Leadership Crisis: Search For Leadership Goes Back To Sardauna By: Onukogu Kanayo Jubal, Bode Gbadebo on July 12, 2013 - 3:23am Sir Ahmadu Bello, the late Sardaunan Sokoto, was fondly called ‘Gamji Dan Kwarai’ during his lifetime – a tribute reflecting his rare virtue of uprightness. What is not in doubt is that, under his leadership, the North was a united entity that spoke and acted as one. ONUKOGU KANAYO AND BODE GBADEBO unveil this man of many parts who has remained an enigma Nigeria’s history is rife with references to Sardauna of Sokoto Sir Ahmadu Bello, but very little is treasured of the man who sought to unify Northern Nigeria, nay Nigeria as a country. Nigeria’s founding fathers had their flaws: many manifested rabid ethnicity and other parochial interests to the detriment of the nation. Several groups in the country still nurse deep wounds they have suffered from various events, and, until these wounds are healed, Nigeria will remain nothing but a mere “geographical expression”. Forty-seven years after his death, at the age of 55, he is still venerated all over the North. But who is Ahmadu Bello and how far did he go with his efforts to unify the diverse peoples of Northern Nigeria in his time? What makes him a reference point for any politician from the region? Why is he held in such high esteem in the region? In the beginning Sardauna was born on June 12, 1910, in Rabah, some 32km from Sokoto, to the head of the district and also prince of the Sokoto Caliphate, Ibrahim Bello, and his wife Maryamu. His great-grandfather was the legendary Sultan Muhammed Bello, the father of Sultan Abubakar Atiku. Sultan Bello was the son of famous jihadist and Fulani sheikh Usman Dan Fodio – the scholar, warrior and teacher who founded the Sokoto Caliphate in 1809 and became its first Sultan. Education Shortly after the young Ahmadu turned 6, his father died. Having enrolled into the Sokoto Provincial School, the only modern school in the entire province of Sokoto, back then, he finished at the top of his class. At this time, he was about 16 years old. He got his Islamic and Arabic education from Malam Garba, a cleric and Imam of Rabah. Ahmadu proceeded to the Teachers’ Training College, Katsina (now the famous Barewa College), between 1926 and 1936. He graduated as a teacher in 1931 with a credit equivalent of Grade III result. After studying there for five years, he was appointed by the Sultan of Sokoto to work as a teacher at the Sokoto Middle School, where he schooled. Here, he taught between 1931 and 1934, until he was made the district head of Rabah, under the colonial setting. Career and politics Four years later, in 1938, he was promoted divisional head of Gusau. Aged 28, he made attempts to become the Sultan of Sokoto but was not successful, serially losing to Sir Siddiq Abubakar III who reigned for 50 years until his death in 1988. The new Sultan immediately conferred on the young Ahmadu the title of Sardauna (warlord), an honorary title which meant that he had been automatically promoted to the Sokoto Native Authority Council. This title 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. Solely interested in making the north vibrant, he established the Jamiyyar Mutanen Arewa which would later become the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) in 1951. At this time, as “successor-in-waiting” to the throne of the Sultan, he wore the turban. In 1943, a drama played out when he appeared before the Sultan’s court for misappropriating jangali (cattle) tax for the Gusau region where he was the councillor. As a result, he was sentenced to a year in prison. But rather than diminish his worth, his acceptance increased and his popularity was boosted. Many felt he was just a victim of unfair political tussle. Four years later, in 1948, he was offered a scholarship in England. The new Sardauna took the scholarship, sensing the need to shore up his knowledge about the process of governance. After returning from England, he was nominated to represent the province of Sokoto in the regional House of Assembly – having shown a lot of promise and spirit before leaving for his studies. 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. Therefore, it was no surprise that when the first elections were held in 1952, he won a seat in the Northern House of Assembly and was appointed a minister of works in the Regional Executive Council, of which he was now a member. He would later become the minister of local government and community development for the Northern Region of Nigeria. With time, he also became a member of the Nigerian Forest Board, Nigerian Coal Board, Inspection Board and Northern Regional Development and Production Board. He was also made the business leader of the government of the Northern Region. In all these roles, he distinguished himself as a hardworking civil servant. At this time, the Sardauna was like a rolling ball of gum, gathering momentum in all parts of the north. He was becoming a force to be reckoned with, much like the bigwigs of other regions: Awolowo in the West and Zik in the East. In 1954, Sir Ahmadu Bello became