In one of his popular sayings, Santosh Kalwar, a Nepalese poet and author, said, “There is only one life, live it to the fullest.” The life of Alhaji Aminu Alhassan Dantata, who drew his last breath on June 28, 2025, in faraway United Arab Emirates (UAE) reflects the above saying. He lived a life of purpose, excellence and achievements. From politics to trading to construction, property, banking, farming, manufacturing, oil and gas, etc, Alhaji Dantata was on top of his game.

Born into wealth, he never allowed that to be a distraction as he worked so hard to make a name for himself. His father taught him and his siblings the basics of trade and as early as his primary school days, he went into business. He joined the illustrious Dantata dynasty on May 19, 1931. He attended Dala Primary School between 1938 and 1945, then completed his studies at a private school established by his father.

On why his father founded the school, he had said, “The school was established by our father based on what he learnt outside the country. Our father, a Nigerian who was born in a town called Bebeji, did not acquire Western education. When the British came to Nigeria, they tried to dilute or suppress Islamic education, but by the grace of God, he and his brothers and sisters were brought up purely Islamically and partly in business.”

Although a media shy personality in his lifetime. Media Trust had a series of encounters with him. Relaying fond memories of his father in one of such interviews with Trust TV, he had said, “During holidays, our father used to teach us how to trade. During those days, trucks were not available in the country. Groundnuts, cotton, hides and skin were brought, sometimes by cattle, sometimes by camels and even by donkeys… There were certain areas you would reach and you would have to evacuate the goods and put on the donkeys. That is why we are used to walking or riding donkeys, camels or bicycles, whatever was possible.”

If another word could describe success, call that word Aminu. If it’s abundance of health and longevity, mention Dantata. Here was a man who was so wealthy that he said, “I don’t think I would be able to tell you what land I have now, all over the world, not only in Nigeria. In Nigeria, there is nowhere I don’t have lands. Also, in areas where people don’t have the opportunity, I have lands. I have in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Egypt. I have a land in the United Kingdom and Germany.”

As far back as 1956, Dantata said he had visited every major country in the world, including Australia, India, China, Brazil, Yugoslavia, Russia and many others. By 1961, he had finished his round of all the Arab countries and Israel. He recalled that as of then, Saudi Arabia could not boast of as much wealth as Nigeria.

“There were only few buildings of note in both Makkah and Madinah. Anytime we travelled to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage in the early 1950s and 1960s, the Saudi authorities would do everything possible to delay our return journey because they wanted us to spend more days in their country. The logic here was that the longer we stayed the more we would spend, and that would add value to their income. They usually withheld our passports and other travel documents for a few more days after the completion of pilgrimage”, he had said.

For several years, he spent $4 million annually on the medicals of his family. He bought his first plane in 1967 and by the following year, he sold it and acquired a jet for about $2.5 million.

In the Trust TV interview, which was granted two years ago, Dantata revealed that the jet which perhaps he boarded before his final departure was bought at the rate of $38 million.

“I told you that I bought my first aircraft in 1967 at £10,000, which was about $15,000. When I sold it after a year or so, I bought a jet; the first one was a propeller type. I bought the jet about $2.5m. After four years, the value increased because the value of the currency was dwindling, so I sold it about $4.5m. I bought the one I am using now 15 years ago about $38million; today, if I want to sell it, I may hardly get $15 million because it is dwindling.

“I maintain my aircraft now for obvious reasons. Now that I am old, you hardly see me walking, so for me to be struggling to get into the aircraft is something hard. So, I maintain it, at least to be more comfortable for the rest of my life.”

Talking about comfort, the Almighty Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) blessed him with it. Apart from old age related ailments, Dantata was not known to be in and out of hospitals. He was usually on his feet as his height stood him out in the crowd. His good looks made him look far younger than his juniors while his speech was audible.

Perhaps the rich or those high up the ladder do not know about the perception which the “ordinary” people have about their reluctance to giving. In other words, it is widely believed that many successful people would rather spend on themselves, their families or to boost their ego, rather than reach out to the needy, except when they wanted to be in the spotlight. The story was told of a prominent Nigerian leader who was into farming. So tightfisted was he that if a worker broke an egg, it would be deducted from his salary.

A driver to a major politician once narrated how his wife needed to undergo a surgery and there was nowhere to raise funds. After ruminating for days, he summoned courage to approach his boss. Guess what his response was! I can only give loan. If I release any amount for this purpose, I’ll collect it back. Although Alhaji Dantata was not a perfect man, it will take a book to document his charity.

Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, who shared a major part of the over nine decades Dantata spent on planet earth, described Dantata as a man of “unmatched generosity”.

“There are a lot of things but above all else, his generosity stood out. He was very generous and friendly. I can’t think of anyone I know who can be compared to him in that regard. He was extremely kind-hearted. His wealth never created distance between him and his friends, no matter their status or economic condition… His friends and those who were close to him will remember him for his humility, warmth, and, above all, his unmatched generosity. He cannot be compared with anyone I know in terms of generosity. His generosity cut across all divides—family, friends, religion, ethnicity. He was simply extraordinary.”

