Acting News Editor ISHAYA IBRAHIM writes on the life and times of the first Premier of Northern Region and how his proteges have failed to learn from his leadership
In death, as in life, Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, Premier of the defunct Northern Region, personified freedom, hope and progress for the people of the north.
He built no dynasty, shunned crude acquisition of wealth and avoided showy lifestyle. The same is not true of his many proteges who chant his name for political relevance.
“Most of the people claiming to emulate him have bad records. Take former governor of Kano State Rabiu Kwankwanso and the governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-rufai as case study. They claim to be emulating Sardauna. But their records are littered with corrupt practices,” Abdulhamid Umar, Lecturer at the Federal College of Education Gumel in Jigawa State, said.
Bello was assassinated on January 15, 1966 in a coup led by Majors Emmanuel Ifeajuna and Chukwuma Nzeogwu which toppled the country’s first post-independence government. He was the premier of Northern region at the time.
His greatest legacy was educational development of the north.
Umar said: “He established an educational system for a generation of northerners. The Ahmadu Bello University which he built 60 years ago, no northern government has built anything close to it. If a university of that size and magnitude could be built 60 years ago, you would have expected a university twice that size now.”
A knight of the British Empire, Sir Ahmadu Bello was born on June 12, 1910.
By 1934, he was made the District Head of Rabah under the colonial setting and in 1938, he got a promotion as the Divisional Head of Gusau (now in present-day Zamfara State).
In 1938, at the age of 28, he made attempts to become the Sultan of Sokoto but was not successful, losing to Sir Siddiq Abubakar III who reigned for 50 years.
The new Sultan immediately made Sir Ahmadu Bello the Sardauna (Warlord) of Sokoto, an honorary title and promoted him to the Sokoto Native Authority Council. These titles automatically made him the Chief Political Adviser to the Sultan.
Later, he was put in charge of the Sokoto Province to oversee 47 districts and by 1944, he was back at the Sultan’s Palace to work as the Chief Secretary of the State Native Administration.
In the 1940s, he established the Jamiyya Mutanen Arewa which would later become the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) in 1951.
In 1943, a drama played out when he was thrown before the Sultan’s court for misappropriating jangali (cattle) tax for the Gusau region where he was the Councillor.
In 1948, he got a government scholarship and was off to England to study Local Government Administration which broadened his understanding and knowledge of governance.
As ‘successor-in-waiting’ to the throne of the Sultan, he wore the turban.
After returning from Britain, he was nominated to represent the province of Sokoto in the regional House of Assembly. As a member of the assembly, he was a notable voice for northern interest and embraced a style of consultation and consensus with the major representatives of the northern emirates: Kano, Borno and Sokoto.
In the first elections held in Northern Nigeria in 1952, Sir Ahmadu Bello won a seat in the Northern House of Assembly, and became a member of the regional executive council as Minister of Works.
Bello was successively, Minister of Works, of Local Government, and of Community Development in the Northern Region of Nigeria.
In 1954, Bello became the first Premier of Northern Nigeria.
In the 1959 independence elections, Bello led the NPC to win a plurality of the parliamentary seats.
Bello’s NPC forged an alliance with Nnamdi Azikiwe’s National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) to form Nigeria’s first indigenous federal government which led to independence from Britain.
In forming the 1960 independence federal government of Nigeria, Bello as president of the NPC, chose to remain Premier of Northern Nigeria and offered the position of Prime Minister of the Federation to the Deputy President of the NPC, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
Sir Ahmadu Bello was survived by three daughters (Inno, A’ishat, Lubabatu). One of them, Inno died in 2008. There were three sons but all died.
The eldest today is Hajiya A’ishat Marafa Danbaba, born in 1945. She said after the assassination of her father, they have been surviving on the goodwill of close associates such as the late Emir of Daura, Alhaji Muhammadu Bashar, the Sarkin Fadan Kano, Alhaji Sule Gaya and the former Chief Justice of Nigeria.