By
Prof. Isa Odidi, the Sardauna of Zuba and
Dr. Baba J Adamu,
the Chairman of Arewa Center for
Regional Development (ACRD)
Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello (1909 - 1966)
The seasons of a man’s life:
Sardauna
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Sir Ahmadu Bello lived
a short but fulfilled life. His biography is
a story of courage, perseverance, diligence,
honesty, patriotism and service to mankind.
He was a teacher, farmer, administrator,
politician, statesman and religious leader.
He built edifices which survived him. He was
the PREMIER of the northern region of
Nigeria and the Greatest Nigerian leader.
To celebrate
the life of Sardauna and study his legacies
and assess the impact of Ahmadu Bello it is
necessary to look
at his life in seven major areas of Nigerian
political development:
1) Political
Parties and Elections;
2) Traditional
Leadership;
3) Civil
Service;
4) Development
Strategy;
5) Religious
Issues;
6) Consolidation
of Community; and
7) Values
and Symbols of Leadership.
The
assessment has been over two major time
periods:
-
Pre-independence and
-
Early
independence.
Some of the
main aspects of his impact in these areas
are summarized below:
The
Westminster political system, which was
inherited in Nigeria, is premised on a
single-member constituency electoral system
which tends to encourage the emergence of a
two-party system. In its transfer to
Nigeria, coupled with a strong federal
structure, the tendency was to develop
“three one-party systems,” in the respective
regions. The emergence of a “united front”
party in the north was not a foregone
conclusion. He linking together of teachers,
writers, traditional businessmen, Emirs and
Chiefs, young people and old, plus linking
together the diverse ethnic and religious
populations into the most populous political
unit in sub-Saharan Africa within a period
of about a decade, was an enormous feat of
organizational and political skill.
Likewise the
attempt to translate this “united front”
approach into the national arena through
various coalition building approaches, in
the early independence period, with all the
problems and conflicts involved, was a task
of great complexity. The central figure in
this process was Ahmadu Bello, who, despite
outward appearances, was able to work with a
wide variety of constituencies, and serve as
the focal point for the united front.
Sir Ahmadu
Bello’s personal style in “winning people
over” also applied to his opposition in the
north, where he both blunted the edge of
potential revolutionary change and also
rocked the complacency of conservative
status quo assumptions, by his insistence on
orderly reform. He did not engage in the
rhetoric of early nationalism, which he
interpreted as coastal/westernized elites
jockeying for position in the post-colonial
era.
He had a
profound belief in the capacity of his own
inherited political culture to adapt to the
needs of the future, and he was unwilling to
trade this heritage for an imported western
model. He accepted the “rules of the game”
with regard to the electoral mechanisms of
achieving political power and felt that the
demographic advantage of the “interior” made
him a natural ally of “the one man one vote”
principle. Yet, he used political power to
help shape the constitutional framework
within which competition would occur.
Despite his propensity for an all-inclusive
“united front,” he believed in the
legitimacy of “an opposition,” and was never
a proponent of a single-party system.
His
willingness and ability to use principles
and tactics from the Sokoto political
culture tradition meant that he had a far
greater impact on the traditional political
substratum of modern politics than is
generally realized. His decision to remain
as political leader at the regional level,
rather than the national level, made good
political sense, in light of his strategy of
consolidating his base of support as a
precondition for national power. The
“monolithic north,” was hardly monolithic,
and required constant tending. His reformist
approach to politics allowed him to
incorporate many of the ideas of the more
radical reformers, such as Aminu Kanu,
easing them into place without disrupting
the basic fabric of northern society. During
the last two years of his life (1964—65),
Ahmadu Bello had set his vision on the
problems of national coalitions and
cohesions, although he was apparently opting
for a more personal role as a grassroots
religious leader, and was increasingly
leaving the party mechanics and the issues
of coalition building to others. He
continued to feel, however, that a
northern-based political party was necessary
to preserve and consolidate the gains of
“northernization” which he had fought for as
part of his balanced growth policy.
