The Northern Blog is celebrating Kano State golden jubilee by recognizing prominent people who contributed in diverse ways to the growth and development of Kano State. This list is not in any way hierarchical and although most of these people fulfilled some criteria set by the research team of The Northern Blog, we will still accommodate any individual who you feel should be on the list. However, we will not add the person to the list until we are convinced. We have gathered the history of these people based on our capacity, we did not alter any information deliberately, in case there is any observation as such please do make sure to inform us so we will make the necessary corrections.
ALI
YAJI DAN TSAMIYA
Ali
Yaji (1349–85) presided over the introduction of the Abrahamic religions in
Kano, he brought in holy men from Wangara, presumably Mali. He extended Kano's
reach and launched an unsuccessful expedition into the Kwarafa region. He became
the Last king of Kano when in the 1350s, after conquering Rano and Santolo
he made Islam the state religion and proclaimed an end to the Kingdom, Kano
from then on became an Islamic sultanate and its leaders took on the Title of Sultan.
He died on Friday 9th Safar 1262 AH (9th February 1846) he had governed Kano
for twenty-seven years three months and sixteen days. He was a scholar and one
of his works Kaff al-ikhwani
has been recovered it was published in Kano Native Authority Press c. 1955
(Hunwick 1995: 258-9).
SARKI
IBRAHIM DABO
He was appointed Sarkin Kano on Tuesday 23rd/24th
Dhil Qa’ada 1234 AH (21st September 1819) by Sarkin Musulmi Muhammad Bello. He
was perhaps the youngest member of the Emirate council before his appointment
as the Sarki he had succeeded his elder brother Mallam Jamo as a member of
the council. The elder members of the Emirate Council unanimously nominated
Ibrahim Dabo for the emirship. He had a record of sound Islamic scholarship at
Gulu where he established a Mosque, which has remained as a legacy of his
remarkable scholarship. He returned to Kano from Gulu to join the contingent of
his elder brother Mallam Jamo during the Jihad campaigns in Kano. Ibrahim
Dabo was confronted by serious dissent immediately he assumed the Emirship
of Kano the most serious was that of Dantunku, who refused to pledge allegiance
to the new Sarki. He was nicknamed Saifullahi
or Sword of Allah (Ado-Kurawa 1989: 53) because of his victory over all the
incited rebels who revolted against his leadership. Ibrahim
Dabo established an efficient administration after subduing his opponents
and rebels. This was achieved diplomatically force was only used when it was
indispensable. Muhammad Zangi Ibn Salih has summarised these
administrative successes of Sarki Ibrahim Dabo in his Taqyid al-akhbar as follows:
“He established justice insttructed people to do good and prevented them from
doing evil. He killed the highway robbers, amputated the hands of the theives
and destroyed the houses of the fornicators. It reached an extent that people
no longer closed their doors at night and animals moved freely without shephards
except during the rainy season. Allah opened the routes during his reign and a
lady could travel from Kukawa to Kwara without any harrasment” (Ado-Kurawa
1989: 53). He died on Friday 9th Safar 1262 AH (9th Febraury 1846) he had
governed Kano for twenty-seven years three months and sixteen days (Ado-Kurawa
1989: 53 and Last 1966: 468-9). He was a scholar and one of his works Kaff al-ikhwani has been recovered
it was published in Kano Native Authority Press c. 1955 (Hunwick 1995: 258-9).
MUHAMMADU RUMFA
Muhammad Rumfa was the Sultan of the
Sultanate of Kano, located in modern-day Kano State, Northern Nigeria, it was
believed that Muhammad Rumfa migrated from Daura, long after Bagauda. He
reigned from 1463 until 1499. Among Rumfa's accomplishments were
extending the city walls, building a large palace, the Gidan Rumfa,
promoting slaves to governmental positions and establishing the Kurmi Market.
He was also responsible for much of the Islamization
of Kano, as he urged prominent residents to convert.
MUHAMMADU ABBAS
Muhammad
Abbas was a Regent of Kano and later Emir of Kano. He
was appointed regent by Lord Lugard after the pacification of Northern Nigeria,
he presided over the transformation of the Caliphal Emirate into an Emirate
subject to the British throne under the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria.
Little
is known about the early life of Muhammad Abbas. During the Third Kanoan civil
war, he was loyal to his brothers and later became the Wambai of Kano after Aliyu Babba
led the Yusufawa to victory. He escorted Aliyu Babba
to Sokoto for the autumn campaign of 1903, when Kano was captured by the
British. After the Battle of Kwatarkwashi, he led section of
the Kanoan force to surrender to Lugard, for his loyalty, Lugard appointed him
Regent of Kano and in May 1903 confirmed him as the Emir of Kano.
SARKIN KANO TUKUR
Tukur the son of
Sarkin Kano Bello was the Galadiman Kano and hero of the battle of
Arugungu in which he saved the Sarkin Musulmi Abdurrahman who later appointed
him Sarkin Kano in December 1893 (Last 1966: 468). This was the reward for his
bravery at that the Arugungu encounter in which the Sokoto army was nearly
defeated. Waziri Bukhari advised against Tukur’s appointment because of the
latter’s unpopularity and the fact that the Sarkin Musulmi had earlier promised
to appoint Yusuf who was more popular in Kano (Hogben 1967: 211).
The majority of the
apolitical Kano Jama’a pledged their allegiance to Tukur but only two sons
Sarkin Kano Abdullahi Majekarofi pledged their allegiance to him because they
were the only ones not dismissed by Tukur’s father. It was in the presence of
one of them, Wambai Shehu that Tukur’s brother, Sarkin Shanu Datti made this
statement: “today only five of us have conquered one hundred” (Fika 1978: 61).
This statement angered Tukur and he reprimanded his younger brother but the
damage had been done. Wambai Shehu was so furious that he went straight to
Yusuf’s residence were his brothers were meeting and planning the next line of
action.
Most of the
territorial chiefs and Emirate titleholders were Tukurawa (supporters of
Tukur). For example Madaki Ibrahim Mallam, Makama Iliyasu, Sarkin Bai
Bashari (Alhaji), Alkalin Kano Modibo Salihu, Sarkin Gaya Ibrahim Dabo and
Sarkin Fulanin Dambatta were all staunch supporters of Sarki Tukur. He
directed Chiroma Musa, Turaki Zakari and Sarkin Fulanin Dambatta to
defend Gano, Gogel and Garko respectively against the Yusufawa
(supporters of Yusuf) who have already left Kano for Takai. He also instructed
them to secure the support of the inhabitants of these towns against the rebels
(Said 1978: 365-369 and Fika 1978: 74). He later died on Saturday 19th Ramadan 1312 (16th
March 1895) at Gurin and he was buried there.
SARKIN KANO ALU
He was the Waziri and
closiest associate of the leader of the Yusufawa, Yusuf Dan Abdullahi. When the
later died the Cucanawa skillfully stage-managed the ascension of Aliyu to the
leadership of the group. He was the most knowledgeable and charismatic of the
surviving sons of Abdullahi Majekarofi. It was also believed that Yusuf
recommended him as his successor because he was a grandson of Sarkin Musulmi
Aliyu Babba Dan Muhammad Bello thus making it difficult for Sokoto to attack
the Yusufawa (Last 1977: 135-136). The two contenders to the leadership of the
Yusufawa, Sarkin Dawakin Tsakar Gida Abbas and Dan Makwayo Shehu
had no option other than to pledge allegiance to their younger brother.
