₦airaland Forum

Aidejay:
He is the great uncle of the current richest man in Nigeria, Alhaji Aliko Dangote (Aminu Dantata's late brother, Sanusi Dantata, was Aliko Dangote's grandfather).
Oboy.. money runs in the family

naptu2:
The manners of Alhassan Dantata

Though Alhassan became the wealthiest man in the British West African colonies, he lived a simple life. He fed on the same foodstuffs as any other individual, such as tuwon dawa da furar gero. He dressed simply in a white gown, a pair of white trousers (da itori), and underwear (yar ciki), a pair of ordinary local sandals, and sewn white cap, white turban and occasionally a malfa (local hat). He was said never to own more than three sets of personal clothing at a time. He never stayed inside his house all day and was always out doing something. He moved about among his workers joking with them, encouraging and occasionally giving a helping hand. He ate his meal outside and always with his senior workers like Garba Maisikeli and Alhaji Mustapha Adakawa. Alhassan met fully established wealthy Kano merchants when he moved to Kano from the Kauye, like Maikano Agogo, Umaru Sharubutu, Salga and so on. He lived with them peacefully and always respected them. Occasionally he visited the senior of them all Umaru Sharubutu to greet him. The eldest son of Umaru Sharubutu became an important employee in his commercial enterprise. He avoided clashes with other influential people in Kano. He hated court litigation. He was in court only once, but before the final judgment the case was settled outside a Lagos court (it was a ₤10,000 civil suit instituted by one Haruna against him). He lived peacefully with the local authorities. Whenever he offended the authorities he would go quietly to solve the problems with the official concerned.

 

 

Health

Alhassan enjoyed good health and was never totally indisposed throughout his active life. However, occasionally he might develop malaria fever and whenever he was sick, he would go to the S.I.M clinic for treatment. Because of his simple eating habits, ordinary Hausa food two or three times a day and his always active mode of life, he never developed obesity. He remained slim and strong throughout his life. Alhassan had no physical defects and enjoyed good eye sight.

 

 

Religion

Alhassan was a devout Muslim. He was one of the first northerners to visit Mecca via England by mail boat in the early 1920’s. He loved reading the Qur’an and Hadith. He had a personal mosque in his house and established a qur’anic school for his children. He maintained a full time Islamic scholar called Alhaji Abubakar (father of Malam Lawan Kalarawi, a renowned Kano public preacher).

He paid zakkat annually according to Islamic injunction and gave alms to the poor every Friday. He belonged to the Qadiriyya brotherhood.

 

 

Pilgrimage and presentation to the King

Soon after the First World War he went on the pilgrimage to Mecca, via Britain, where he was presented to King George V.

 

Education

Alhassan Dantata respected people with qur’anic and other branches of Islamic learning, and helped them occasionally. He established a qur’anic school for his children and other people of the neighbourhood. He insisted that all his children must be well educated in the Islamic way. He appreciated also, functional western education, just enough to transact business (some arithmetic, simple accounting, Hausa reading and writing and spoken English).

 Alhassan backed the establishment of a western style school in the Dala area for Hausas (i.e. non-Fulani) traders’ children in the 1930’s. The existence of a school in Bebeji (the only non-district headquarters in Kano to have one in the 1930’s) was probably due to his influence, although he could neither read nor write English. Alhassan could write beautiful Ajami, but could not speak or write Arabic, although he could read the Qur’an and other religious books with ease (this is very common in Hausa society). Most of the qur’anic reciter's could read very well, but could not understand Arabic. Alhassan Dantata knew some arithmetic-addition and subtraction and could use a ready reckoner. He also encouraged his children to learn enough western education to transact business, the need of his time. He established his own Arabic and English school in 1944, Dantata Arabic and English school.

 

Politics

 He never became a politician in the true sense of the term. However, because of his enormous wealth, he was always very close to the government. He had to be in both the colonial government’s good books and maintain a position very close to the emirs of Kano. He was nominated to represent commoners in the reformed local administration of Kano and in 1950 was made a councillor in the emir’s council- the first non- royal individual to have a seat at the council. Other members of the council then were: Madakin Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa, Walin Kano, Malam Abubakar Tsangaya, Sarkin Shanu, Alhaji Muhammadu Sani, Wazirin Kano Alhaji Abubakar, Makaman Kano Alhaji Bello Alhaji Usman Gwarzo, and the leader Alhaji Abdulllahi Bayero. Alhassan therefore was a member of the highest governing body of Kano in his time. He was also appointed to mediate between NEPU and NPC in Kano in 1954 together with Mallam Nasiru Kabara and other members. He joined no political party, but it is clear that he sympathised with the NPC.