The role of
traditional leadership in Nigeria was
complicated by its transformation during the
colonial era into an instrument for local
government control and administration while
attempting to preserve its symbolic and
ritual significance as well. The “reforms”
which Ahmadu Bello led in the 1950s and
1960s were to transfer emirate and chiefly
powers to a broader base within the
respective local communities, and at the
same time, shift powers to a regional and
provincial level. This move toward
“democratization” and “federalism” set the
parameters for later reforms. Perhaps most
important in the reforms were the removal of
judicial powers from the exclusive control
of the Emirs and Chiefs, and the
establishment of broader-based legal
principles which attempted to incorporate
and accommodate the multiple jurisprudential
systems in the north. The integration of
Islamic and British law was never fully
achieved, but important balances were
affected, especially between civil and
criminal law. The succession and deposition
powers of the colonial government were taken
over and used by Ahmadu Bello, although he
was able to maintain the public impression
that he was not abusing these powers. His
personal ambivalence toward traditional
leadership — respecting its legacy and
potential, yet having suffered from various
abuses of its power — and his intense desire
to become the Sultan of Sokoto, created a
personal symbol which could be interpreted
as either pro or contra traditional
leadership. The traditional leaders were
wooed by Ahmadu Belbo, but he was insistent
that they move with the times. He had most
respect for their value as symbolic links
with the past and legitimate spokespersons
for the historic communities they
represented. Legislative, executive and
judicial powers were a different matter, and
the deposition of the Emir of Kano settled
once and for all the question of whether
regional/provincial power or emirate power
would prevail.
The
challenges to Ahmadu Bello with regard to
traditional leadership came more from the
segmental societies than from the emirate or
chiefly societies. The Tiv Division of Benue
Province became a symbol of the problems of
imposing a hierarchical structure on a
fragmented community. Whether the Coomassie
Commission reforms of 1964—65 would have
made a difference is a moot historical
question, since the real political “gateway”
(J.S. Tarka) would emerge as a national
spokesman during the military period. It is
sometimes argued that Ahmadu Bello “saved’
the institutions of traditional leadership
in Nigeria, by reforming them. There is no
question that traditional leadership has
continued to play a central role in Nigerian
society since the time of Ahmadu Bello,
despite continuing reforms. The “utility” of
traditional leaders in periods of national
crisis not only as “gateways” to segments of
the population but as peacekeepers had been
recognized early on by Ahmadu Bello. His
insistence that the next generation of
traditional leaders be western educated set
the stage for the transition to their
subsequent roles. His “love of history”
stimulated a profound regard for the past in
Nigeria, which has characterized even those
who envision a radically transformed future.
The creation
of the civil service during the period of
Ahmadu Bello is one of his major
achievements. He regarded the northern civil
service as a meritocracy, which should be
above petty political quarrels, and
certainly above corruption. The civil
service had a rigorous code of ethics, and
came to serve as a counterbalance to both
politicians and traditional leaders. The
trans-ethnic nature of the civil service
provided the backbone for Northern
Regionalism and for northern development
efforts, which were based on the principle
of equal distribution of opportunities. The
technical and administrative skills of the
civil service were essential to a
large-scale political community, and the
willingness to take assignments outside of
the capital city was part of the ethos. The
civil service provided a smooth transition
from colonial rule to Independence, and an
equally smooth transition from Northern
Regionalism to the creation of states and
the consolidation of Nigerian federalism.
Perhaps the key to the effective functioning
of the civil service was its apparent
balance in terms of sub-regional zones, its
transcendence of sub-regional interests, and
its ability to incorporate intergenerational
cohorts into a cohesive whole.
The first generation of
northern civil servants (i.e. those born in
the decade from about 1910— 20) tended to be
cohorts from Katsina College, and had good
personal relationships with their colleagues
(including Ahmadu Hello) who had gone into
political life.
The second generation of
northern civil servants (i.e. those born
during the 1920s, and reaching senior status
in the service during the transition to
independence) were also part of the Katsina/Kaduna-Zaria
educational connection, and had close
working relations with their “seniors,” in
the civil service and in the political
realm.
The third generation of
northern civil servants (i.e. those born in
the 1930s and entering the senior service
after independence) tended to have overseas
educational experience, and there was often
a sharp difference in perspective from those
in the first and second generations.