the first premier of Northern Nigeria and, in 1955, he made his first pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Between 1953 and 1957, he was the leader of the Northern delegation to constitutional conferences in London. With time, he formulated the motto “Work and Worship”, which was adopted as that of Northern Nigeria, and appeared on the region’s crest. Sardauna’s large heart and unifying attributes To ensure that the North would not be side-lined in the scheme of things, he established the Bank of the North (now Unity Bank) and the Northern Nigerian Development Company; he capped it all by establishing the 16,000-seater Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna; Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna; Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria; and the New Nigerian Newspapers, among many others. The institution was established on October 4, 1962, as the University of Northern Nigeria. Widely revered as a hero today, Bello’s greatest legacy and achievement was modernizing the Northern Region (his northernization policy was controversial but very successful) and unifying its different peoples under one umbrella. Even in death, he still has a cult-like following with millions ready to rally round his ideals. Bodies like Gamji and the Sir Ahmadu Bello Foundation have sprung up to highlight his achievements and preserve his legacies. Today, he is believed to have contributed more than any other individual to the development of education in Northern Nigeria, which sadly, today, has one of the lowest rates of literacy on earth. Sardauna’s critics pointed out that he was more preoccupied with the agenda of a more united North than a stronger Nigeria. Some critics even felt he felt the pulse of his people who feared domination by the southerners and accused him of foot-dragging on the independence of the nation. However, this does not diminish his contributions in ensuring Nigeria became free from British imperialism. A former minister of state for education and later special duties in the Abacha regime, the now late Wada Nas, once said that he was a politician of distinction, unaffected by selfish interest, dedicated to service and committed to unity and the brotherhood of the human person. “Since he became the president of the NPC in 1952, up to the time of his death, in the hands of some misguided military officers, on 15th January 1966, he became a fundamentalist for unity in Nigeria in general and the North in particular. No individual ever arose from the Nigerian political scene, who dedicated his life to the unity of his people as the Sardauna. In the pursuit of this noble goal, the word North came to be associated as a tribal name, rather than a reference to a region and this is the case up to this day,” he said. According to Nas, the current reference now is “Yoruba, Igbo and Northerners”, thereby giving Northerners the status of a collective tribe, while in truth out of about 300 tribal groups in Nigeria, about 230 are found in the North. It is therefore no gainsaying that the late Sardauna succeeded in creating a united entity out of diverse tribes and this was strengthened by the general use of the Hausa language in the region. Sometime after he became premier of Northern Nigeria, Sardauna was informed that one Sunday Awoniyi, an indigene of the then Kabba Province in present-day Kogi State, had emerged the best student in the region. The Sardauna travelled all the way to the young boy’s home-town, to congratulate him and shake his hand for “doing the region proud”. It was a huge move which united the region. It is also interesting to note that Awonyi, a minority Northern Yoruba man, later become the chairman of the powerful pan-northern socio-cultural group, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), before his death. Sardauna saw everyone as a human being and not as Birom, Kanuri, Hausa or Higgi General David Jemibewon (rtd), then from Kabba Division, now in Kogi State, once narrated how he got admission into the military school. There were several of them, he said, from different parts of the North. It so happened that the three of them that came from that division came tops. In spite of their non-Hausa-Fulani and Muslim status, they were the ones recommended by the government of Northern Region and they were admitted. Jemibewon is a Northern Yoruba. There were also accounts of how a son of the first Northern medical doctor, the late R. B. Dikko, once narrated how the Sardauna was always visiting them on Sundays when they were growing up. During one of such visits, Sardauna found them playing and wondered why they did not go to church. When they told him that their father was still in bed, Sardauna drove them personally to the church. Chief Sunday Awoniyi is fondly referred to as the Sardauna “kekere” (meaning small Sardauna) and he was one of the highly principled and respected Northerners ever. He never failed to tell anyone who bothered to listen that his first Bible was purchased for him by the Sardauna. Sardauna’s large heart, hospitality and leadership qualities endeared