Death

In 1955, Alhassan fell ill and because of the seriousness of the illness, he summoned his chief financial controller, Garba Maisikeli and his children. He told them that his days were approaching their end and advised them to live together. He was particularly concerned about the company he had established (Alhassan Dantata & Son’s). He asked them not to allow the company to collapse. He implored them to continue to marry within the family as much as possible. He urged them to avoid clashes with other wealthy Kano merchants. They should take care of their relatives, especially the poor among them. Three days later he passed away in his sleep on Wednesday 17th august, 1955. He was buried the same day in his house in Sarari ward, Kano. When he died in August 1955, he was the wealthiest man of any race in West Africa.

Heirs

It was and is rare for business organizations to survive the death of their founders in Hausa society. Hausa tradition is full of stories of former successful business families who later lost everything. In Kano city alone names like: Kundila of Makwarari, the wealthiest man at the end of nineteenth century, Maikano Agogo of Koki Ward, Umaru Sharubutu also of Koki Ward, Baban Jaji, Abdu Sarki of Zaitawa Ward, Madugu Indo of Adakawa, and others too numerous to mention here, were some of them. The question is, why this sorry state of affairs?

M.G Smith suggested that three reasons were responsible as follows: the amount of money spent by the wealthy Hausa man on religious and social obligations was so great that only large fortunes could survive. Secondly, he was, after the introduction of the colonial economy, dependent for credit facilities on good relations with expatriate firms and stable groups of reliable agents and thirdly, under Islamic law, his estate was subdivided on inheritance.

He further suggested that only Alhassan of Kano was likely to leave able heirs to continue his business in a grand way. This observation was made in 1949 before Alhassan’s death. The reasons for this, Smith argued, was that his heirs were interested in keeping the family name going and the employment of modern methods of book keeping, the only local merchant to do so at that time. Another observer, Tahir (1919-75) has the opinion that business ventures in Hausa society often collapsed upon the death or retirement of the founder because the heirs were not trained before the death or retirement of the founder. Alhassan Dantata’s entire estate was subdivided according to Islamic law among the eighteen children who survived him. Alhassan’s descendants include Dr Aminu Dantata (son), Sanusi Dantata (son), Abdulkadir Sanusi Dantata (grandson), Dr Mariya Sanusi Dangote (granddaughter), Alhaji Aliko Dangote (great-grandson), Alhaji Tajudeen Aminu Dantata (great-grandson) and Alhaji Sayyu Dantata (great-great grandson).

So Aminu Dantata is still alive?

Really fancy his simplicity though, cheap cloth with simple sowing just to cover the body.

Meanwhile, to that criminal following me with over 100 monikers, you no go get shimgba from me. You claim a mechanical engineering graduate with specialisation in phone repairs, use dat ur training to feed yourself. You are not just an illiterate but also a criminal. Pig.

iamrichiefola:
The school in the picture caption getting 20 million (James Hope) is owned by Jim Ovia, founder/owner of Zenith Bank. There are schools were these funds are more needed.


This is a clear case of the rich supporting the rich

He always served as an enemy to, or a breaker of hoarding. For instance, he would purchase items, especially grains, during the harvest time, when it was abundant at low prices. He would wait until the rainy season, (July or august) when there was limited supply in the markets or when grain merchants started to inflate prices.

He then moved to fill the markets with his surplus grains and asked a price lower than the current price in the markets by between 50 – 70%. In this way, he forced down prices. His anti- hoarding activities did not stop at grains and other consumer goods. ..

LyfeJennings:
If U like
Donate the whole world to the North
Poverty in Northern Nigeria is GRADE 1
It would take over 300 years to change it

Aidejay:
Generational money no dey make noise
They quietly pass it down from one family member to another then to another
All this mompha, hushpuppi, nigerian celebrities show off is not going to last 20 years not to talk of 3 to 4 generations

NOTMYPOWER:
The northern billionaires need to do more for northern Nigeria.

Selling my Hyundai car. Check my post for more details.

yahoosurepass:
stolen car

naptu2:
Alhassan Dantata (the patriarch and creator of the family wealth)
www.nairaland.com/attachments/663490_Alhassan20Dantata202_jpgba058dc06f92c7405a9a5016e7579980

Aminu Dantata
www.nairaland.com/attachments/10659216_eksajrvwkaeicc_jpeg_jpeg096483fa89db008cc39c4d3e6cac1012

Sanusi Dantata (Dangote’s grandfather)
www.nairaland.com/attachments/1126439_947130_651635298183835_1557471046_n_jpg6a3a58e3cc39ad89ef65c2a9ac02c4e7

Abdulkadir Sanusi Dantata (Dangote’s uncle. He gave Dangote the loan with which he started his business)
www.nairaland.com/attachments/660468_abdulkadir_dantata_200_150_jpg538ec72a3e0075751e0afbb6b57a4032

