In remembrance of a great man (III)

As the Ramadan month draws to a close and so shall we conclude our remembrance series on Sir Ahmadu Bello Sardaunan Sokoto, the Premier of Northern Region, who was brutally murdered by soldiers in 1966 during the fasting period. The Sardauna’s era, beginning from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, were truly the most turbulent times […]

As the Ramadan month draws to a close and so shall we conclude our remembrance series on Sir Ahmadu Bello Sardaunan Sokoto, the Premier of Northern Region, who was brutally murdered by soldiers in 1966 during the fasting period. The Sardauna’s era, beginning from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, were truly the most turbulent times in the history of the North. It was the time when the foundation of everything we have now was laid. There were frenetic activities in all spheres of human endeavour to transit the North from the dependency of colonial rule to running its own show.

 And the Sardauna, as the Premier and head of government was in the thick of it all, leading in all fronts, building schools, hospitals, roads, dams and setting up power stations to provide electricity. And to run all these complex mix he had to have sufficient number of northerners who would be capable, well-educated and dedicated to take over from the colonial administrators and technicians that were soon to fade away. Many young northerners were thus despatched to institutions in foreign lands to acquire knowledge and expertise in whatever relevant field so as to come back and join the development struggle.

Magaji Danbatta was one those young men who benefitted from such far-sighted schemes. He was born in Danbatta, in Kano province, in 1931 and was fortunate to acquire both the Islamic and formal western education. He was drawn to journalism in his youth becoming one of the early – perhaps the earliest – journalists from the North. He started reporting for Daily Comet in Kano city before moving to Kaduna to join The Nigerian Citizen. He later left for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. For someone with both the print and radio experience it was inevitable that he would end up in the Northern Ministry of Information where his kind of specialization was sorely needed to fill yawning vacancies.

While in the Ministry of Information it didn’t take him long to rise to the post of Chief Information Officer of Northern Region where he worked closely with Ahmed Joda, the Permanent Secretary, Ibrahim Biu, the Minister and the Sardauna himself. When states were created in 1968, Magaji Danbatta was deployed as a Permanent Secretary to Kano his home state. He was part of the pioneering team that shored up the efforts of the Governor, Police Commissioner Audu Bako, to rapidly develop the young state.

He later moved to the Foreign Service where he served as Counsellor for Information in Nigerian High Commission in London and Washington. He retired in 1978 into politics and civil society work in Kano where he assumed leadership and a moderating influence among contending influences. He was held in high esteem generally in the North. To underscore how he was highly regarded, Magaji  Danbatta once held both the posts of Chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) as well as Inuwar Jama’ar Kano (Kano Forum) at the same time. He wrote his engaging autobiography, ‘Pull of Fate’, which was presented to the public in 2010. He died in 2014 just a few days after the conclusion of the National Conference where he was the leader of the Kano State delegation.

In the early parts of his career in Kaduna, the Northern Nigerian Government sent young Magaji Danbatta to the United Kingdom to further his education. It was there he experienced Sardauna’s legendary concern for Northern Nigerian students. This excerpt is from his autobiography, ‘Pull of Fate’: 

“One thing that always showed the Sardauna of Sokoto as a great leader was his concern for little things. Sardauna visited me in Hitchin during one of his trips to Britain. I had paid a courtesy call on him at his usual St. James Hotel in London’s Victoria district when he recalled reading with interest some news stories I was sending to the Nigerian Citizen occasionally on my experiences as a student Hitchin.as was typical of the Sardauna, he was concerned with the welfare of Northern Nigerian students overseas and the progress they were making in their educational pursuits. 

“Accordingly, he asked me searching questions about my stay in Hitchin, the benefit from the course I was undertaking as well as the way I was being treated by my editors and the town’s people. I was utterly surprised when at the end of our discussion he announced his wish to pay a visit to the town in which I was studying, to see things for himself. In no time arrangements were made through the colonial office. I rushed back to Hitchin to await his arrival and to inform my excited editor, Mr Loman, of the impending event.

 The Sardauna travelled to Hitchin by road, a distance of 34 miles from London. His arrival there was big news in itself. He was decidedly at his best, dressed in a gorgeous gown with an Arab head-gear. He drove into town in a Rolls Royce car which in itself was a sight to behold. Not many of the people in the locality had seen a Rolls Royce before. The car made straight to the front of the offices of Hertfordshire Express. My editor, his staff and myself, were waiting outside. As he emerged from the car the distinguished visitor extended his hand to the editor who responded with a firm handshake. In no time a chunk of the town was in front of the newspaper’s office. The Sardauna was conducted round the offices – – – Tea was served, during which he asked questions about me and beamed with satisfaction about the response he got that I was doing well. The editor interviewed him about himself, his office and about the Nigerian situation. He even asked about the great Kaduna Durbar that took place two and half years earlier, as the biggest treat to Queen Elizabeth 11 on her historic visit to Nigeria.

The Northern Premier’s presence in Hitchin was front page story the following morning not only in Hertfordshire Express but also in the daily paper of the nearby town of Luton. On his departure attention turned to me as the centre of attraction more so now than when I first came to the town. On that day the Sardauna had carried high the Nigerian flag in that part of Britain and the North in particular, a very favourable publicity and enduring goodwill which no amount of money could have bought.”

Excerpts from Ambassador Yahaya Kwande’s autobiography, ‘The Making of a Northern Nigerian’ have featured twice in this series and might therefore not need further introduction. The following which should serve as an apt conclusion is taken from the same book: 

“A man’s greatness is entirely within his person – the Sardauna was a perfect proof of this. His humility those days always amazed me. Soon after my resumption of duties in the Ministry of Social Welfare and Cooperatives in 1958 I had cause to go and see him in his residence one afternoon. I did not realise that from the casual manner the servant ushered me in, the Premier was having his lunch. The moment I stepped into his living room, I balked and would have run outside if he had not called out to stop me. Right there on the carpet sat the great person of the Sardauna himself, with no less than a dozen lowly commoners – some of whom were actually his personal aides – sitting so familiarly with him. In the centre of this circle of the prince and the paupers lay a piece of plastic tray containing dishes, from which they were all eating together while exchanging friendly banter. He smiled genially at me as I stood there gaping and waved to me to come and join them quickly before the food would finish . . .”