Alhassan Dantata

Alhassan Dantata (; ; 1877 – 17 August 1955) was a Nigerian businessman and philanthropist. Through his trade with large British companies, he became one of the wealthiest men in West Africa during his time.

Not much is known about Dantata's time in slavery, however, there are four different versions of the story according to historian Abdulkarim Umar Dan Asabe. The first account states that he was taken to Garko but redeemed himself after the war. The second suggests he immediately redeemed himself and Sidi using his existing wealth. According to the third account, he escaped capture and later redeemed his brother Bala in 1925. The final version claims that he escaped shortly after his capture, joined a Gonja-bound caravan, and returned to his mother in Accra.

Career The groundnut pyramids were used as temporary storage for harvested groundnuts. During the mid-20th century, these structures were widely used in Northern Nigeria, particularly in Kano. Dantata was one of its earliest and most prolific adopters. Dantata was in Bebeji when British troops invaded the Kano Emirate on February 1, 1903, conquering the town after its sarki was killed. He remained there until the roads were safe for travel. Then, he set out for the British Gold Coast, traveling through Ibadan and Lagos, and reached Accra by sea. Soon after, he began using this route to transport his kolanuts to Lagos, where he resold them to traders bound for Kano, becoming one of the first northern traders to use these routes commercially. In 1906, he diversified his trade by dealing in beads, necklaces, and European cloth. After his mother's death in 1908, he focused his trade on Kano and Lagos. During this period, Nigeria had become one of the world's leading groundnut producers, with Kano Province contributing almost half of the country's groundnut production.

In 1950, Abdullahi Bayero, Emir of Kano, appointed Dantata to the Kano Emirate Council to represent the merchant class and serve as an adviser on commercial matters. Dantata, the only Hausa member in the historically Fulani-dominated council, was seen as the Emir's effort to address concerns regarding the lack of Hausa representation in the council and other high positions in the Native Administration. Ahmadu, an NPC member and Dantata's oldest son, also contested against and defeated Aminu Kano in the 1956 election for the Northern House of Assembly.

Dantata was known to slaughter a herd of cattle for the poor each year during Eid al-Kabir. Later estimates indicate that, he left more than a third of a million pounds, mostly in cash. Mariya Dantata: granddaughter; philanthropist. Aliko Dangote (born 1957): great-grandson; businessman; founder of Dangote Group; Africa's richest man. Sulaiman Dantata (1916–1960): son. Mahmud Dantata (1922–1983): son; businessman and politician; managing director of the West African Pilgrims Association and Hajair; member of the Federal Parliament from 1964 to 1966.

Alhassan