him to all and sundry irrespective of creed and cultural backgrounds and he unwittingly built a court of people, both privileged and less-privileged, around him during his lifetime. There were people like Michael Audu Buba from Plateau, Edward Mamiso from Adamawa, Jolly Tanko Yusuf from Taraba, Achimugu from Kogi and several other notable Christian cabinet ministers who had very close political relationship with him. His deputy, Makaman Bida, was not a Hausa/Fulani but Nupe from Niger. Unlike what we have today, where opposition is seen as enmity, Malam Aminu Kano, the late leader of the radical Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU), was one of the best friends of the Sardauna, a conservative whom he highly respected. The late NEPU leader never had to book an appointment before seeing him both privately and officially. It was the same with the late Joseph Tarka, the leader of the United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC). Even when he was leading the Tiv people’s uprising, they were always on speaking terms with the Sardauna. Thus, Gamji never saw political opponents as enemies but as friends in different camps dedicated also to the Northern cause. Underlying all these was the singular objective to ensure Northern unity in spite of diversity. His quest for this was not only limited to the North. He was reported to have told the late Nnamdi Azikwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo something to this effect, “Don’t envy the unity of the North but worry about the division in the South so that we can have a united South and a united North in a united Nigeria.” It was based on the foregoing that he once advised Azikwe that, to achieve unity in Nigeria, we need to appreciate our differences so that we can live with them. This is a challenge for today’s leaders. If only we can recognize our differences and allow each to live according to them, we would go a long way in building structures for unity. One of the dexterities of Sardauna manifested during a debate in the House of Representatives in 1953 when the late Chief Anthony Enahoro called for self-government for the various regions by 1956. Sardauna, being the premier of the Northern Region, responded that the North would never oppose such a move for any region but that the region had not the needed manpower to stand on its own. The opposition did not go down well with the Southern leaders but the stance was applauded by northerners for saving the region from domination. The establishment of the famous Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in 1963 was to his credit despite the fact that the North had not the students needed for admission then. But Sardauna insisted that the institution will be good for students from the South to come over so that they will understand the North’s cultures in order to promote national unity. To an average Northerner today, the nemesis of what happened in 1966 would remain to haunt all Nigerians because of the callous murder of an innocent man like Sardauna because of the false accusation of corruption only to be discovered that he was one of the angels of their time. It is on record that Sardauna left no house behind except the traditional mud house in Sokoto. Sardauna was in power between 1952 and 1966; he had no house, no car and no savings! A councillor was in power for just three years and today he is a millionaire! Unfortunately, the legacy of unity left behind by Sardauna has been shattered such that the North can no longer speak with one voice even when there is the need to do so. No wonder that a Sardauna is yet to emerge almost 47 years after his death. Sardauna was revered as a man of action and he believed in the saying, “If you see a snake, just kill it. Don’t appoint a committee on snakes.” The goal of the northernization policy was to “catch up”. He knew that the “due process” of manpower development was in many cases too slow, and would result in the North lagging further behind, so drastic measures had to be taken. Between December 1959 and April 1961, the Sardauna worked assiduously towards the annexation of Northern Cameroon into the region to consolidate the strength of the Northern Region. He deployed the best of his administrative and political arsenals to see this through and his efforts paid off when the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations ratified the February 1961 plebiscite and “Northern Cameroon” joined Independent Nigeria on July 1, 1961, after the handing over had taken place the previous month. Ahmadu Bello had the opportunity of becoming the prime minister of an independent Nigeria, being the party leader of the NPC; however, his regional sense of duty was absolute with his main concern being his native north, and northernization was the cornerstone of his belief; that is, how the people of the North could resist the domination by Southerners at the federal and regional levels. He traversed politics in dual capacities as a nationalist and regionalist. Although he often left the national coalition-building process to others, he knew control of national