Aliyu triumphantly
entered Kano on Wednesday 16th Safar 1312 AH (19th August 1894) after the
defeat of Sarki Tukur who was forced into exile. Sarkin Musulmi Abdulrahman’s
effort to reinstate Tukur failed while Aliyu consolidated his position as the
new Sarkin Kano. He made many appointments the most prominent was his elder
brother Ahmadu who was appointed Waziri, which was the highest title
(East and Mani 1979: 52). He also appointed Mahmud, Kwairanga, Sulaiman, Hamza,
Abdussalam as Galadima, Madaki, Alkali, Makama and Sarkin
Bai respectively.
Aliyu was a brave and
industrious warrior he invented the sango (explosive), which he
used in his miltary engagements. The Damagarawa seriously threatened his
authority. They invaded Kano twice in the first instance in 1313 AH (1896) they
were heavily defeated but later in 1313 AH (1898) they retaliated and inflicted
heavy casualty and defeat on Kano. Eventually Kano was relieved of their
nuisance in 1316 (1899) when the French imperialist subjugated them. He was
also able withstand Ningi’s aggressiveness, the Ningawa were defeated several
times during his reign. The other external threats to his reign were Maradi and
Hadejia when they took the advantage of the uneasiness caused by the Kano civil
war (Fika 1978: 75-76).
Sarkin Kano Alu will be
remembered in the history of Kano as an excellent military commander and the
most knowledgeable pre-colonial Sarkin Kano. He was well versed in Islamic
Jurisprudence he also had a profound understanding of the advanced science of Tasawwuf (Islamic mystism). His
book Rad al-Jahla is a clear testimony
of his intellectual disposition (Paden 1973).
ADO
BAYERO
Alhaji Dr. Ado Abdullahi
Bayero
(CFR, LLD,
JP) (25 July 1930 – 6 June 2014) was the Emir
of Kano in Nigeria, from 1963 to his death. Bayero was seen as one of Nigeria's
most prominent and revered Muslim leaders who was a successful businessman and
had worked as a banker, police officer, MP and diplomat. He was a former
ambassador to Senegal.
He was the son of Abdullahi Bayero son of Muhammad Abbas. Ado
Bayero was the 13th Fulani emir since the Fulani War
of Usman dan Fodio, when the Fulani took over the Hausa
city-states. He was one of the strongest and most powerful emirs in the history
of the Hausa land. He was renowned for his abundant wealth, maintained by means
of stock market investments and large-scale agricultural entrepreneurship both
at home and abroad.
Ado Bayero was the son
of Abdullahi Bayero, a former emir, who reigned
for 27 years. Muhammadu Sanusi who was Ado Bayero's half
brother ruled after their father from 1953-1963. Following his dethronement in
1963, Muhammadu Inuwa ruled only for three months.
After his death, Ado Bayero ascended the throne in October 1963. Bayero was the
longest-serving emir in Kano's history.
Bayero was a former
chancellor of the University of Nigeria and served as the
chancellor of the University of Ibadan. He has served as the
chief of the Kano police. He was installed the Emir of Kano on October 22,
1963, becoming the 13th Fulani emir of Kano and the 56th ruler of the Kano Kingdom. He died on 6
June 2014. He was succeeded by his brother's grandson Muhammadu Sanusi II.
AUDU BAKO
Audo Bako was born in
1924 at the Kaduna
police barracks. His father had served in the police force for 36 years and was
chief of the Sabon Gari (non-Hausa people)
in Kaduna. He was educated to the Kaduna Government School and the Zaria Middle
School. Bako joined the police force in 1942, became an instructor in police
law at the Kaduna Police College, and then was appointed deputy commissioner of
police in charge of all Native Authority police in the former Northern Region. Appointed military
governor of the old Kano State in May 1967, Bako undertook reforms of the local
governments which had been dominated by the traditional emirs. He sought to
improve professionalism among local government employees while transferring
some responsibilities to the State government. He said the reforms would
strengthen the position of the Emirs in their traditional role as religious
leaders.
Bako built most of
modern Kano's
landmark structures. The state government secretariat and the Audu Bako School of Agriculture
in Dambatta
were named after him. Baku was a strong supporter of women's
education. Using the teachings of the Shehu
as justification, Bako established primary, secondary and teachers training
colleges for women and children. He produced the first plan for
developing and promoting tourism in the state in 1967. He
established the Trade and Industry Division under the Ministry of Finance in
1968.
Bako retired in 1975
after the coup that brought General Murtala
Muhammed to power, and began farming in Sokoto State.
He died in 1980 leaving a widow and eleven children. After his death, the Tiga
dam was renamed the Audu Bako dam. The Audu Bako prize is awarded
each year to the winner of the Kano International Polo Tournament. Bako
was widely respected, and was considered an example of moral integrity.
MALLAM AMINU KANO
Aminu Kano (1920—April 17, 1983)
was a Muslim politician from Nigeria. In the 1940s he led a socialist movement in the
northern part of the country in opposition to British rule. The Mallam Aminu Kano International
Airport and the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, both in Kano, are named after him.
Aminu Kano was born to the family of an Islamic scholar, Mallam Yusuf of the
scholarly Gyanawa fulani clan, who was a mufti at the Alkali
court in Kano. He attended Katsina College and later went to the University of London's, Institute of
Education, alongside Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
He earned his teaching certificate after completing his studies at Katsina
College and subsequently became a teacher; he started teaching at the Bauchi
training College.
While in Bauchi, he
spoke freely on political issues and extended his educational
horizon by engaging in some various political and educational activities beyond
his formal teaching duties. He wrote a pamphlet,
'Kano, Under the Hammer of the Native Administration, and along with Balewa,
was a member of the Bauchi General Improvement Union. He was also a secretary
of the Bauchi Discussion Circle, a group whose activities were later
constricted as a result of an attack on indirect rule
by Aminu Kano. In 1948, he became the head of the teacher training
center in Maru, Sokoto
and was also the secretary of the Northern Teachers Association.
During this period, he
established an organization to improve the quality of Koranic schools in the
north. Aminu Kano co-founded
the Northern Elements Progressive Union as a political platform to challenge
what he felt was the autocratic and feudalistic
actions of the Native Northern Government. He geared his attack on the ruling elite including the emirs, who were mostly Fulanis.
The potency of his platform was strengthened partly because of his background.
His father was an acting Alkali in Kano who came from a lineage of Islamic clerics, Aminu Kano also
brought up Islamic ideas on equity in his campaign trails during the first republic. Many
talakawas (commoners)
in Kano lined up behind his message and his political stature grew from the
support of the Kano commoners and migratory petty traders in the
north. Many of the tradesmen later manned the offices of NEPU. He
also sought to use politics to create an egalitarian
Northern Nigerian society.
Another major idea of
his in the prelude to the first republic was the breakup of ethnically
based parties. The idea was well received by his emerging support base of petty
traders and craftsmen in towns along the rail track. The men and women were
mostly migratory individuals searching for trade opportunities and had little
ethnic similarities with their host communities. He also proposed a fiscal
system that favors heavy taxation of the rich in the region and was notably one
of the few leading Nigerian politicians that supported equal rights
for women.
Mallam Aminu Kano is
highly respected politician in Northern Nigeria. He symbolized democratization,
women's empowerment and freedom of speech. An airport, a college and also a
major street are also named after him in Kano. His house where he lived and
died and buried has been converted to Centre for Democratic Research and
Training under the Bayero University Kano.