The ability
of Ahmadu Bello to retain the loyalty and
often grudging respect of the third
generation of civil servants was crucial to
his efforts at orderly change and
development. Indeed, the cohesion was so
strong between the various generations
within the civil service, partly because of
their common work ethic and sense of
propriety, that they were able to achieve
great strides in development during a
relatively short time. Ahmadu Bello had an
almost blind faith in youth and education. He
felt that the next generation of northern
young people would not disappoint him,
despite the obvious differences in political
opinions on many matters. The
Premier’s Office served as a catalyst for
ideas and action within the civil service,
and provided a strong bulwark against the
increasing pressures of political
encroachment.
As the
regional judicial service began to emerge in
the early independence period, providing a
counterbalance to the powers and
perspectives at the emirate and chiefly
level, this service also came to have its
own sense of cohesion and ethos. The office
of Grand Kadi emerged as a key link between
religious and civil service forces, and
between the
western-educated/English-speaking sectors
and the traditional sectors.
The development strategy of
the government under Ahmadu Bello may be
summarized as trying to achieve regional
parity through affirmative-action politics.
This “northernization policy” was the basic
agenda for development, and reflected a
profound belief on the part of Ahmadu Bello
that northerners had the capability for
rapid development, if given the opportunity.
Hence, education was a top priority, and the
foundation of all other development efforts.
Education and human resources were
encouraged at all levels, and in all fields,
and between 1954 and 1965 considerable
progress was made. Importantly, Ahmadu Bello
was able to diffuse the latent resentment
and suspicion at the grassroots level among
Muslims over the nature and purpose of
western education. He was able to mobilize
local leaders in the “war against
ignorance,” and lay the educational
foundations for the future. His crash
programs in professional education in Kano
and Zaria and Kaduna, and his insistence on
the establishment of a northern university
at a time when many felt it was premature,
attest to his forward-looking view of
development. He recognized that “catching
up” would take at least a generation, and
hence tried to provide the political climate
wherein northern youth could be encouraged
and even initially protected in their
opportunities for education. The decade from
the mid1 950s to the mid-1960s produced the
first mass-educated efforts in the north,
which in turn have produced
the first broadly based generation of
northern professional and educated leaders.
Beyond
education, the top development priorities
were agriculture, industry and
infrastructure. Ahmadu Bello believed that
agriculture was the backbone of the north.
He took an active interest in farming
throughout his life, and was particularly
concerned with issues of water, and the
introduction of new technology into
grassroots-level farming. He believed that
local farmers would seize the opportunities
for self-Improvement if provided with
resources and incentives. He also saw
agriculture as providing a basis for
industrialization in the north, especially
in the cash-crop areas of cotton and
groundnuts. His search for capital and
technology in the areas of textile mills,
groundnut oil mills, etc., was always
accompanied by an insistence on
indigenization of business opportunities,
and local staff-development training
schemes. He also saw the need for improved
infrastructure and communications as part of
the need to develop a productive
agricultural economy, since without feeder
roads and inter-city connections produce
could not be moved to markets. His concern
for infrastructure, however, was also
related to strategic concerns about
community consolidation, both within the
north and at a national level.
The religious
issues related to government policy in the
pre-independence era were pilgrimage and
education. The question of domestic
religious organizations arose more in the
early independence period, as did the issue
of the role of the Premier in the conversion
campaigns. The pilgrimage issue started out
as a matter of facilitating logistics and
arrangements for Nigerian pilgrims in Sudan
and Saudi Arabia, and later become a central
part of the symbolic and religious life of
those involved. The two aspects were
interrelated, since the logistical
facilities were more easily arranged after
rapport was established at the leadership
level. The establishment of rapport was also
part of the historic process whereby West
African Muslims came to be recognized as a
more integral part of an international world
of Islam. The role of Ahmadu Bello in this
process is considerable, and he becomes a
visible spokesman for Islam in the various
international councils. This has a dramatic
effect within the Nigerian context, as he
began to draw on the inspiration of both his
ancestral legacy and his new international
status in his efforts to persuade
traditional polytheists in Nigeria to join
the Muslim community. The emergent issue
then became reminiscent of church-state
controversies. On this issue some of his
closest friends and supporters were divided.
