Audi family: The quintessential Waziris of Minna

It was the late Hassan Lemu, private secretary to the Premier of Northern Region Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, who described the late Waziri of Minna, Alhaji Umaru Balarabe Audi, as a quintessential and incorruptible civil servant in an interview with this reporter in January 2015. The Waziri had died about 13 years earlier while Lemu died […]

It was the late Hassan Lemu, private secretary to the Premier of Northern Region Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, who described the late Waziri of Minna, Alhaji Umaru Balarabe Audi, as a quintessential and incorruptible civil servant in an interview with this reporter in January 2015.

The Waziri had died about 13 years earlier while Lemu died few years later. They were both, in the words of the National President of the Gamji Members Association (GAMA), Dr Abdullahi Bala Isah, in the class of ‘unsung heroes’ but ‘architects’ of the uncommon transformation of the entity called Northern Region back then.

Although there are no major streets and popular government edifices named after the late Waziri to imortalise him for his services to humanity, his name resonates across northern Nigeria for the legacies passed on through generations.

In Niger State where he hailed from, Audi is a household name synonymous with integrity and honesty. Having lost his father even before he was born, the progenitor of the Audi family carved a niche for himself by building a dynasty that has come to be revered and sustained for four generations.

The late Audi was an administrator, legislator, community leader and traditional title holder variously described in glowing terms by many northern leaders and others positively affected by his actions. “The late Waziri lived and acted gloriously so that the society could become better,” one of such benefactors had reflected in a tribute.

According to family account, his father Abdulrauf died before he was born in 1927 in Paiko, a thriving community which later became the headquarters of Paikoro Local Government Area of Niger State. Having been born without a father figure to groom him, a friend of his father, Malam Na Muhammad, took over his upbringing so he had to move from Paiko to Minna where his guardian lived.

His formal education began at the Minna Elementary School now known as IBB Primary School in 1936 and later he proceeded to the prestigious Bida Middle School in 1942. He joined the Minna Native Authority as clerical clerk immediately after graduating from Bida Middle School.

In 1943, he enrolled at the Kano Training Institute for the Hides and Skin Inspector course. He attended the Executive officer’s course in Oshogbo, the current capital of Osun State in 1948, and was appointed clerk to the Minna Native Authority in 1949.

He later became a member of the defunct Northern Nigeria House of Assembly in 1952, where he stirred the hornet nest by moving a motion stopping civil servants from participating in politics. It was not particularly a popular move and it understandably drew the ire of his colleagues, especially those within the civil service, but the motion scaled through and was adopted.

After that term winded up, he was sent to England for a course in public administration and on return to Nigeria in 1956, he was appointed Assistant Divisional Officer (ADO) and posted to Azare in Katagum Native Authority. A year later, he proceeded for further training in Public Administration in the United Kingdom and on his return, was elevated to the position of Divisional Officer (DO) and posted to Sokoto division. He was transferred to Kano division and put in charge of Hajj operations in 1960.

When the Northern Nigeria Public Service Commission was established in 1962 in Kaduna, he was transferred to work with its pioneer chairman, late Abubakar Imam, as secretary. He later became Administrator of the newly created Kaduna Capital Territory. In 1963, he was appointed Resident for the Ilorin Province and was later made the Chief Regional Census officer, Northern Nigeria. After the census assignment, he was appointed Provincial Secretary for Maiduguri Province in 1965 and later moved to Katsina Province. After the dust over the 1966 coup, he was transferred to Zaria Province as secretary and afterwards Minna Province.

He became commissioner of home affairs and Information and later Commissioner of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs for the North Western region between 1969 and 1973.

The late Audi was honoured by the Minna emirate for his contribution to the development of his home state, North West and the entire Nothern region with the traditional title of Waziri Minna in 1976. Despite his retirement from the public service, the then General Olusegun Obasanjo regime in 1978 saw the need to appoint him as a Commissioner, Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) in charge of Niger and later Plateau states. He was also a member of the National Economic and Intelligence Council before retiring in 1998.

The Minna emirate was said to have felt the impact of his experiences and commitment to duty as it thrived in all spheres under His Royal Highness the late Ahmadu Bahago. “As the emirate’s prime minister, activities revolved around him and the massive transformation witnessed during that era was attestation to the diligence and commitment of the Emir and his able Waziri,” Dr Isah pointed out.

The emirate understandably mourned its de facto prime minister following his death in early August 1999 and greatly missed the peacemaker’s diplomatic approaches to conflict resolution.

Twenty years after his demise however, the late Waziri’s legacies lives on in the many institutions he helped put in place and the many people he mentored. The emirate continues to honour him for his many contributions to its development by ensuring that the title of the Waziri Minna remained in his household. Three of his sons – late Alhaji Salihu Umar Audi, late Malam Muhammed-Bello Umar Audi and Alhaji Isah Umar Audi in that order, have held the title after the demise of their father.

The emirate further honoured him recently by conferring another title of Jarumin Minna on his youngest son and Director General of the Niger State Small, Medium Enterprise and Micro Finance Agency, Alhaji Farouk Umar Audi.

Beyond the emirate, his children and grand children are leaving their imprints in their chosen careers in Nigeria and abroad. The late Waziri had 17 children and about 58 grand children. Among the children are late Alhaj Salihu Umar Audi, a former Comptroller of Customs who first stepped into his father’s shoes as Waziri Minna; Hon Justice Fati Lami Abubakar, former Chief Judge of Niger State and wife of former Head of State, General Abdulsalam Alhaji Abubakar; and late Alhaji Mohammed-Bello Umar Audi, former Dean, Faculty of Law, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and former commissioner of OMPADEC. He was also turbaned as Waziri after the demise of his elder brother, Salihu.