SHIEK ISA WAZIRI
Sheikh
Waziri became famous in Kano and other parts of the country through his routine
Tafsir (commentaries on the verses of the holy Qur’an), especially during the
holy month of Ramadan. His Tafsir garnered audience that cut across all ages.
He was famous for his soft but firm tone while translating the verses of
the holy Qur’an. Malam Abdullahi described late Waziri as “easy going, but
frank and straight forward. He never hid his feelings and he was man of
principle.” Late Sheikh Waziri began his pursuit for knowledge at home with his
father, Malam Gidado, a onetime Waziri of Kano. After the death of his father,
he continued his studies with his elder brother, Malam Cigari Waziri and later
with another elder brother, Malam Shehu Gidado, also a former Waziri of Kano.
Late Waziri enrolled into the School for Arabic Studies and the School for Higher Arabic Education (Aliya) at Shahuchi Quarters all in Kano to earn certificate in Islamic studies. He then proceeded to Egypt where he earned certificate in Qur’anic exegesis (Tafsir) and related fields. Sheikh Waziri began his public service career as a classroom teacher and later became a judge (Alkali); the job that took him to many towns in Kano like Gwarzo, Zakirai, Minjibir, among others. After leaving the judiciary, he became the Vice Principal of Government Arabic Teachers College Gwale, Kano.
He retired from active service in 1981, and was then appointed as chief Imam of the Murtala Muhammad Mosque in Kano. In the year 2000, he was appointed the chief Imam of Kano central mosque and also turbaned as the Waziri of Kano in the same year. He was the 8th Waziri of Kano under the Fulani dynasty. Commenting on the death of Sheikh Waziri, a Kano-based Islamic scholar, Sheikh Tijjani Bala Kalarawi, said the death of the cleric has created a big vacuum in Nigeria’s Islamic scholarship.
ABUBAKAR RIMI
Alhaji Muhammadu
Abubakar Rimi (1940 – 4 April 2010) was a Nigerian
politician, who was the governor of Kano State
during the Nigerian Second Republic. He died
following an attack by armed robbers. Alhaji Abubakar Rimi was born in 1940 in
Rimi Village of Sumaila
Local Government Area of Kano State, Nigeria.
In the early 1960s he attended an instructor's course at the institute of
Administration in Zaria.
He obtained a General Certificate of education from the University of London. In 1972, he
completed a diploma in international affairs at the London institute of World
Affairs, and later obtained a master's degree in International Relations. He
served as an instructor at the Clerical Training Center in Sokoto, and later
became an Administrative Secretary at the Nigerian Institute of International
Affairs. n May 1983 Rimi fell out with his mentor Aminu Kano and moved from the
People's Redemption Party (PRP) to the Nigerian People's Party (NPP) in preparation
for the 1983 elections.
ALHASSAN DANTATA
Alhassan Dantata (1877 – 17 August 1955)
was a Northern Nigerian trader in kola nuts,
ground nuts and distributor of European
goods. He supplied large British trading companies with raw materials and also
had business interests in the Gold Coast. At the time of his death he was one
of the wealthiest men in West Africa. Alhassan was sent to a Qur'anic
school (madrasah) in Bebeji. It is likely that it was run by a Tijaniyya.
His share of his father's wealth seemed to have vanished and he had to support
himself. The life of the almajiri (Qur'anic student) is difficult, as he has to
find food and clothing for himself and also for his malam (teacher) and at the
same time read. Some simply begged while others sought paid work. Alhassan
worked, as was tradition for a young Agalawa. He succeeded at the insistence of
Tata in saving. His asusu, "money box" (a pottery vessel) purchased
by Tata, still exists in the walls of the house. Dantata was still a teenager
boy when the great upheavals occurred in the Kano Emirate
from 1893 to 1895. There were two claimants to the Kano Emirate when Emir
Muhammad Bello died in 1893. Tukur was his son. Tukur received his religious
training from a Tijaniyya scholar and received the support of the Agalawa.
Yusufu had been passed over when Bello became Emir. Yusufu received his
religious training from Qaadiriyya schools. In the resulting civil war, Yusufu
forces were victorious over Tukur, and claimed the title of emir. Because of
the Agalawa support of Tukur, Dantata and the other Agalawa had their property
confiscated and many were captured. Dantata and his brothers were held for
ransom, under the threat of slavery. They paid it and Dantata returned to the
trading business without his family lands around Kano. Probably after being
freed from slavery around 1894, Alhassan joined a Gonja bound caravan to see
his mother. He purchased some items in Bebeji, he sold half of them on the way
and the rest in Accra. He might have hoped his wealthy mother would allow him
to live with her and find him work among the Gold Coast Agalawa community.
After only a rest of one day, she took him to a Mallam
and asked him to stay there until he was ready to return to Bebeji. Alhassan
worked harder in Accra than he did in Bebeji. After the usual reading of the
Qur'an, Alhassan Dantata had to go and beg for food for his mallam and himself.
He worked for money on Thursdays and Fridays. As was the tradition, the bulk of
his earnings went to his Mallam. At some point he returned to Bebeji to his
religious studies and work. There, Tata continued to insist that he must save
something every day. Alhassan Dantata started to be a long distance trader
himself. He remained in Bebeji until matters had settled down. He used the new
trade routes to Ibadan and Lagos to develop his network of trading associates.
Instead of bringing kola nuts on pack animals, he used steamships to transport
them between Accra,
Kumasi,
Sekondi
and Lagos.
He was the first to develop this route. This innovation and contact with
Europeans helped establish his wealth and future.
In 1906, he began
broadening his interests by trading in beads, necklaces, European cloth, and
trade goods. His mother, who had never remarried, died in Accra around 1908.
After her death he focused his attention on new opportunities in Lagos and
Kano. For example, built up his trade in kola nuts so that eventually whole
"kola trains" to Northern Nigeria were filled with his kola nuts.
In 1912, when the
Europeans started to show an interest in the export of groundnut, they
contacted the already established Kano merchants through Emir Abbas and their
chief agent, Adamu Jakada. Some established merchants of Kano like Umaru
Sharubutu, Maikano Agogo accepted their offer.
Alhassen Dantata was
already familiar with the manner by which traders could make fortunes by buying
cocoa for Europeans in the Gold Coast. He had several advantages over other
Kano business men: language, wealth and age. He could speak some English and
already had direct dealings with Europeans in Lagos and Accra. He had
substantial amounts of capital. Unlike other established Kano merchants, he was
in his mid-thirties, with a small family and retinue to support. Despite the
famine in Kano in 1914, he quickly dominated the groundnut purchasing business
via promotions, loans and contacts.
In 1918, the UK-based Royal Niger Company (later became the United Africa Company) searched for an
agent to purchase groundnuts for them, and Dantata responded to their offer. It
is said that he used to purchase about half of all the nuts
purchased by the United Africa Company in northern Nigeria.
By 1922 Dantata had
become the richest businessman in Kano, surpassing other merchant traders. In
1929, when the Bank of British West Africa opened a
branch in Kano, Dantata placed 20 camel-loads of silver coins in it. (For
religious reasons, his money collected no interest). Shortly before his death,
he pointed to sixty "groundnut pyramids" in Kano and said,
"These are all mine".
