Audu Bako: Recollections of a loyal police orderly (I)
Police Commissioner Audu Bako, the first military Governor of Kano State, now generally regarded as the architect of modern Kano, had a turbulent end to his eight-year-long tenure. His group of military governors, who served under General Yakubu Gowon (1968-75), had the misfortune of being overthrown in a 1975 military coup and consequently lost not […]
Police Commissioner Audu Bako, the first military Governor of Kano State, now generally regarded as the architect of modern Kano, had a turbulent end to his eight-year-long tenure. His group of military governors, who served under General Yakubu Gowon (1968-75), had the misfortune of being overthrown in a 1975 military coup and consequently lost not only their offices but also their commissions, property, and livelihoods. For a few years after their ouster, the succeeding junta made deliberate efforts to denigrate their achievements and paint their reputations in lurid shades.
It was only a few years later, when the veneer of propaganda had vanished, that it became clear that General Gowon and his governors had been an accomplished team. They have succeeded not only in preventing the country from disintegrating but also in laying the lasting infrastructure that defines the country’s economy today. Subsequent regimes restored their ranks, their good names and properties. However, Governor Audu Bako was tragically not fortunate enough to enjoy these gestures in his lifetime. He died embittered in 1980, just five years after their removal from office.
It is this much I learnt from the book, Governor Audu Bako: A Man of Wisdom and Foresight, unveiled by the retired Commissioner of Police, Dogo Manya, at a ceremony in Kano in November last year. Dogo Manya had served as an orderly to Audu Bako before and during the entire period he was governor of Kano State. He had built up a close relationship with his principal to the point that they almost became like family. This is even though Audu Bako was a Hausa-Fulani Muslim whose father came to Kaduna from Argungu, while Dogo Manya, a Gwong Christian, is from Jema’a LG in Kaduna State. It is from that vantage position that Dogo Manya wrote about his boss.
A cross-section of Kano elites attended the launching ceremony. Both the governors of Kano and Jigawa States sent high-level delegations, while former Governor Shekarau attended in person. Ninety-nine-year-old Tanko Yakasai, the last surviving commissioner in the Audu Bako cabinet, was there too, along with the offspring of commissioners such as Aminu Dantata.
By all estimation, the book was a labour of love. It has been in gestation since the 1980s, when Dogo Manya felt the need to pen the story of this great man, whom he felt was grievously wronged by those he served. Manya was still in service then, navigating his way from the ranks to the heights of the post of Commissioner of Police, which he attained. Manya literally pulled himself up by the bootstraps, going back to school and assiduously taking and passing promotion exams. After many years of writing from memory, researching here and there, and talking to associates of the former governor, he completed his assignment.
Young police constable Dogo Manya was posted to serve Audu Bako as his orderly in July 1966. Audu Bako was then an Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of the ‘F’ Department at the former Police Northern Headquarters, Kaduna Capital Territory. It was the beginning of a close association that only Audu Bako’s death could separate.
The book shows a great deal of storytelling skills. Manya wrote that Audu Bako was a replica of the father and was brought up to be so. The father, Yakubu Ibrahim Bako, was born in 1878 in Argungu. He grew up during the period when British colonialists first appeared in the north. Yakubu was a charming young man, and he impressed the white folks. They adopted him as an aide and used him as a guide to tour Kebbi Province extensively. He joined the colonial police force in 1903 in Kaduna. Manya told us that throughout his career, Yakubu pursued knowledge through self-development and informal education. As a result, he rose rapidly through the ranks, from Police Sergeant to Regimental Sergeant Major and retired in 1938 as Major Inspector. He was also reputed to be the first Nigerian instructor at the Police College, Kaduna.
Yakubu had a phenomenal career in the police force. He was said to be close to Lord Lugard when he was High Commissioner of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate (1900-06). Legend had it that Yakubu helped give Kaduna its name. Manya wrote: ‘Yakubu was in the company of white colonials with Lord Lugard in the lead. Intrigued by the abundance of crocodiles in the river, they asked him what the Hausa word for crocodile was. He said: Kadunan-na (the plural for Kada, i.e. crocodile in the Sokoto Hausa dialect). This informed the colonialists’ decision to name the river, Kaduna. Later, when they built a garrison in the river’s vicinity, and a town sprang up about it, they named the new settlement, Kaduna.’
At retirement, Yakubu was appointed President of the Kaduna Mixed Court and in 1945, Jafaru, the Emir of Zazzau turbaned him as Sarkin Sabon Garin Kaduna. Yakubu lived to the ripe age of 98. He died in 1967, the same year his son, Audu Bako, was appointed governor of Kano State. Earlier, over the years, he had watched his son join the police force and rise to the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police.
Why is Governor Audu Bako’s tenure in Kano celebrated to this day? We will continue the conversation next week.