When the rift between his nephew, Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, with Abdulsamad Rabiu, reached its height years back, Dantata was among the elders who brokered truce between the Kano sons. Then Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and prominent Kanawas had brought the two brothers together. Perhaps out of the love he had for Kano, Dantata did not stay back but ensured he was part and parcel of that process that calmed the storm. Before the intervention, the rivalry had become so pronounced that both sides had bitter media exchanges.

In ‘The last man standing, Alhaji Dantata @90’, Munzali Dantata, a nephew of the deceased, attributed his uncle’s big break to the 1960s when he won some contracts.

“Newly independent Nigeria was a big construction site in the 1960s, reminiscent of a developing country. This prompted Baba to venture into construction business. He got his big break in 1962, a contract to build the old Nigerian Defence Academy complex in Kaduna city. We were driving through Kaduna to Kano from Abuja one day in 1991 when Baba pointed to the NDA buildings with pride and told us that he built the complex, worth half a million pounds, the biggest building contract ever awarded to an indigenous contractor then. His second big break, he said, came two years later in 1964, building the School of Aviation complex in Zaria which consolidated his position as a market leader in the construction industry,” Munzali said.

One of the regrets that he had was about the level of moral decadence in contemporary society. In one of his last interviews on earth, he lamented that the culture of respecting elders by the young was fast eroding.

“I stand to be corrected; things are not moving as expected in our society because of the decline in honesty and sincerity among the Nigerian youth. And if things continue the way they are now, only God knows what the future of the unborn generation would be. The situation is getting worse on a daily basis,” he had said.

The erosion of honesty bothers the billionaire as he had fond memories of his travels in the 1950s when he was a manager in Sokoto and had to travel to all the towns and villages in the province.

“Anytime I encountered such problems (vehicle breakdown) I would just inform the traditional ruler in the area that my car had developed a problem and I had money inside it. And the traditional ruler would assign someone to guard the car pending when a mechanic would come and repair it. I can confidently tell you that even if that car would spend three days or more, not a dime would miss from the money in it. The situation is not the same now,” he had said.

In yet another interview with Daily Trust, he shared one particularly resonant encounter with one of his grandchildren.

“I was discussing with one of my grandchildren while we were returning from the mosque; then he said to me, ‘Baba, it is high time you, the aged, allowed us (referring to himself and his contemporaries) to take over things because your brain is outdated and your time is up. You should, therefore, give us the chance to move ahead.

“To be honest with you, I was shocked and touched by his statement, but I did not show it to him. I decided to correct him and change his perception. When we returned home, I briefed my wife (his grandmother) on what transpired between us. I told her that I wanted to show him that my brain was still working. So we agreed that anytime he approached her and demanded intervention, she should tell him to meet me one-on-one. After my discussion with his grandmother, I suspended all forms of jokes with him.

“Two days after, he observed that my relationship with him was no longer cordial, and on the third day, he rushed to his grandmother and informed her that I was not happy with him; and therefore, she should intervene. But she told him that she could not interfere since she was not a party to it from the beginning. One day, we were sitting in my living room with other members of my family and he brought the issue up again and said to me, ‘Baba, it appears you are not happy with me because of what I said to you the other day while we were returning from the mosque.

“‘I want to tell you that my comments were nothing but a joke, the kind that exists between a grandfather and grandson. I am very sorry if I offended you.’ ‘Then I said to him, ‘Have I ever joked with you? I wanted to allow you and your active brain to do whatever you want in your life since my own brain is not as active as yours. ‘Please don’t ever think of me in your life anymore.’ Imagine, the boy that I sent abroad for studies, built a house for, got a job and wife for would now tell me that my brain is inactive.

“It may interest you to know that the children of the rich have developed the habit of referring to their parents as treasurers, meaning that their fathers are keepers of the children’s wealth. This has been the trend among the children of the rich in the last 10 to 20 years. I used that opportunity of our gathering in my sitting room to teach him a great lesson in his life and changed his perception as well. So these are some of the problems we are facing in our society today. Most of our youths have these feelings.”

As a businessman, the billionaire merchant often travelled to various villages and towns to buy groundnut and other farm produce. One encounter during one of such trips has remained indelible on his mind. It was a night he had a brush with a hyena in Daura, where President Muhammadu Buhari hails from.

“There was a time I travelled to Daura town to buy some farm produce and it happened that the lodge booked for me to spend the night was a thatch-hut. After my business activities I retired to my hut. Later in the night I heard a strange movement of an animal around my hut. When I checked, I saw a hyena trying to penetrate the hut. I was very scared, but Allah, in his infinite mercy, prevented the animal from gaining access to my hut,” he had said.

Sensing that the end was near, Munzali, in an interview with Daily Trust, had said, “He (Dantata) appreciates the fact that he has reached the last stages of his life, we are hoping he lives to 100.”

However, the elder statesman bowed out six years short of 100, and that was his wish as he had divulged to Vice-President Kashim Shettima, back in 2022. On the quite morning in June 2025, Baba’s wish was granted and he went the way of all mortals. But the exemplary life he lived has shown that death can never kill what never dies.

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un