Should the Premier take such an active role
in religious conversion processes, or should
he have left that to the Sultan of Sokoto
and/or other religious leaders? The historic
conjoining of religious and political power
within the Sokoto Caliphate tradition
provided the paradigm for his response,
although perhaps the simpler explanation was
that he had reached a stage in his personal
and professional life when his interest in
“politics as usual” had diminished, and he
felt deeply called to make an impact in the
spiritual realm. This strong sense of
urgency on his part was reinforced by the
increasing divisions within the northern
Muslim community, and the sense that he must
provide leadership in religious matters in
order to facilitate unity. The founding of
the Jama’atul Nasril Islam was intended to
provide a nongovernmental vehicle for
Islamic education and preaching. Although
government funds were not used in the
organization, it appeared to have a
parastatal status because of the public
figures (politicians, civil servants and
traditional leaders) who were involved. The
result was to place Ahmadu Bello in the
arena of those who were acknowledged as part
of religious leadership, which reinforced
competition and tension with Kano people,
worried many from Borno, and set in motion
the dynamics which would result in a
brotherhood/non-brotherhood division within
northern Muslim circles. At the same time,
it also reinforced the fears of Christians
and traditionalists in the Middle Belt, and
appears to have alarmed certain Southern
Nigerian elements. Yet, the integrity of
Ahmadu Bello so impeccable was perhaps well
illustrated by the conversion campaigns. He
was aware that he was going against the
advice of some of his key constituencies.
Yet he felt that it was essential to his own
sense of purpose to enter the path of what
many of his friends call “martyrdom.’ The
“tragedy” of his life’s end might well have
been avoided if he had chosen a more
cautious or moderate path. There is a strong
sense that he knew where the religious path
would lead. At another level, however. the
conversion campaigns and the efforts to draw
Islamic educational structures into the
mainstream of Nigerian education were part
of the “interior/catch-up” policy which
permeated other areas as well. He felt,
frankly, that Christian missionaries had for
too long had a monopoly of educational and
conversion privileges in the north. To
redress the balance, he threw his own weight
in on the side of the indigenous heritage of
Islamic education and conversion. That he
was able to do this without alienating his
major Christian allies in politics and the
civil service attests to his personal
magnetism and ability to function at
different levels.
The
consolidation of the northern community was
still the top priority for Sir Ahmadu Bello,
even at the end. The central place of Kaduna
in the northern scheme of things became
established over the period of his
premiership. Many of the latent centrifugal
forces within the Northern Region were
assuaged during the early independence
period, but others (especially in Kano and
Benue) took on a new urgency. His success in
the hard political battle over the
incorporation of Northern Cameroon into
Nigeria reinforced his sense of destiny in
presiding over a political community which
in part approximated to that of the Sokoto
Caliphate. Yet he was fully aware that the
non-Muslim areas of the north, not to
mention Borno, were sensitive on the issue
of the Sokoto Caliphate. He countered this
sensitivity through his constant touring,
his use of joking relationships, his
co-opting of local leaders, his respect for
the integrity of all historic communities,
and his ability to disarm opposition through
personal relationships. At the structural
level, he recognized the need to strengthen
the provincial level of government, but he
also recognized that the major reforms of
the emirate and chiefly powers could not be
done at the provincial level alone, without
the support of the regional government. His
insistence that “tribalism” had no place in
the northern civil service or in the
development priorities, gave credibility to
his dual belief in the legitimacy of
historic communities, yet the need to
transcend them for larger political
purposes.
It would
appear that in l964—65, he was beginning to
view the national community as the essential
“community of destiny,” and was making
personal efforts at touring in all parts of
Nigeria, and trying to facilitate workable
national coalitions. The prospect of a
permanent “united front” led by Ahmadu Bello
at the national level may have been one of
the triggers for the attempted coup.