Alhassen Dantata applied
for a license to purchase and export groundnuts in 1940, on the same level as
the United Africa Company. However, it was not granted because of world wide
military and economic conditions. In 1953–54 he became a licensed buying agent,
which allowed him to sell directly to the Nigerian Groundnut Marketing board
instead of another firm.
Dantata had many
business connections both in Nigeria and in other West African countries,
particularly the Gold Coast. He dealt, not only in groundnuts and kola, but
also in other merchandise. He traded in cattle, cloth, beads, precious stones,
grains, rope and other things.
In 1955, Dantata fell
ill. Because of the seriousness of his illness, he summoned his chief financial
controller, Garba Maisikeli and his children. He told them that his days were
approaching their end and advised them to live together. He was particularly
concerned about the company he had established (Alhassan Dantata & Son's).
He asked them not to allow the company to collapse. He implored them to
continue to marry within the family as much as possible. He urged them to avoid
clashes with other wealthy Kano merchants. They should take care of their
relatives, especially the poor among them. Three days later he died in his
sleep on Wednesday 17 August 1955. He was buried in his house in the Sarari
ward.
AMINU DANTATA
Aminu Dantata (born 1931) is a Nigerian
businessman and philanthropist who is one of the promoters of Kano State
Foundation, an endowment fund that supported educational initiatives and
provided grants to small-scale entrepreneurs in Kano. He is the head of a group
of companies that manages his real estate and other business ventures.
Dantata is the founder
of Express Petroleum & Gas Company Ltd and one of the organizers of Jaiz Bank
in Nigeria. In 1978, he was a member of the National Movement, an organization
that later transformed to the National Party of Nigeria.
Dantata was born to the
family of Alhassan Dantata, he was the fifteenth child in
a family of seventeen children. From 1938 to 1945, he attended Dala Primary
School and then finished his education through home studies in a private school
built by his father. After studies, he joined the family business, Alhassan
Dantata & sons in 1948 as a produce buyer and also got married. In 1955, he
became the Sokoto
district manager of the business. The year 1955 was also when his father died
and the shares in the business were subsequently distributed to the children.
In 1958, Dantata became the deputy managing director of the business with his
brother Ahmadu, was the MD. When Ahmadu died in 1960, Dantata became the head
of the business.
Over the years, Dantata
expanded the business holdings and his activities into various sectors of the
Nigerian political and economic sphere. By the beginning of the 1960s, Dantata
had a construction firm that received patronage form the newly independent
government in Nigeria, his firm was given a contract to build part of the School of Aviation in Zaria. In 1961, he was
among three other businessmen as part of the 23 member economic mission group,
the first world-wide mission sent by an independent government in Nigeria. In
1964, he was among the pioneer board members of the Nigerian Industrial
Development Bank. In 1968, Dantata was appointed Kano State commissioner for
Economic Development, Trade and Industry under the administration of Audu Bako,
he was in the position until 1973.
During the
indigenization period of the 1970s, the Dantata group bought shares and held
significant holdings in Namco Nig, Main Line transport, SCOA, Funtua Cotton
Seed Crushing Co and Raleigh Industries. Dantata has donated
funds and buildings to various institutions around Kano. He donated the
Alhassan Dantata Haemodyalysis Center to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. He was
the first chancellor of Al-Qalam University, Katsina.
SHIEK ISYAKU RABIU
Rabiu was born to the
family of Muhammadu Rabiu Dan Tinki, a Quranic preacher from the Bichi area of
Kano State who led his own Quranic school. From 1936 to 1942, Rabiu's attended
his father's school learning the Quran and Arabic. He then moved to Maiduguri,
Borno for further Islamic education. After spending 4 years in Maiduguri, he
returned to Kano prepared to be an Islamic scholar. In 1949, Rabiu was an
independent teacher of Arabic and the Quran who had among his
audience, Ibrahim Musa Gashash. In the early 1950s
while still a teacher, Rabiu began to engage in private enterprise and
established Isyaku Rabiu & Sons in 1952. Originally the firm acted as an
agent of UAC and was trading in sewing machines,
religious books and bicycles. In 1958, the firm had a breakthrough when Kaduna
Textile Limited was established and it became one of the early distributors.
Rabiu emerged as the leading distributor of the company in Northern Nigeria. In
1963, he joined a consortium of businessmen from Kano who came together to form
the Kano Merchants Trading Company. The establishments continued to survive
withstanding competition from foreign products. In 1970, he established a suit
and packing factory. Isyaku Rabiu & Sons founded by Rabiu is a family operated
holding company with a history of investment in manufacturing, insurance,
banking and real estate. In the 1970s, the group invested in manufacturing with
its first investment being the Kano Suit and Packing Cases company, a factory
producing suit cases and handbags, the firm was a joint venture with Lebanese
investors. In 1972, he formed the Bagauda Textile Mill, manufacturing woven
cloths for uniforms. From then on he established a series of ventures in
different segments of the economy including frozen food service, real estate,
sugar and a motor vehicle and parts distribution company specialized in Daihatsu
products. However, unfavorable exchange rates and economic conditions forced
the company to scale back on manufacturing and returning to its trading roots.
ABDULSAMAD ISYAKU RABIU
AbdulSamad Isyaku Rabiu CON (born 4
August 1960, Kano
Nigeria)
is a Nigerian businessman. His father, Khalifah Isyaku Rabiu
was one of Nigeria's foremost industrialists in the 1970s and 1980s. Abdul
Samad is the founder and chairman of BUA Group, a Nigerian conglomerate with
interests in manufacturing, infrastructure and agriculture with a revenue in
excess of $2.5 billion. He is also the chairman of Nigerian Bank of
Industry. In 2013, Forbes
estimated Abdul Samad's wealth at $1.2 billion, bringing him to the global
billionaire's club.
Abdul Samad Rabiu was
born in Kano
in the North-Western part of Nigeria, where he did his early education. He then attended Capital University in Columbus, Ohio and returned to Nigeria
at the age of 24 to oversee the family business. This was the time his father, Isyaku Rabiu
was detained by the administration of General Muhammadu
Buhari on allegation of duty aversion on rice imports. As a young
executive director at the company, Abdul Samad was able to steer the family
business out of trouble created by the absence of their father.
Abdul Samad Rabiu
established BUA International Limited in 1988 for sole purpose of commodity
trading. The company engaged in the importation of rice, edible oil, flour and
iron and steel.
In 1990, the then
Government owned Delta Steel Company contracted BUA to supply its raw materials
needs, for which Bua was paid with finished products. This provided the much
needed windfall for the young company. Bua further ventured into steel, billets
and iron ore importation and supplying multiple rolling mils
in the country.
Few years down the line,
BUA acquired Nigerian Oil Mills Limited, the largest edible oil processing
company in Nigeria
and later set up 2 flour milling plants in Lagos and Kano in 2005. By 2008, Bua
broke an eight-year monopoly in the Nigerian sugar industry by commissioning
the second largest sugar refinery in sub-saharan Africa. The
company went on the acquire a controlling stake in a publicly listed Cement
Company of Northern Nigeria in 2009 and commenced to construction of a
$900 million cement plant in Edo State commissioned early 2015.
Abdul Samad Rabiu uses
BUA Foundation for his philanthropic activities. These include the construction
of a 7,000 Square meter paediatric ward at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital as
well as the construction of the Centre for Islamic Studies at the Bayero University Kano amongst several
others.