Mariya Sanusi Dangote (nee Dantata). (Aliko Dangote’s mother)
www.nairaland.com/attachments/5869787_alhadjamariyasanusidantatamrealikodangote777x4372_jpeg60ba08c3c31c9a5fc8def8a7c9b6e5c5

Aliko Dangote
www.nairaland.com/attachments/660801_dangote_jpgb76b8418fae8e5dcfc3177215383c6c1

Tajudeen Aminu Dantata
www.nairaland.com/attachments/737877_Tajudeen20Dantata_jpga68d356e510a6c7b332fef4a806bb4db

Sayyu Dantata
www.nairaland.com/attachments/660816_sayyu_jpgce9b156c26d7c674ccd176f3ed0e1aa4

easzypeaszy:
Abeg who get betnaija code...
My wife just born
Naming is here
Christmas is here
Lots of things to buy
I get 1k currently abeg anyone wt better code to win like 100M Mk he send me

blowjohn:
God bless his heart.
But what does a school need 5 boreholes for?
And 10 blocks of toilets? Cos my thinking is that the new toilets are not incorporated into the already existing structures but standing on their own.
Cos the other day in Kano, a filling station was commissioned with an outrageous number of. Toilets too(more than 20 I think)

Ijawwomaninoyo:
Donated 5 boreholes to ONE school to enhance girl Education in what sense?

What will one school do with 5 boreholes or it is another type of borehole?

Tulsaguy:
Reno is a bat guy. That 50m= Reno omokriminal effect.


Waoh... what an effect!


If u know u know...

naptu2:
Post 1 B

Donation circuit

The donation circuit was not a formal organisation, but it’s the way that I refer to a phenomenon that occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s (the Babangida era).

Some of Nigeria’s wealthiest men were often invited to specific events in which they donated large sums of money. These events included fund raising in churches and mosques, university convocations, book launching and fund raising activities by universities, secondary schools, community development associations and charities.

It was usually the same set of people that were invited to these events. The president was usually the special guest of honour (when he was invited), the governor was usually the chief host, the head of the institution was usually the host, Chief Abiola was usually the chief launcher and other members of the donation circuit were usually special guests.

There was a day that I watched the 9 o’clock news and there was an advert for one of these events and the invited guests were listed. There was another advert immediately after and the list of invited guests was almost exactly the same as the list in the previous advert.

The members of the donation circuit included Chief MKO Abiola, Alhaji Aminu Dantata, Chief Sunny Odogwu, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, Chief Molade Okoya-Thomas, Chief Razak Okoya, Prince Adedapo Tejuosho, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki, Prince Adekunle Ojora, Chief Onwuka Kalu (Onwuka Inter-Biz), Alhaji Ahmed Mai Deribe, Chief Michael Ibru, Dr Alex Ibru, Chief Sunny Okogwu, Chief Wahab Iyanda Folawiyo, Alhaji Grema Mohammed, Chief Francis Arthur Nzeribe, Alhaji Isyaku Rabiu, Dr Olusola Saraki, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, etc.

Members of the original committee that was set up by President Babangida to build a new national stadium in Abuja were drawn from members of the donation circuit. Chief MKO Abiola was the chairman and chiefs Sunny Odogwu, Gabriel Igbinedion, etc. were members of the committee (I can still remember the news item about the inauguration of the committee on the Network News). The committee was charged with raising funds for the stadium, selecting a location for the stadium, etc.

The president, who was the visitor to the federal universities, often attended convocations and fund raising events at these universities and he usually donated some money (usually millions of naira) on behalf of the Federal Government and he usually made a second donation (usually thousands of naira) on behalf of himself and his family. The president also sometimes donated money to groups like PMAN and the Nigerian Bar Association.

Chief Gani Fawehinmi sued President Babangida because of these donations. He said that the other members of the donation circuit were private people who were donating their own money, but the president was donating government money. “Were the funds that were donated in the budget? What gave the president the right to spend money that was not in the budget?”

Sometimes, when the event was a book launch, one of the members of the donation circuit would buy a large number of the books and donate them to the libraries of all universities in Nigeria (or the libraries of all secondary schools in Nigeria).

Chief MKO Abiola attended a lot of these events. Quite often in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, the first item on the 9 o’clock news was about President Babangida, while the second item was often about Chief Abiola. I remember a particular day that they showed him attending an event in one city and then the next news item was about another event that he attended in another town on that same day and we were wondering how he went from one event to the other. Well, they showed him getting into a helicopter at the end of the second news item, so he flew by helicopter from one event to the other. Chief Abiola donated to schools, churches, mosques, charities, etc. He donated to causes and institutions across the whole of Nigeria, from Lagos to Maiduguri, from Calabar to Sokoto, from Kano to Port Harcourt and everywhere in between.

