Hamzat, Lagos State's deputy governor and the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate tipped to win the 2027 election.

What is surprising is how openly these billionaires have allowed their private meetings to be displayed. Legacy newspapers and social media a...