The example
and standard of leadership set by Ahinadu
Hello requires distinction to be drawn
between symbolic leadership and practical
everyday leadership. Symbolic leadership
images reflect the values and the
perceptions of the various constituencies,
both proponents and opponents. There is also
an important distinction between the
grassroots levels and the leadership levels,
within the eight (later nine) emirate
provinces of the north, there was a
perception of Ahmadu Bello as an heir to the
Sokoto legacy, and in general this was
favourably regarded, the poetic rendering of
his ancestry, as well as his own feats and
qualities, had widespread popular appeal. It
was perhaps these sets of expectations which
encouraged him, toward the end, to reinforce
his populist appeal along the lines of the
the Sokoto reformers. In other areas of the
north — Borno and the three Middle Belt
provinces — there was a widespread
recognition that his “northernization
policy” was very much in their interests,
and development was stimulated. Those
northern opposition leaders, who challenged
Ahmadu Bello’s leadership, normally did so
on matters of policy or principle and not on
personal grounds. In the case of Aminu Kano,
the principles often included a
reinterpretation of the same Sokoto
caliphate legacy, but in terms of social
justice and simplicity, rather than the more
pompous and stratified emirate system which
had re-emerged.
In addition
to northern perceptions of the leadership of
Ahmadu Bello, the international perceptions
were very important. He came to be regarded
as a major African spokesman within the
western world, the African world, and the
Muslim world. He was willing to speak
bluntly within the international arena, as
he was within the northern, and/or Nigerian
arena. Throughout, he symbolized
self-respect; he was equally at home with
the royalty of England and the poorest
Fulani herdsman in Adamawa. He could be
feted by the King of Saudi Arabia, and pray
with his driver in a bush village in Sokoto.
Although he did not have a university
education, he could hold his own with
technical and professional personnel. He had
unshakeable confidence in the importance of
his policies. His generosity, which was
legendary, was counter- balanced by an
old-fashioned sense of propriety in the use
of public funds. His bluntness and
quick-to-anger/quick-to-forgive qualities
were counterbalanced by a basic concern
about the welfare of individual people and
their families. His pompous posturing and
occasional gauche behaviour was
counterbalanced by a basic rural simplicity.
He who would be Sultan must also be prepared
to accept his destiny, however it may
unfold. Behind the rich symbolism of power
and influence, and the drama of setting
basic priorities in the early independence
period, there is also a man, who is living
out the seasons of his life, hopping for a
son, fighting fatigue, preparing to die.
B. The
seasons of a man’s life
The life of
Ahmadu Bello may be divided, roughly, into
three categories:
-
1) Pre-adult
(childhood and education), from 1909—1931:
twenty-two years;
-
2) Early
adulthood (work and early career), from
1931—1949: eighteen years;
-
3) Middle
adulthood (political career), from 1949—66:
seventeen years.
At age
fifty-six, just as he would be entering late
adulthood, he dies. Within these periods,
his own personality evolves, and he
functions within a complex set of relations
with family and friends. Much of the focus
of his legacies has been on the period from
1949—66, i.e. during his political career.
Yet the earlier periods set the stage for
the later drama.
The childhood
of Ahmadu Bello, in Rabah, is framed within
a context of Sokoto caliphate values, at a
juncture when the British Empire is being
established in Northern Nigeria, and
providing an alternative set of values and
career options. As the grandson of a Sultan
of Sokoto, Ahmadu is raised with the hope
that he will have some significant
leadership role in store for him. But the
emergence to leadership is not automatic. As
a precondition, it is based on hard work,
training, and the inculcation of appropriate
values. The values learned by Ahmadu Bello
include the full range of local cultural
relationships regulating family and personal
behaviour. He is raised in a large family
context with multiple generations and many
half-siblings and cousins. He is the son of
a concubine. His father dies when he is
young, but his uncle and later his brother,
continue to raise him. Part of the training
he receives is Islamic education, notably
Qur’anic studies, and later, studies of
Hadith, traditions, and law. His “clock” is
the set of daily prayers. The discipline of
this early training will stay with him
throughout his life. Yet, what accounts for
his later “maverick” behaviour?
A formative
experience in childhood is being sent away
from “home” to a Western school in Sokoto.
