After many hours of preparation by the Nigerian Government and its Saudi counterpart, the body of business magnate and philanthropist, Aminu Dantata, has been laid to rest by family members, state governors, ministers, lawmakers, monarchs, businessmen, and others in Madinah, one of Islam’s two holiest cities in Saudi Arabia.
Dantata’s body was accompanied to the Baqiya cemetery by the dignitaries who came from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia to participate in the burial rites of the 94-year-old who passed on in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Before the body was laid to rest on Tuesday, barely eight hours after it arrived from the UAE, where it had been since medical experts pronounced the nonagenarian dead during the weekend in the country, a Janaza (prayer for the dead) was conducted inside the Prophet Muhammad Mosque in Madina.
As gathered, the body was said to have been accompanied to Saudi Arabia by the President of Dangote group, Aliko Dangote, and Femi Otedola, who also graced the burial of the former commissioner for Planning and Development in Kano State.
Others who participated in the burial rites were the Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, and his Jigawa counterpart, Umar Namadi, the Minister of Defense, Mohammed Badaru, Minister of Information and Orientation, Muhammed Idris, the Director of Internal Security at the Office of the National Security Adviser, Hassan Abdullahi, who represented the National Security Adviser (NSA) to the President, Nuhu Ribadu, the Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin and former All Progressives Congress National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje.
Some Islamic clerics were also in attendance, including Dr. Bashir Umar, Aminu Daurawa, and the Imam of the Dantata Mosque in Abuja, Abdullahi Muhammad.
Officials of the Nigerian Consulate General in Jeddah, led by Ambassador Ibrahim Moddibbo, were present, along with Ambassador Muazzam Nayaya and Defence Attaché, Major General Adamu Hassan, who coordinated the funeral that was also attended by the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, and Emir Aminu Ado Bayero were also present at the ceremony.
