The final burial rites for elder statesman and foremost businessman, Alh. Aminu Alhassan Dantata, have been postponed to Tuesday following delays in the arrival of his remains to Saudi Arabia.
LEADERSHIP reports Dantata, who passed away on Saturday in Abu Dhabi, UAE, was initially scheduled to be laid to rest on Monday in the holy city of Madina, Saudi Arabia, in accordance with his wishes while alive.
But, Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, who is part of the Federal Government delegation to the burial, confirmed the postponement of the burial in an interview with BBC Hausa Service.
“There are regulations set by the Saudi government on how to bring a body for burial in the country, so now the paperwork is being filled out between the Saudi government and the family of the deceased,” the minister said.
According to Idris, once the documentation was completed, the body will be flown from the UAE to Madina. He added that both the Nigerian Embassy in Saudi Arabia and the Dantata family have concluded all other funeral arrangements pending the arrival of the remains.
A high-powered federal government delegation, led by the Minister of Defence, Muhammad Badaru Abubakar, has already arrived in Madina for the burial.
The Kano State delegation led by Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf alongside the governor of Jigawa State, Umar Namadi, and the 16th Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, have also arrived in Saudi Arabia to pay their last respects to the late elder statesman.
The funeral is now expected to take place on Tuesday, once the necessary formalities were completed.
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