He will later be “sent away” from what seems
his community to Katsina College. At various
points in his career, he will be “sent away”
to Gusau, to Kaduna, to Lagos, to London and
elsewhere. There is a sense in which,
compared to his early peers, he will spend
his entire life “in exile.” Yet Sokoto
remains “home” and he will always regard it
as such. In addition, “home” is the legacy
of his ancestors, and the relatives, living
and dead, form a circle of kinship including
Wurno, Gwandu, Sokoto town and other
caliphate nodes, which constitute the center
of gravity of his life. His religious
upbringing is part of the family tradition,
and his identification with it is total. It
is a simple set of obligations which mark
the parameters of meaning in his life. It is
in part the legacy of the rural herdsman,
and nomadic scholar on the edges of the
desert, looking over the city lights and
judging standards of human behaviour by
reference to “The Book.” Later, it includes
the courtly urban life, with its complex
rules. His experience at Sokoto Middle
School and later Katsina College will shape
his life in several respects. They provide
access to the world of western skills and
values which will prove essential to the
formulation of a northern, and later,
Nigerian identity. Also, the classmates and
school mates at these schools become his
peers for life. These are the colleagues
with whom he can joke, confide, trust, and
call on in moments of need. He will live his
life primarily in a man’s world, and the
young men who are among the first to receive
western education in Northern Nigeria will
form the inner core of that world. The
strict discipline of his early training is
continued in the western schools. His sense
of “time” becomes oriented not only to the
prayer schedule, the seasons and the cycles
of the moon, but also to the watch.
Punctuality, and getting things done “on
time,” becomes top priorities. His
self-confidence is enhanced within the
Katsina College context, as he finds he is
respected not only for who he is, but for
what he is. His competitive drive is
sharpened at the fives court. He is a team
player, but also a strong individualist,
with a will to succeed.
The second
phase of his life, early career, begins with
his teaching assignment to his old school in
Sokoto. This gives him a basic occupational
identity as “teacher,” and allows him to
work closely with young boys who will be
following in his footsteps in terms of
western education. He serves as their
counsel or inspiration, and teacher. He is
rigid in his discipline because he expects
the best from every student. He is
fastidious in getting back student papers
immediately. Also, during this period, he is
living in the heart of the Sokoto system,
and becomes a close observer and neophyte
participant in the circle activities
surrounding the Sultan’s court. He is seen
as a link between the family of the Sultan
and the “white men,” with their strange
language and customs, who have come to rule.
His value as a “gateway” will increase as it
becomes apparent that the Europeans are
making fundamental changes in the
administrative system of the Caliphate. He
is appointed a rural administrator (District
Head) at the age of twenty- five. He is
being groomed and tested.
His
appointment as District Head creates another
major identity. From the British point of
view, he is an “administrator.” From the
local point of view he is “Sarkin Rabah,”
i.e. Chief of Rahah. It becomes appropriate,
indeed, required that he should marry, and
become “head of household” as well. This is
arranged. Other marriages are also arranged,
some of which link him to important families
in Sokoto, Gwandu and Kano. He produces a
son, who later dies. Also, his mother dies.
He will eventually produce three daughters
(one posthumously).
With the
death of the Sultan in 1938, Ahmadu Bello
becomes a candidate for the succession at
the age of twenty-nine. He is passed over in
favour of a “cousin” who is a few years his
senior, but who will remain the incumbent
through and beyond Ahmadu Bello’s lifetime.
There will never be another chance for
Ahmadu to compete for the succession.
The new
Sultan designates Ahmadu Bello to be his
representative in administering the District
Heads of the eastern districts, i.e. those
in close proximity to the railway, and the
produce evacuation/commercial center in
Gusau. This “exile” affords new
opportunities to experience the cross
currents of social and economic change
occurring in Nigeria. “Southerners” have
begun to migrate to Gusau for jobs. Yet the
central drama is still with the newly
appointed Sultan, and Ahmadu, now designated
“Sardauna” enters into a period of chilly
relations with the Sultan, which culminates
in the arrest and trial of Ahmadu Bello on
charges of diverting cattle-tax revenue. The
challenge is met in the appeals court in
Zaria, outside of the jurisdiction of the
Sultan. Ahmadu learns that “justice” can be
tempered with politics in the local Alkali’s
courts, and that the new regional appeal
system is a useful counterbalance to emirate
power. His popularity with the generation of
western-educated young men creates a
notoriety which allows him to emerge as a
symbol of “the new north.” The British
apparently intervene in the feud between the
Sultan and the Sardauna, and a truce is
called. Yet the factionalism and competition
will continue for years to come.
