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Editorial
Haliru Dantoro Kitoro III (1938 – 2015)
The death on October 30, 2015 of the Emir of Borgu Emirate in Niger State, Alhaji Haliru Dantoro Kiitoro III, is a great loss not only to the people of Borgu but to all lovers of peace and bridge builders. Alhaji Haliru Dantoro died at the age of 77 after a brief illness at a German hospital.
Born in 1938, the late Emir was the 3rd and last child of his parents. He attended Elementary School at the old Bussa 1945 – 1949; Pakata Elementary School Ilorin 1950; and Baboko Senior Primary school Ilorin 1950 – 1953. While in the primary school in Ilorin, little Dantoro covered the 9-mile distance each school day for four years. From 1953 – 1955, he was at the Ilorin Middle School (now Government secondary School). On completion of his secondary education, he studied three programmes at the Ahmadu Belllo University Zaria at different times 1957 – 1958, 1959 – 1961, and 11969 – 1970. Later in his life, he attended a number of professional and policy related courses within and outside the country.
Late Haliru Dantoro Kitoro III was a noble man, an administrator, a politician and a statesman per excellence who had a rewarding career in the public service as well politics. He served for ninety days in 1983 as a former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under President Shehu Shagari. Alhaji Dantoro was an incorruptible minister of the FCT who did not own a house in the nation’s capital city.
He was elected in 1992 as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria representing zone c that comprises of Borgu and Kontagora emirates in Niger state under the platform of the National Republican Convention (NRC). It was during the short-lived Third Republic that Alhaji Haliru Dantoro met with and became a close friend of the Asiwaju of Lagos, then Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu who was a senator on the platform of a rival political party, the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The late emir also once served as the deputy national chairman of the Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN). He also served as chairman of the defunct Kwara state-owned Nigerian Herald at the time it was one of the most popular newspapers in the country.
Alhaji Haliru Dantoro Kitoro III ascended to the throne as the fourth Emir of Borgu on November 26, 2005 after a long legal battle that dragged up to the apex court in the country, the Supreme Court. After the death on February 3, 2000 of the Emir of Borgu Alhaji Musa Mohammed Kigara III, the choice of Alhaji Haliru as the successor by the emirate’s kingmakers was rejected by the then governor of Niger state Engineer Abdulkadir Kure. As the state governor, he had the constitutional authority to ratify or veto the submission of the kingmakers.
As a man who believed in pursuing his cause through peaceful and lawful means, Alhaji Haliru discouraged his mass supporters from taking to the streets. Instead, he went to court to challenge his rejection. After three years of legal tussle, a panel of five justices of the Supreme Court presided over the case on May 5, 2003 and struck out government’s application with cost against it; bringing Haliru’s travails to a peaceful and worthy end.
The late emir was a passionate peace lover, bridge builder and detribalized leader. Besides honouring Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu with the traditional title of the Jagaba of Borgu, the late emir was known to have reconciled active politicians among his former associates each time they had differences. He was indeed a man of character and progressive political orientation once described as a pan-Nigerian.
Alhaji Haliru would be greatly missed for his uprightness, honesty and steadfastness. He would be remembered as a person who strongly believed in fighting for his cause through lawful and peaceful means. He would be missed more by his immediate community where his contributions include the development of an annual Borgu International Durbar Festival in celebration of the old kingdom’s history and glory in to a famous tourist attraction in the country.