The Nigerian politician Sir Ahmadu Bello was the first and only premier of the Northern Nigeria region. He also held the title of Sardauna of Sokoto. Ahmadu and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa were major figures in Northern Nigeria pre-independence politics. As leader of the Northern People's Congress, he was a dominant personality in Nigerian politics throughout the early Nigerian Federation and the First Nigerian Republic.
Background
Ahmadu Bello was born on June 12, 1910 in a village called Rabah, Eastward from Sokoto, to the family of Malam Ibrahim and Mariyamu Bello, the district head of Rabah Son of Sultan Abubakar Atiku, Son of Sultan Muhammadu Bello, Son of Sheikh Usman Bin Fodiyo, the founding father of the Sokoto caliphate at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Bello lost his father when he was only six years old. He received his early Islamic Education at Rabah in the hand of Malam Garba the Imam of Rabah Village at his early teens who taught him the basic rudiments of his religion and made him learned the Qur’an by disciplinarian Islamic Scholars.
Education
Ahmadu Bello began his formal Western Education at Sokoto and later proceeded to Sokoto Provisional school, and passed out at age sixteen. From 1926 to 1936, he was at Katsina training College where he was one of the prefects and captains of five. From 1931 to1934, Bello taught at Sokoto Middle School when he joined the native administration under a colonial set up, he was appointed the district head of Rabah (as his father earlier was) from 1934 to 1938.
Career
In 1934, Bello was made the District Head of Rabah by Sultan Hassan dan Muazu, succeeding his brother; in 1938, he got a promotion as the Divisional Head of Gusau (now in present-day Zamfara State) and became a member of the Sultan's council. In 1938, at the age of just 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 until his death in 1988. 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 joined Jamiyya Mutanen Arewa which would later become the NPC in 1951. 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. 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
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, Bornu and Sokoto. He was selected among with others as a memebr of a committee that redrafted the Richards Constitution and he also attended a general conference in Ibadan. His work at the assembly and in the constitution drafting committee brought him appreciation in the north and he was asked to take on leadership positions within Jamiyya Mutanen Arewa. 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 Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe's NCNC (National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons) to form Nigeria's first indigenous federal government which led to independence from Britain. In forming the 1960 independence federal government of the Nigeria, Bello as president of the NPC, chose to remain Premier of Northern Nigeria and devolved the position of Prime Minister of the Federation to the deputy president of the NPC, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
Achievements
Works
book
My Life
1962
Religion
He was a staunch Muslim. As the devout Muslim who believed in tents of pristine Islam, Sir Ahmadu Bello was made the Vice President of the World Muslim league.
Although he may have been good to his people, he was overly obsessed with turning Nigeria into an Islamic feifdom, in which he fashioned himself as the "Sultan".
Politics
Sir Ahmadu Bello believed that as a Northerner, it was there birthright to rule Nigeria. This can be clearly seen from the speech he made on October 12, 1960. According to him, ”The new nation called Nigeria should be an estate of our great grand father, Othman Danfodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We must use the minorities in the North as willing tools and the South as conquered territories and never allow them to rule over us or have control over their future.”
Bello's leadership characteristics was a blend of religious, traditional and modern values and his obligation in colonial and post-independence Nigeria was performing these different roles in the northern region. A major priority his was making sure the region was on equal politically and economically terms with the Western and Eastern regions, this contributed to the process of replacing both Southerners and Europeans in the Northern region's civil services with Northerners, a policy that received criticism from opposition leaers such as Ibrahim Imam.
Bello originally embraced the Indirect rule system of colonial Nigeria before gradually embracing reforms. During his period of premiership, his biographer, John Paden described him as a progressive conservative, because he was an agent of change and also of the traditional elites.
Views
In a speech he made on the occasion of his Installation as Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria on 23rd November 1963, he stated that “We are unique in that we stand at the meeting Point of two of the major cultural system of the world; Islamic culture from the East and Christain culture from the West, and meeting in the Presence of a third culture, that of the ancient state and empires of African itself. Our task is to bring about a dialogue between these two cultures and fit them to Africa, Interpreting one of the other to the Mutual benefit of all. We should introduce Western ideas and technologies where necessary but it must be without distripting our existing Spiritual, cultural and social Values.”
Quotations:
“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 electrorate to help build a modern state."
“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 conternment. 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."
“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 meets the needs of the future, they are living, growing things. We are proud to our way of life and are honoured that we have the priviledge of displaying a few of its many aspects”.
“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 thousands 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 cought up with me. A new future lies ahead into which I go, trusting in God’s eternal mercy."
Personality
His personality was developed spherically in three dimensions of Islamic religion, traditional values and leadership training. He exhibited the quality of generosity and open mindedness in his socialization.