The return of
Ahmadu to Sokoto in 1944 marks his
acceptance as a major councillor in the
Sokoto local government system. He gains
experience in many fields of administration,
and manages the increasingly complex and
technical departments which are emerging,
often associated with “development.” The
stage is set for his emergence into a
regional political career. In 1949, at the
age of forty, he is nominated for a seat in
the Regional House of Assembly.
The period of
middle adulthood, beginning in 1949, is
characterized by the emergence of Ahmadu
Bello as the pre-eminent political leader in
Northern Nigeria, and perhaps in Nigeria as
a whole. The rigors of this task demand a
sense of discipline, dedication,
competitiveness, collegiality, and sacrifice
of many personal preferences. During this
period, Ahmadu allows the needs for a
“united front” in the north and his
hoped-for succession to the sultanship to
occasion some serious curtailment of
personal choice (including foregoing a
possible marriage to a non-secluded wife).
Yet, the predominant characteristic of
Ahmadu during this period is the “integral”
nature of his character. He is willing to
act as a catalyst in forming consensus, but
he is always blunt and frank in his own
views, and he sees no need to pretend he is
other than he is. He is a descendant of the
Shehu, Usman dan Fodio, and sees no point in
wearing a coat and tie like the English. He
speaks impeccable English, and respects many
European values, but he is who he is: a
Muslim and a northerner. If some people
don’t like that is too bad.
The period of
middle adulthood sees Ahmadu Bello stepping
into leadership roles for which he has been
conditioned since childhood but at a new and
broader level of community. His sense of
destiny is tied up with service to the
community. It is a broadly based sense of
service, ranging from material welfare, to
law and order and “justice,” to spiritual
enhancement. He does not view humans as
merely animals to be fed and sheltered, with
“basic needs.” He lives within a belief
system in which “this world” is a
preparation for the next. This belief
permeates his sense of responsibility and
purpose. As his political battles to build a
strong political party and to set the north
on the road to development seem to be within
grasp, Ahmadu is stimulated by his regular
pilgrimages to the holy places to
concentrate more on his own personal
transition to the next phase of his life.
Whether this next phase is to retire to his
farm in Bakura and try to produce a son, or
to take a more active role in religious
activities, or to prepare for his own
mortality, may be part of the “confusion”
noticed by many of his close associates.
Outward confusion, however, may reflect an
inner reassessment of priorities. Whatever
he may have been thinking or feeling, he was
still functioning as the effective leader of
the most populous political unit in
sub-Saharan Africa. His schedule of travel,
administration and politics was
excruciating. He was exhausted and suffering
from mild diabetes.
Under these
pressures, he resigns his future to “the
will of God” He has always believed in
individual effort. He has believed in hard
work and setting priorities and goals. But
underlying the efforts and intentions of
man, is the will of God. He believes he will
not die a minute before or after his
allotted time. This gives him the courage to
undertake what he believes he must do in his
remaining time. He is not one to linger in
philosophical reflection. He is a man of
action, and often moves from a gut-level
reaction to events. He believes he should
set an example of how a Muslim should live,
and die. The legacy of the Shehu and Bello
has caught up with him. He wants to be one
with them. He wants to recapture the
simplicity of his early life. He wants to
give away his worldly possessions. He wants
to make his peace. It is from these values
that he has drawn his strength to lead.
Through his endeavour he helps to shape the
future of Nigeria.
“Here in the Northern Nigeria we have People
of Many different races, tribes and
religious who are knit together to common
history, common interest and common ideas,
the things that unite us are stronger than
the things that divide us. I always remind
people of our firmly rooted policy of religious
tolerance. We have no intention of
favouring one religion at the expense of
another. Subject to the overriding need to
preserve law and order, it is our
determination that everyone should have
absolute liberty to practice his belief
according to the dictates of his
conscience…” - Sir
Ahmadu Bello
Sardauna Website....
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