MURTALA MUHAMMAD
Murtala Muhammed was
born on 8 November 1938, one of eleven children of his father Risqua Muhammed
and mother Uwani Rahamat in Kano, Nigeria. He was educated at Cikin Gida and
Gidan Makama primary schools in Kano attending the famous Government College
(now Barewa College) in Zaria, and where he obtained his school certificate in
1957. On July 30, 1975, Brigadier (later General) Muhammed was made head of state,
when General Gowon was overthrown while at an Organization of African Unity (OAU) summit
in Kampala, Uganda. Brigadiers Obasanjo (later Lt.General) and Danjuma (later
Lt.General) were appointed as Chief of Staff, Supreme HQ and Chief of Army
Staff, respectively. In the coup d'état that brought him to power he introduced
the phrases "Fellow Nigerians" and "with immediate effect"
to the national lexicon.[7]
In a short time, Murtala Muhammed's policies won him broad popular support, and
his decisiveness elevated him to the status of a folk hero.
Murtala Muhammed was
killed, aged 37, along with his Aide-De-Camp (ADC), Lieutenant Akintunde Akinsehinwa, in his black
Mercedes Benz saloon car on February 13, 1976, in an abortive coup attempt led
by Lt. Col Buka Suka Dimka, when his car was ambushed
while en route his office at Dodan Barracks,
Lagos.
The only visible sign of protection was a pistol carried by his orderly,
therefore making his assassination an easy task. He was succeeded by the Chief
of Staff, Supreme HQ Olusegun Obasanjo, who completed his plan of an
orderly transfer to civilian rule by handing power to Shehu Shagari
on October 1, 1979. Today, his portrait adorns the 20 Naira note and Murtala Muhammed International
Airport in Lagos is named in his honor.
SANI ABATCHA
A Kanuri
from Borno,
Abacha was born and brought up in Kano, Nigeria.
He attended the Nigerian Military Training College and Mons Officer Cadet School before being
commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in 1963. Abacha was commissioned in 1963 after he had attended
Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot, England. Before then, he had attended the Nigerian Military Training College
in Kaduna.
In 1990, Abacha became the first Nigerian soldier to attain the rank of a full
General without skipping a single rank.
Early in 1998, Abacha
announced that elections would be held that August, with a view toward handing
power to a civilian government on 1 October. It soon became apparent, though,
that Abacha had no intention of permitting an honest election; by April he had
strong-armed the country's five parties into endorsing him as the sole
presidential candidate.
Abacha died in June 1998
while at the presidential villa in Abuja. He was buried on the same day,
according to Muslim
tradition, without an autopsy. The government identified the cause of death as a
sudden heart attack. It is reported that he was
in the company of two Indian prostitutes imported from Dubai. It is thought that
the prostitutes laced his drink with a poisonous substance, making Abacha feel
unwell around 4:30am. He retired to his bed and was dead by 6:15am.
After Abacha's death,
Maj. Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff,
was sworn in as the country's head of state. Abubakar had never before held
public office and was quick to announce a transition to democracy, which led to
the election of President Olusegun
Obasanjo. Abacha was married to Maryam Abacha
and had seven sons and three daughters. He left fifteen grandchildren: eight
girls and seven boys.
DR. YUSUF MAITAMA
SULE
Yusuf Maitama Sule is a Nigerian
politician,
acclaimed orator
and diplomat.
In 1976, he became the Federal Commissioner of public complaints, a position
that made him the nation's pioneer ombudsman.
In early 1979, he was a presidential candidate of the National Party of Nigeria but lost to Shehu Shagari.
He was appointed Nigeria's representative to the United
Nations after the coming of civilian rule in September 1979. While
there he was chairman of the United
Nations Special Committee against Apartheid. After, the re-election
of President Shagari in 1983, Maitama Sule was made the Minister for National
Guidance, a portfolio designed to assist the president
in tackling corruption.
The rise of economic nationalism during the 1970s led
to the enactment of a decree stipulating minimum requirements for local content in
many companies doing business in Nigeria. To capitalize on the benefits of
indigenous control of the economy, many permanent secretaries, federal
commissioners, state governors and their cronies
established firms to conduct business with the government.
It was with the intent of patching the revolving door and to stem small-time corruption that the Public Complaints
Commission was created in 1975. It was meant to hear and tackle complaints
fielded by the common man in a simple and efficient manner. Maitama Sule, as
head of the commission was known to have taken his job seriously, partly
because he was a potent political commodity and had a lot to gain from the good
will of the people when a transition to civilian
rule
was in place.[4]
As a result of the commission's effort, corruption during the period was
temporarily curtailed
In 1983, he returned to
a familiar role, this time under a democratic government as the head of a
ministry to tackle corruption. The new but short-lived ministry was created
solely to invest time in an ethical re-orientation of Nigerians. Maitama, who had acquired
a solid reputation as a tough U.N representative, when he was chairman of a
U.N. special committee on apartheid was asked to lead the ministry. However,
his appointment was not satisfactory to critics. Shagari's administration was
removed by a coup, with the coupists citing corruption as a major reason for
the incursion.
ALIKO DANGOTE
Aliko Dangote GCON (born 10 April 1957) is a Nigerian
billionaire, who owns the Dangote Group, which has interests in
commodities. The company operates in Nigeria
and other African countries, including Benin, Ethiopia, Senegal, Cameroon,
Ghana, South Africa, Togo, Tanzania, and Zambia. As of February 2017, he had an
estimated net worth of US$12.5 billion.
Dangote is ranked by Forbes
magazine as the 67th richest person in the world and the richest in Africa; he
peaked on the list as the 23rd richest person in the world in 2014. He
surpassed Saudi-Ethiopian billionaire Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi in 2013 by over
$2.6 billion to become the world's richest person of African descent.
Dangote hails from a
very prominent business family that lived in Nigeria for many years. He is the
great grand son of Alhaji Alhassan
Dantata, the richest African at the time of his death in 1955. Aliko
Dangote, an ethnic Hausa Muslim from Kano State,
was born on 10 April 1957 into a wealthy Muslim family. Dangote said, "I
can remember when I was in primary school, I would go and buy cartons of sweets
[sugar boxes] and I would start selling them just to make money. I was so
interested in business, even at that time."
The Dangote Group was
established as a small trading firm in 1977, the same year Dangote relocated to
Lagos to expand the company. Today, it is a multi-trillion naira conglomerate with
many of its operations in Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo. Dangote has expanded
to cover food processing, cement manufacturing, and freight. The Dangote Group
also dominates the sugar market in Nigeria and is a major supplier to the
country's soft drink companies, breweries, and confectioners. The Dangote Group
has moved from being a trading company to being the largest industrial group in
Nigeria including Dangote Sugar Refinery, Dangote
Cement, and Dangote Flour.
SHAMSUDEEN USMAN
Shamsuddeen Usman, CON
(born 18 September 1949 Kano, Nigeria) is a Nigerian economist and banker. He is currently
the CEO of SUSMAN & Associates, an economic, financial and management
consulting firm headquartered in Nigeria. Shamsuddeen was the Minister of
National Planning between January 2009 to September 2013. He was
also the Finance Minister of Nigeria between June
2007 and January 2009.
He was responsible for
the development of Nigeria's long-term development strategy, Nigeria Vision 2020 and the National Integrated
Infrastructure Master Plan. During his tenure as the Minister of Finance and
National Planning, he was chairman of the Nigerian National Economic Management
Team. Shamduddeen represented Nigeria as a Governor on the Governing Boards of
the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He was a Member of the Federal Executive Council,
National Economic Council and the National Council on Privatization.
