Ahmadu Bello

Ahmadu Bello
Ahmadu Bello
Premier of Northern Nigeria
In office 1954 – 1966
Succeeded by	Hassan Katsina
Born	June 12, 1910 Rabbah, Sokoto State.
Died	January 14, 1966
Political party	Northern People's Congress
Religion	Muslim

Al-Haji Sir Ahmadu Bello (1910 - 1966) was a Nigerian politician, and was the first premier of the Northern Nigeria region from 1954-1966. He was one of the prominent leaders in Northern Nigeria alongside Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, both of whom where prominent in negotiations about the region's place in an independent Nigeria. As leader of the Northern People's Congress, the party was able to win the 1959 parliamentary elections. He worked hard to unify the peoples of Northern Nigeria. He is considered to be a founding father of the Nigerian nation. He was assassinated on January 15, 1966.

Early Life

He was born on June 12, 1910, in Rabbah, Sokoto State. The son of a district head and heir to the Sokoto Emirate. His great-grandfather was Sultan Bello, the founder of Sokoto and son of the revered Usman Dan Fodio. Ahmadu Bello received his education first at the Sokoto Provincial School, the only modern school at the time in the Sokoto province. Then, he proceeded to the Katsina Teacher's Training College. After spending five years at Katsina, he was appointed by the Sultan to become a teacher at the Sokoto Middle School, his former school which had undergone rapid transformation. In 1934, he was made the district head of Rabbah, four years later, he was promoted and sent to Gusau to become a divisional head. In 1938, he made an unsuccessful bid to become the new Sultan of Sokoto. The successful sultan immediately conferred upon Sir Ahmadu Bello the traditional, now honorary, title of "Sarduna" and elevated him to the Sokoto Native Authority Council. He first became politically active in 1945, when he helped to form a Youth Social Circle, which later affiliated with the NPC (Northern Peoples Congress) of which he became President. In 1948, he was offered a scholarship to study local government administration in England. Ahmadu Bello took the scholarship sensing he needed to develop his knowledge about the process of governance.

Nigerian politics

After returning from England, 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. As the movement for independence from the British Empire gathered momentum, Bello emerged as a strong advocate of federalism as the system of government that in his view was most suitable for Nigeria. This was especially attractive to Northern Nigerians, who had a history of sharing power.

In the first elections held in Northern Nigeria in 1952, 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, he 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 - although arguably one of the most influential politicians in Nigereia - 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. He apparently did not want to live in Lagos and preferred the political climate of the North from that of the South. His disinclination to head the national government also suggests that he was not interested in power for the sake of power but in public service.

Legacy

Bello's greatest legacy was the modernization and unification of the diverse people of Northern Nigeria. He was assassinated during a 15 January, 1966 military coup which toppled Nigeria's post-independence government. He was still serving as premier of Northern Nigeria at the time.

The Ahmadu Bello University (founded 1962) is named after him. His portrait adorns Nigeria's 200 naira note, and he is survived by one child. There is a 1995 biography about his wife, Hafsatu Ahmadu Bello.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Bello, Ahmadu. 1962. My Life. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Adamu, Ladi S. 1995. Hafsatu Ahmadu Bello: the unsung heroine. Kaduna, Nigeria: Adams Books ISBN 9789783197725
• Olaniyan, Richard. 1985. Nigerian history and culture. Harlow, Essex, England: Longman ISBN 9780582644328
• Paden, John N. 1986. Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto: values and leadership in Nigeria, London: Hodder and Stoughton; Portsmouth, N.H.: Distributed in the U.S.A. by Heinemann Educational Books ISBN 9780340389683

External Links

• 200 Naira note. Retrieved April 20, 2008.
• Biography at answers.com Retrieved April 20, 2008

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