These events were not without their controversies and strange incidents.

The protocol back in the day was that the doors were locked whenever either President Babangida or Admiral Aikhomu arrived at the venue of an event and nobody is allowed in or out until either the president or the CGS is ready to leave. There was an event at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) on Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, a regular venue for these fund raising events back in the day. Both Admiral Aikhomu and President Babangida were already in the hall. Chief MKO Abiola arrived late and the SSS guards at the door refused to allow him into the hall. He identified himself, showed them his invitation card and did everything that he could to get in, but they would not allow anyone in, no matter who the person was. There was commotion at the door. He was eventually able to give a message to someone that was already in the hall and the person got the message to Admiral Aikhomu. The CGS sent his ADC to tell the guards at the door to let Chief Abiola in.

(This is one of two incidents that Chief Abiola had with security agencies c1992. The other was the incident that involved Deji Abiola and an Air Force officer in Ikeja).

There was a funny incident that occurred at one of these events. Alhaji Aminu Dantata was often invited to these events, but he was not a regular member of the donation circuit. He only attended the events occasionally. I remember what happened at an occasion that he attended.

Chief Abiola had already announced his donation before Dantata was invited to make his donation. Alhaji Dantata’s donation was slightly higher than Chief Abiola’s. Sometime later Chief Abiola came back to the microphone and announced that he was going to pledge more money later.

This particular incident is not connected to Chief Abiola in any way, but it was probably the most bizarre incident to happen on the donation circuit.

I was ill and a lot of people came to check up on me. It was a Saturday and the TV was on and the NTA News came on while we were watching it. There was a report about one of these fund raising events. It was a small event, only one of the members of the donation circuit was present and that was Chief Sunny Okogwu (not to be confused with Chief Sunny Odogwu).

They announced the amount of money that he donated and one of the women that came to see me screamed. It was a crazy amount of money. “Where did he get that kind of money?” she shouted.

That incident dominated the headlines the next day and then came an explanation from Chief Okogwu. (I can’t remember the exact amounts, so the figures here are just for illustration purposes). He said that the organisers of the event wanted to raise 50 million naira for a project. The organisers probably did not expect him to actually attend the event. When they saw him at the event, they jacked up the figure to 200 million naira and tried to cajole him to donate a lot of money. This angered him and he decided to punish the organisers. He announced that he was donating 1 billion naira, but, in actual fact, he did not intent to give them a kobo.

Chief Abiola’s donations resulted in the construction of at least 63 secondary schools, 121 mosques and churches, 41 libraries and 24 water projects in states across Nigeria. He was the grand patron of 149 societies and associations and he was conferred with 197 chieftaincy titles from 68 communities across Nigeria. He was also conferred with honorary degrees by many universities around the world.

Tulsaguy:
Reno is a bat guy. That 50m= Reno omokriminal effect.


Waoh... what an effect!


If u know u know...

kaura5000:
NEWS › Business and Economy
Disquiet Over Aminu Dantata’s N440m Gift To Kano LGs

Abubakar Ado 1 week ago 4089

There is a growing apprehension across the 44 Local Government Areas of Kano state since the donation of N10million each, by a multi-billionaire and philanthropist, Alhaji Aminu Alhassan Dantata to renovate some dilapidated primary schools and mosques

The philanthropist had last October splashed the sum of N10million gift to each of the local governments as his personal assistance for them to undertake major renovations of a number of primary schools and mosques in their respective domain.

However, since the receipts of the cheques of this amount, the chairmen of the local governments have been playing hide and seek games with their respective councilors over their share of the ‘bounty’.

While some chairmen have decided to keep their councilors in the dark about the money since it is not from ‘the normal source’, some have swung into action by constituting a committee to oversee the judicious utilization of the donation.

The chairman of Kibiya Local Government, Alhaji Yusif Shehu Kibiya, has drawn the honest nest by setting-up of a strong committee that included the Chief Imam to identify priority areas for prompt action, as according to him, the funds were purposely meant for that.

READ ALSO: What Obasanjo Said About The Nigerian Police

This action did not go down with leadership of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in the state who accuse him of playing to the gallery and acting in contravention to the ‘agreed terms’ in the application of the funds.

He was also accused of disclosing the actual amount to his ‘people’, a situation that was agreed to be kept secret.

naptu2:
This is a 2015 thread.

Kano Billionaires Dantata Donates 440 Million Naira For Schools Renovation

Nov 30, 2015



https://www.nairaland.com/2771170/kano-billionaires-dantata-donates-440