Usman was the first
Nigerian Minister to publicly declare his assets before assuming office as a
public officer, an act considered as a sign of accountability and transparency
in a country noted for its high levels of corruption. Shamsuddeen Usman was
born to a family living in Warure Quarters of Kano State. His Father, an
Islamic scholar, died when he was about six years old. He began his education
at Dandago Primary School. After a secondary school education at the
prestigious Government College Keffi
and King's College, Lagos, he gained a BSc. in
Economics from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria. He later
won a National scholarship to study for his MSc. and PhD at the London School
of Economics and Political Scienc between 1977 and 1980. During his first two years at the London School of Economics, he served as a
teaching assistant for the final year class in Public
Finance.
From 1974 to 1976, Usman
worked as the Planning Officer for the Kano State Ministry of Economic
Planning. He taught Economic Analysis and Public Finance to students in Ahmadu Bello University, Bayero University Kano and University of
Jos between 1976 and 1981. He was a controller at the Nigerian
Industrial Development Bank (NIDB) and then served as the director
of budget/ special economic adviser to the Kano State Government between 1981
and 1985. Usman was then appointed the general manager of NAL Merchant Bank
(currently Sterling Bank).
Usman is the chairman
and one of the founding members of the Kano Peace
and Development Initiative (KAPEDI), a group of concerned indigenes
of Kano State
individuals driven to resuscitate the economic activity of Kano State
especially after the religious conflict in 2004. He also started
Gidauniyar Alheri, an NGO in the Garangamawa area of Kano city that provides
human resource development training to youth in Nigeria, and particularly in
Kano State. OICI has trained some of
their staff in microenterprise development, and they now assist in providing
microenterprise training to OICI's Nigeria JOBS beneficiaries. The NGO also
comprises The Gidauniyar Alheri Enterprise and Development Centre, Gidauniya
Alheri Microfinance Bank Limited and a community hospital. It also plays a huge
role in microcredit schemes particularly to women in the local area; IT
training and extra-tuition for youths in the local area.
AHMED IDRIS
Ahmed Idris (November 25, 1960) is
a Nigerian Financial accountant and incumbent Accountant General of the Federation
of Nigeria.
He was appointed as AGF on June 25, 2015 to succeed Jonah Ogunniyi Otunla who was sacked by Muhammadu
Buhari on allegedly misappropriating N2.5 billion of security
agencies’ funds. Prior to his appointment as AGF, he was a director in the
Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel. He is a member of the Association of National
Accountant of Nigeria (ANAN)
GALADIMAN KANO ALHAJI
TIJJANI HASHIM
Born
in 1935 in the ancient city of Kano to late Turakin Kano, Hashim Abbas,
Galadima over the years exerted power not only in the Kano Emirate Council, or
the north but across the country. Hashim, who was made the
Galadiman Kano by the late Emir, Alhaji Ado Bayero in 1992, was very close to
the high and low in the country. From 10.am to 1.pm daily, he receives his
subjects and attends to them. As a District Head of Kano Municipal and the
chairman of the finance committee of the Kano Emirate Council, the late
Galadima played key roles in the development of the state.
He was the grandson of late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Abbas and enrolled in the Bebeji Primary School in 1944 and on completion proceeded to the famous Kano Middle School, now known as Rumfa College in 1948. He left the school three years after and took up appointment in the Veterinary Department of the Native Authority. The prince delved into politics in 1956 when he contested and won Sumaila Constituency at the Northern Regional Assembly, a position that marked the beginning of his successes in life.
In 1966, when the military took over he was appointed Dan Isa and Councillor for Community Development in Kano state, a position that launched him into the mainstream Kano traditional institution. He was promoted to Turakin Kano in 1976, a seat that made him a member of the Emirate Council but 13 years later, precisely in 1989, he was further promoted to the Dan Iyan Kano.
He wore the big cap in 1992 when the late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero made him the Galadiman Kano, an appointment that ballooned his popularity. In the Kano Emirate Council, Galadiman Kano is the second highest ranking member following the Wazirin Kano, while the Wambai is the head of administration. He passed away in October 2014.
RABIU
MUSA KWANKWASO
Mohammed Rabi'u Musa popularly knows as Rabiu
Musa Kwankwaso is a Nigerian politician.
He was two times Governor of Kano State from 1999–2003 and 2011–2015. He
was the first governor of Kano State in the fourth republic who was elected
under the platform of People's Democratic Party (Nigeria).
Kwankwaso lost re-election bid in 2003 to Ibrahim
Shekarau and was in July same year appointed Defense Minister by President
Olusegun Obasanjo.
In 2015, Kwankwaso
unsuccessfully contested the presidential primaries nomination under the
opposition All Progressive Congress, but lost to Muhammad
Buhari. He then swap to contest the senatorial seat for Kano Central
Senatorial District which he won.
Kwankwaso was born on 21
October 1956 in Kwankwaso village of Madobi
Local Government Area of
Kano State. He attended Kwankwaso Primary School, Gwarzo Boarding Senior
Primary School, Wudil Craft School and Kano Technical College before proceeding
to Kaduna Polytechnic where he did both his National Diploma, and Higher
National Diploma. He did postgraduate studies in the United
Kingdom a Middlesex Polytechnic (1982-1983) and Loughborough
University of Technology (1983 -1985) where he got his master's degree in Water
Engineering. Kwankwaso was an active student leader during his
school days and was an elected official of the Kano State Students Association.
Kwankwaso started work
in 1975 at the Kano State Water Resources and Engineering Construction Agency
(WRECA), serving as a civil servant for 17 years in various capacities and
rising through the ranks as the principal engineer. In 1992, Kwankwaso was
elected as a member of House of Representatives representing Madobi Federal
Constituency. His subsequent election as Deputy Speaker in the House brought
him to the limelight of national politics. He belonged to the Peoples Front
faction of the SDP Led by General Shehu Yar'adua.
During the 1995
Constitutional Conference, Kwankwaso was elected as one of the delegates from
Kano, as a member of the Peoples Democratic Movement led by Yar'adua. He
joined the PDP in 1998 under the platform of Peoples Democratic Movement in
Kano led by Mallam Musa Gwadabe, Senator Hamisu Musa
and Alhaji Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila.
AMB. AMINU WALI
Aminu Bashir Wali (born 3 August, 1941)
was Nigeria's Minister of Foreign Affairs
from 2014 to 2015. Wali was born in Kano in 1941. Aminu Bashir Wali education included training at
the School of Arabic Studies in Kano and graduation in 1967 with a degree in
Business Administration from the North-Western Polytechnic in London.[ From
2004, he was Nigeria's Permanent Representative to the
United Nations. He then became the Ambassador of Nigeria to
the People's Republic of China.
Wali was appointed
Minister of Foreign Affairs under President Goodluck
Jonathan's administration. Trips abroad included one by Foreign
Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu to Turkey. In October 2014
Wali received the Foreign Minister of Germany and France, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Laurent
Fabius, discuss the Boko Haram kidnappings and measures to combat
the outbreak of Ebola.