power was also necessary to achieve the goal of balanced growth. In the 1959 and 1964 elections, the NPC consolidated its powers at both regional and federal levels with landslide victories at the polls. However, the 1965 elections in the Western Region later produced violent protests among the supporters of the NNDP – an ally of NPC and the Action Group (AG) -- which led to breakdown of law and order in the region. Sardauna’s legacies cannot be over-emphasised in the areas of education, judiciary, traditional institution and promotion of communal living. His anti-corruption stance was also legendary. Ultimately, his legacy as regards the unity of the North and Nigeria as a whole, from the period of his advent into the political terrain to the point of his death, has undoubtedly left an indelible footprint on the Nigerian political sands of time: Ahmadu Bello created a formidable political unit from an erstwhile segmented Northern Region by welding it together into a cohesive force by virtue of his administrative and political skills. He was a nationalist, for he advocated ‘One Nigeria’ all the time. He believed that disparate paces of modernization among the regions would only add fuel to separatist tendencies and endeavoured to raise the North to the same level as the South so that they could move forward together. He felt that if the main tribes -- Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo -- understood themselves better, there would be less trouble. He replicated his utmost belief in this particular occurrence when he travelled to Ibadan in early 1962 to open the new Sultan Bello Hall of the University College, Ibadan. He had appeared in full gown and turban, and the students, many of whom had sympathies for the AG or NCNC, and apparently were prepared to demonstrate against him, were won over to receiving him well due to his superb English and flawless diction that held the students spellbound and at the end resulted in a spontaneous and rapturous applause for him. In his lifetime, Sardauna was honoured as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II of England, decorated with the Grand Cross of the National Order of the Niger, which is Niger Republic’s highest honour, and also awarded an honorary doctorate degree of law by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. It is also necessary to reminisce the words of the legendary Azikiwe in which he described the Sardauna as a spiritual and political leader, a statesman, an educator and a distinguished administrator. This best encapsulates the very essence of this great man who committed his whole life to the emancipation of his people. Unfortunately, in the wee hours of January 15, 1966, Sir Bello was shot and killed alongside his senior wife, Hafsatu, at his Kaduna residence by some dissidents in the Nigerian Army led by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu in a bloody coup d’état. He was buried the same day, according to Islamic rites in the Sultan’s Quarters in Kaduna. He left behind three daughters. Sardauna’s Words on Marble “I have never sought the political limelight or a leading position in my country. But I could not avoid the obligation of my birth and destiny. My great-great-grandfather built an Empire in the Western Sudan. It has fallen my lot to play a not inconsiderable part in building a new nation. My ancestor was chosen to lead the holy war which set up his Empire. I have been chosen by a free electorate to help build a modern state.” – After being elected to Parliament in 1952. This was also used as a preface to his book, My Life. “Our customs and institutions are not artificial creations, nor have they been borrowed ready-made from others. On the contrary, with their roots deep in the past, yet changing to meet the needs of the future, they are living, growing things. We are proud of our way of life and are honoured that we have the privilege of displaying a few of its many aspects.” – While responding to the Queen’s goodwill message in 1959. “I am impatient, and who would not be with all that lies before me and the responsibilities that have been placed upon me? I have a thousand causes for impatience, but I am not impatient for myself or my family. All my time I give to my work: my life has been in the service of the state even from the time that I went to school. For there, I was learning for the future and that future had caught up with me. A new future lies ahead into which I go, trusting in God’s eternal mercy. ” – From his speech, on appointment as pioneer Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, on November 23, 1963. “They say that I am proud and impatient. I am certainly proud, for I have much to be proud of and not the least the trust that God has given me to lift up our people from their primitive conditions into the light of life and the happiness of contentment. But I am not proud in the arrogant sense, for I know that I am merely an instrument carrying out God’s will and pleasure.” – From his book, My Life
Posted on: Fri, 12 Jul 2013 07:27:53 +0000
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