Others include Hajiya Maryam Kabir Isyaku, retired director with the National Teachers Institute, Kaduna; Hajiya Aisha Labaran Kago, a retired staff of the defunct Nigeria Airways; Hajiya Maimuna Sanusi, a retired permanent secretary with the Niger State government; Hajiya Rabiatu Musa Daittijo, former permanent member II, Niger State Pilgrims Welfare Board; Alhaji Isah Umar Audi, a business man and current Waziri Minna; Hajiya  Hadiza Umar Tanko, retired deputy manager with former Habib Bank (now Keystone Bank); Hajiya Rakiya AB Umar; Alhaji Muhammad-Hadi Umar Audi, MD Vidatel Nigeria Limited, Abuja; Alhaji Abdulrauf Umar Audi who works with the Nigeria Customs Service and Hajiya Zuwaira Adamu Aliyu.

The wife of the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, Hauwa; Jarumi Minna, Alhaji Farouk Umar Audi and Hajiya Halima Imran Jibrin of the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies Kaduna are also among the children of the late Wazari.

The grandchildren of the late Waziri are equally doing well in their chosen careers with the eldest being the wife of the Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello,  Dr Amina Abubakar Bello, a consultant Gynecologist and founder, RAISE Foundation.

Justice Fati Lami Abubakar, who is now the eldest in the family, told Daily Trust Saturday that one of the legacies the late Waziri bequeathed to his children was education. She said her late father was a gender sensitive person and never discriminated between his male and female children, especially concerning their education at a time most northern parents were skeptical about sending their female children to school.

“We did not grow to witness the discriminations that existed in most homes. I could remember him telling me one day that he was ready to educate me to the limit of my capacity not minding that I’m a woman and that goes for all of us,” she explained.

This fact is further reinforced by the level of education of the female members of the family in comparison with their male counterparts, especially in key profession. For instance, out of the five children that studied law, three are women. Fati, Rabi and Hadiza are lawyers who have attained the pinnacle of their careers with the eldest rising to the position of a Chief Judge. However, that does not mean that the male folks attained less, especially as the family produced a teacher who rose to the position of a Dean at the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria.

Apart from education, other virtues the patriarch of the family handed over to his children, according to Hon Justice Fati, were discipline, integrity, simplicity, and contentment.

“Our late father was an epitome of integrity and sincerity and he loathed corruption. We did not lack; out of his salary he provided for us. He was a simple and easygoing person, and not greedy; that is what characterized his time, money was not an important part of his life,” she noted.

She relayed a story of an event her mother and stepmother had told her about a warning by the late Waziri when he was in charge of Hajj operation in Kano, never to accept any type of gift from anyone.

She said somebody had approached the wives with gifts but they alerted the late Waziri who in turn warned them never to accept any form of gifts.

“We were contended with what we have and that shaped us because none of my siblings can been said to be flamboyant,” she added.

She also said the late Waziri was someone who listens to others and she enjoyed talking to him about her troubles. She recounted an incident where she had to run to her late father for counsel. “When I was young and at the bar, I messed up and my husband was in Lebanon then, I had nobody to talk to.

“The judge was kind and gave me a direction and I was able to navigate through the hiccups but I felt I had disgraced myself and let everybody down. Then, my father came to Lagos with the late Emir of Minna and I poured my heart to him. All through my narration, he kept smiling and when I asked why, he simply said my worries were needless. He said mistakes were part of life and that without them people can hardly progress in life.

“I felt relieved and started laughing. Such was the disposition of my father; he was always there for us when we need him most and always proffered the much needed solution to our problems.”

Also, the current Waziri, Alhaji Isah Umar Audi, told the story of his late father’s simplicity and easy-going disposition. “There was a day he was preparing to travel and one of his cousins came to tell him that he needed a vehicle for an urgent trip. My father just handed his keys to him and called one of his friends to lend him his car to enable him proceed on his own journey,” he explained.

Hajiya Zuwaira Adamu Aliyu, a Kano-based business woman, said her late father was also known for his astuteness, wisdom and uprightness in both his professional and private dealings.

“For the period I lived with him (because I later moved in with my elder sister Justice Fati Lami Abubakar, who took up the role of a mother to all of us), he was very strict with us. As much as we loved him, we also feared him. He instilled good values in us.

“Baba was also humble; he was the Waziri yet he used to bring out his chair outside the house by himself to sit and chat with his friends,” she said.

In order to immortalise him, the family said it was contemplating putting up a foundation in his name to cater for indigent children across the state. The president of Gama, the association which lofty objectives include immortalising the exemplary leadership qualities of the late Sir Ahmadu Bello and other past leaders from the northern zone, Dr Isah, said the gesture is in tandem with what the late Waziri stood for going by his involvement in various youth development programmes.

“He was a resourceful and diplomatic leader who showed the youths the essential paths they needed to follow; a leader whose shining quality will remain indelible in our minds,” he noted.

Observers believe that the responsibility of sustaining the many ideals of the late Waziri is too weighty for the tender shoulders of his children and grand children but agreed that a foundation to drive the process is indeed a significant step.