RABIA SALIHU SAID
Rabia Salihu Sa'id (born April 21, 1963)
is a Nigerian physicist, professor of atmospheric and space-weather physics,
and a researcher at Bayero University Kano. She conducts
research in atmospheric and space weather
physics, particle physics, and electronics. Sa'id is an
advocate and mentor for young women in science with the Visiola Foundation and Peace Corps;
she co-founded Nigeria's Association of Women Physicists. She is an advocate
and mentor of Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
education and is a facilitator for the British
Council's Active Citizens' Programme.
Sai'd has received
fellowships from Institute of Applied Physics in Bern,
Switzerland and the Ford
Foundation and made a fellow of African Scientific Institute (ASI).
In 2015, she received an Elsevier Foundation Award for Women Scientists in the
Developing World. She was also recognised in 2015 by the British
Council for her community work, and by the BBC as part of their 100 Women
series.
Rabia Sa'id was born in
Wangara, a town in Gezawa
local government area of Kano State, Northern Nigeria,
where girls have few education opportunities, many marry in their teens, and
women are expected to stay at home. Her father, however, wanted her to become a
doctor. He was an officer in the Nigerian Army who had two wives and fathered
ten children.
Sa'id attended an Army
school at the top of her class. She chose to marry at the age of 18, once she
graduated from a secondary school. She is a mother of six. Two of her children
needed medical care (one of them was born with club foot
and another with sickle-cell anemia), which added to her
personal challenge to obtain higher education degrees.
In addition to the
mentoring that she does for the Peace Corps and Visiola for STEM outreach, she
is a facilitator for the British Council Active Citizens' Programme, who
encourages young people to develop efficient and peaceful communication skills
for sustainable development in their communities.
She was one of nine
people honored as "women advocates and champions" in Nigeria in March
2015 as part of International Women's Day by the British
Council and two of its development programmes, the Nigeria Stability and
Reconciliation Programme (NSRP) and the Justice for All (J4A) programme.
BASHIR TOFA
Bashir Othman Tofa is a Nigerian
politician. A Hausa Muslim who hails from Kano State,
Tofa was the National Republican Convention
(NRC) candidate in the annulled Nigeria's June 12, 1993 presidential election,
which was organised by the military government of General Ibrahim
Babangida.
Tofa was born in Kano on
June 20, 1947. He had his primary education at Shahuci Junior Primary, Kano and
then continued studies at City Senior Primary School in Kano. From 1962-1966,
he attended Provincial College, Kano. After completing his studies at the
Provincial school, he worked for Royal Exchange Insurance company from
1967-1968. From 1970 to 1973, he attended City of London College. Tofa's sojourn
into politics started in 1976 when he was a councilor of Dawakin Tofa
Local Government Council, in 1977, he was elected a member into the
Constituent Assembly. During the Nigerian Second Republic, Tofa was at
various times the secretary of the Kano branch of NPN, he later became the party's national
financial secretary and was a national member of the Green
Revolution National Committee.
During the Third Republic, Tofa joined NRC in 1990. In 1993, when
the Babangida
administration introduced the Optain A4 system, Tofa was elected the
presidential candidate representing Kano. During the party primaries, he
defeated Pere Ajunwa, Joe Nwodo and Dalhatu Tafida to clinch the NRC ticket. At
the time, he was an ally of Halilu Akilu, the security chief at the time.
His running mate in the election was Sylvester
Ugoh, an Igbo and a former governor of the now defunct
central bank of Biafra.
Both were members of the defunct National Party of Nigeria.
Tofa is also a
businessman, an oil trader and industrialist. He was chairman of International
Petro-Energy Company (IPEC) and Abba Othman and Sons ltd.
He was also involved as a board member in Impex Ventures, Century Merchant Bank
and General Metal Products ltd.
SABO BAKIN ZUWO
Aliyu Sabo Bakin Zuwo was a Senator in the Nigerian Second Republic who was elected
Governor of Kano State, Nigeria
in October 1983, holding office briefly until the military coup on 31 December
1983 that brought General Mohammadu
Buhari to power. He was elected on the People's Redemption Party (PRP) platform.
Zuwo's origins could be
traced to Nupe in Niger state, from where his great grand parents migrated to
Kano, where he was born and raised. He had no formal education, but said that
he attended "Mallam Aminu Kano Political School, Sudawa,
Kano", referring to the politician and champion of the people's rights.
A colorful and outspoken
politician, it was said that he made more effective use of the radio in the
run-up to the Second Republic than any other politician in Northern Nigeria.
Elected to the Senate in 1979, Zuwo sponsored more bills than any other
Senator. In the 1983 Kano State gubernatorial elections he defeated former
governor Abubakar Rimi, who had resigned earlier that
year and defected to the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP). One of
Zuwo’s first acts as governor was to remove all the Emirs installed by Rimi.
In a popular gesture, he closed down the Palace Cinema in Kano, which had
become a venue for young men to take drugs and engage in sex, and converted it
into a clinic.
ARC. KABIRU GAYA
Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya (born 16 June 1952) is
a Nigerian
politician and architect who was elected to the Nigerian
National Senate in 2007, representing the Kano South constituency of
Kano State
for the All Progressive Congress (APC ). Kabiru
Gaya was elected vice president of the inter-parliamentary union (IPU) for
Africa at the 135th general assembly of the union in Geneva, Switzerland
October 2016.
Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya was
born on 16 June 1952.He attended Gaya Primary School from 1961-1964 and
Tsangaya Primary School where he finished his primary school in 1968 his senior
brother was then the Headmaster and Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila was the Assistant
Headmaster who taught him Maths at the primary school. He attended Government
Secondary School Birnin Kudu from 1969-1973 where he obtained the West African
School Certificate (WASC) and College of Advanced Studies from 1974-1975 where
he obtained IJMB. He obtained a BSc. Architecture from Ahmadu Bello University in 1977.
He
obtained a Master of Science degree in Architecture
from the Ahmadu Bello University in 1980. He was
awarded an honorary Doctorate Degree by the University Of Science And Applied
Management, Porto-Novo, Benin. He is a member of the
Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA) and the Nigerian Large Scale Farmers
Association (NLSFA)
He was a Board Member of
KASEPPA
in 1985, and a member of the National Caucus Committee for the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP). He
was Executive Governor, Kano State (1992–1993). In 2003, Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya
ran for the National Democratic Party
(NDP) in the 2003 gubernatorial election in Kano State.
Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya was
elected to the Senate for Kano South in 2007. He was appointed to committees on
Gas, Local and Foreign Debts, States & Local Government, and Upstream
Petroleum Resources and Works. In a mid-term assessment of the performance of
Senators, This Day
newspaper noted that he sponsored the Finance
Management and Accountability Bill, 2009, and the Millennium Development Agency Bill,
2009. He co-sponsored five motions and contributed well to debates
in plenary. In May 2008, as chairman of the Senate committee on works, Kabiru
Gaya lamented that some projects were going very slowly, but said the Senate
would never subscribe to the idea of privatising Nigerian roads.
In November 2009 he
supported a motion by the Kano chapter of the ANPP to allow the state governor,
Ibrahim Shekarau, to nominate the ANPP candidate
for the 2011 governorship elections. The presumptive nominee was Sheikh Ibrahim Khaleel.
Kabiru Gaya ran for election as Senator for Kano South on the ANPP platform in
April 2011, and was reelected. Gaya was the Senate's
Deputy Minority Whip from 2007 until 2011.
ALHAJI TANKO YAKASAI
Tanko Yakasai (born 5th December
1926) is a Nigerian politician, human right activist and former Liaison Officer to
President Shehu Shagari. He is a founding member of Arewa Consultative Forum. Yakasai was born
in the northern Nigerian city of Kano and is of Hausa tribe.
ALHAJI MAGAJI
DANBATTA
Alhaji
Dambatta who was born in 1931. Dambatta was a classmate of the late Emir of
Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, at the Kano Middle School, now known as Rumfa College,
and a member of many constitutional conferences including the National
Conference.
A former chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Dambatta went into journalism in the 1940s when he took appointment at the Daily Comet, a paper owned by late Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe. From then he headed many journalism positions including the Board of Directors of Daily Times of Nigeria from 1980 to 1983.
Before then he was member of the board of directors of the New Nigerian Newspapers shortly after the paper was established by the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto. His contributions at the board laid a solid foundation for the growth of the paper in later years. Dambatta was a frontline member of the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) and held various public positions across all spheres of human endeavour. In 2005, he published his autobiography tagged “Pull of Fate”, a book that encapsulated his life and times.
DR.
MUDI SIPIKIN
Spikin, a poet and
founding father of the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) was
incarcerated several times in his lifetime for his political activism.
SHIEK NASIRU KABARA
Sheikh Nasir Muhammad
Umar Kabara, a noted Islamic scholar and philsopher was born in 1912 in
Guringuwa village outside Kano, Nigeria. His grandparents came from Kabara, a
town under Timbucktu kingdom. His third generation grandfather – also from
Kabara in Timbucktu – Mallam Umaru, also known as Mallam Kabara was the only
one from the lineage to settle in Adakawa in Kano city, before moving on to
what is now known as Kabara ward, named after him. He was an accomplished Sufi
in Timbucktu before departing for Kano.
The first thing
Mallam Kabara did on settling in Kabara ward was to establish a school in 1787,
of a sort commonly referred as Zaure School where the outer entrance hall of
his house was converted into an Islamic school. This school possibly among the
oldest recorded schools in Kano is now part of the Darul Qadiriyya household of
Sheikh Nasiru Kabara.
The youthful Nasiru
was extremely enthusiastic in his search for knowledge. His first encounter
with advanced Islamic learning system – long after he had graduated from the
normal Allo (Qur’an read from wooden slates) schooling system, emerging
extremely fluent in Arabic language, Islamic jurisprudance and Linguistics –
was with Bad’ul Amli and Murshida, both treatises on Tauhidi; the unity of God.
Next followed a voracious apepite for other books and soon he had completed his
studies of Ahlari, Iziyya and Risala: all books necessary for a proper
understanding of Islam. Because in Islam there is no concept of copyright, soon
after the youthful Nasir was himself typesetting the Risala and Ishiriniya
(book of poetry in praise of the Prophet) and selling them.
His learning process
was essentially self-motivated, with of course appropriate encouragement from
his main teacher: Mallam Natsugune. Consequently, the youthful Nasiru was a
voracious searcher of Islamic knowledge, being far ahead of his contemporaries
– indeed he was actually preaching to his classmates his advanced understanding
of the meaning of the Quran; thus sowing the early seeds of his entry into
Tafsir at such tender age.
Nasiru Kabara received
his original authority in Kuntiyya and Ahl al-Bayt from Ibrahim Nakabara, who
was the dominant figure linking nineteenthand twentieth-century Qadiriyya in
Kano. Ibrahim (ca. 1867-1941) was Fulani and his grandfather was originally
from Katsina. He learned a wide range of subjects from his father: law,
theology, literature, logic, and grammar. He learned astrology from Mahmud
Kabara; law (the Mukhtasar) from the babban mallami, Abdurrahman al-Sayudi; and
sufism (especially Qadiriyya) from his father and from Ibrahim of Zaria, who
had come to Kano. By the age of thirty, he had become a legal adviser to Emir
Aliyu. He was offered the position of alkali (judge) but refused on the
conviction that mallams should not be involved in government. He did not travel
outside Kano and continued his position as legal adviser under emirs Abbas,
Usman, and Abdullahi Bayero. He was also the personal mallarn of Emir Usman.
Ibrahim did not write books, although he did possess his own written
commentaries on the Mukhtasar. His home in Kabara ward was a center of higher
learning in Hausaland. One section of his compound was set aside for studies of
theology and mysticism, and another section was set aside for studying law. He
was not an ardent proponent of solitude (khalwa). Although there were other
leaders of traditional Qadiriyya in Kano during this period, Ibrahim’s
authority was reinforced by his personal qualities of piety and knowledge and
by his effectiveness as a teacher of mallams. He was not succeeded in this
authority by his son but by his student Nasiru Kabara, who exhibited these same
qualities.
HAJIYA HASSANA SUFI
Hassana Sufi, whose name is often
prefixed with a title of respect like Hajiya [a female ‘pilgrim’], Malama [Hausa
for a female scholar] or Inna [a Hausa term of respect for a ‘mother’]; hails
from Kano State, one of the thirty-six states of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria. Hassana and her twin brother Hussein were born in 1929, in Bichi, one
of the forty-four local government areas in present day Kano State. From her childhood,
Hassana was raised in a scholarly environment. Both her paternal and maternal
grandparents were scholars. Her paternal grandfather Umaru b. Ibrahim was one
of the Fulani migrant scholars who moved from Borno in the nineteenth century and
settled in the Madatai quarter in the heart of Kano, where Hassana’s father
Ahmad Sufi was born in 1884. Her maternal grandparents, Ismail b. Sulaiman and
Hadiza (Khadija), popularly known as Mama, were both educated and raised in
Kano city. Ismail was well versed in Arabic language and grammar, and became
the Imam of the Kano city central mosque during the reign of Emir of Kano Aliyudan
Dabo (1894-1903), while Hadiza was one of the renowned female Islamic scholars
of Kano in her time. It is important to note that Hassana’s paternal and
maternal grandparents, as well as her parents, had a role as Islamic scholars
not only in their communities, but also in the aristocratic courts of the Kano
Emirate.
Before her death following a brief
illness, Hajiya Hassana Sufi had contributed significantly to the promotion of
Islamic education, as well as to Arabic and Hausa literature. She will continue
to be remembered in Kano for her ever-lasting legacies: her writings, the
Islamic school Khair alzadi, and the many male and female individuals she converted to
Islam, including several abandoned children she took into her care.
RABILU MUSA IBRO
Rabilu
Musa,
popularly known as Dan Ibro (December 12, 1971 – December 9, 2014) was a Nigerian
actor, filmmaker and director. He was regarded as a pioneer revolutionist of
the modern day Kannywood and the most popular comedian ever in the history of
Kannywood Movie Industry until his death in 2014.
Dan Ibro attended
Danlasan Primary School, located in Wudil and later moved to
Government Teachers College Wudil all in his birth state. He joined the Nigerian Prison Service in 1991 and served in the civil service. Dan Ibro quits civil
service and later joined the movie industry with his first movie 'Yar Mai Ganye
which promoted his carrier.
Popular songs include
Bayanin Naira, Idi Wanzami, Dureba Makaho. Rabilu Musa became popular in Hausa
movie cinema few years after when he joined the industry. Some of his popular
movies includes Andamali, Bita Zai Zai, Ibro Aloko, Ibro Angon Hajiya, Ibro Dan Fulani. His
career as an actor continues when he turned to be a full-time comedian and
began singing with his popular songs such as Bayanin Naira, Idi Wanzami, Direba Makaho.
SOURCES
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