In this piece, we traced the emergence and role of northern elders not out of nostalgia or regional irredentism, but as a reflection on the past with a view to learning from history to address the complex problems of the region in the interest of the country. Conflicts and crises emerge when governments, societies, or systems fail. And in all cases, it is essentially about the human factor. This makes elite consensus imperative in conflict resolution.
From the 1950s to 1998, when Chief Olusegun Obasanjo emerged as president, a powerful informal group of elites emerged and reigned in Northern Nigeria. They were feared, respected, and called the Kaduna Mafia because of their influence and capacity, especially in defending the interests of the North without undermining the unity and progress of the country, based on the conviction that the interests of the North and Nigeria are not mutually exclusive.
Three factors account for their emergence: the old boys’ factor, regional and federal civil service, and moral authority based on character and learning. They were looked up to as northern leaders. Now, the question is: with their phasing out by time and circumstances, who are the contemporary northern leaders? The previous northern leaders were powerful even outside public office, and they operated quietly without regional associations, conferences, or press releases. They were essentially interested in making things happen without public knowledge of who did it and how. In fact, they hated publicity. When I asked Meta AI about one of them, this was the response: “known for his integrity, humility, and commitment to public service. Despite his influential position, he maintained a low profile and shuns government appointments, except for a part-time assignment.” They created a mystery and paradox of power that largely defined northern identity in Nigeria, according to Dr Ibrahim Tahir, in a book titled “Makers of Northern Nigeria”: “Kaduna, the powerhouse of northern politics, is no more. And with it has gone the political estate it represented, the old North. To a foreign journalist, that estate was the bull elephant in the Nigerian jungle. For its sheer size and habits, it alone stood between Nigeria and its unity. Typical of the men down South, their politicians and journalists swallowed this piece of foreign do-gooder mischief without examination; they swallowed it with the added contention that the old North was also conservative, reactionary, feudal, lazy and illiterate. Paradoxically, they also accused it of dominating Nigeria.” (p99).
In the same book, Malam Sa’adu Zungur expressed their passion for the North: “I have tried to put the thoughts of the destiny of northern Nigeria behind me and tend to my own immediate personal affairs. And I cannot. I go to bed with these thoughts; I get up with them.” (p90). No wonder he composed a Hausa song in 1944, which is still popular in the North, titled: “Arewa Jamhuriya ko Mulukiya” (The North: Republic or Monarchy).
Professor Mahmood Yakubu provides an English translation in his well-researched book, “Saadu Zungur”. The opening of the poem prepared the minds of readers for home truth: “When you speak, speak the truth. Whatever the consequences, it is worthwhile”. He added: “Our responsibility is to inform you. You either adhere or laugh at it. Your laughter turns to sorrow in future”. For long, there was only one public school in Northern Nigeria — Katsina College — whose name and location were changed to Kaduna College and finally Barewa College Zaria. But history and convention seem to have reserved Barewa old boys to students of Kaduna College and Barewa College. Subsequently, Provincial Secondary Schools were established in places like Bida, Katsina Ala, Kano, Katsina, and Okene.The schools — Katsina College and its successors — produced a substantial number of Northern educated elites up to the late 1960s. There was also a deliberate policy by the Northern Region Government not only to unite students from diverse backgrounds but also to integrate them into the emerging social and political culture in the region based on Northern identity and solidarity.In his book titled “Selected Speeches and Writings”, Chief Sunday Awoniyi shared his experience:”I attended Barewa College, Zaria, where out of a student population of 360, only 26 of us were Christians. General Yakubu Gowon, a Christian Angas from Plateau Province was a House Captain; I, a Christian Yoruba from Kabba Province, was a House Captain out of a total of six houses. Nobody looked at your religion; nobody looked at your tribe… Ladies and Gentlemen, we ended up accepting, without qualms, One North, One People, One Destiny” (p74). Katsina College produced politicians and civil servants who took over from British officials after independence. They include the following, with their year of graduation from the school in brackets: Sir Kashim Ibrahim (1925), Malam Yahaya Ilorin (1928), Alhaji Aliyu Makaman Bida (1927), Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua (1930), Sir Ahmadu Bello Sardauna (1931), and Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1933). In addition to producing civil servants and politicians, Kaduna College also produced soldiers, renowned businessmen, and other professionals. They include: Alhaji Nuhu Bamalli (1931), Sultan Ibrahim Dasuki (1940), Malam Aminu Kano (1937), Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule and Justice Mamman Nasir (1946), CJF Mohammed Bello 2(1948), Professor Umar Shehu (1947), Malam Liman Ciroma and Alhaji Ahmad Joda (1949), Alhaji Shehu Shagari (1944), Alhaji Ali Akilu (1945), Alhaji Muhammad Bashar and Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim (1957), Alhaji Abdurrahman Mora (1950), and Dr. Bukar Shaibu (1948). The soldiers were: Brigadier Zakari Maimalari (1949), Lt. Col. Kur Mohammed (1950), Col. Abogo Largema (1950), and General Hassan Katsina (1951). Barewa College has been producing nation builders in all sectors. They include Mr Joseph Adetoro (1951), Professor Iya Abubakar (1952), Alhaji Musa Bello and Alhaji Umaru Dikko (1954), Malam Adamu Ciroma, Dr. Rilwanu Lukman (1955), Professor Jibril Aminu (1957), Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi (1958) and Alhaji Umar Abdulmutallab (1959). The soldiers include General Yakubu Gowon (1953), General Murtala Mohammed, and Brigadier Abba Kyari (1957).
The Provincial Secondary Schools were created in 1954, and their names were changed to Government Secondary School in 1966 and later Government College. Although they produced eminent civilians like Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (Keffi Provincial Secondary School 1969 and also HSC in Barewa 1971), they contributed more in producing soldiers such as General T.Y. Danjuma (Katsina Ala 1958), Generals Muhammadu Buhari and Shehu Musa Yar’Adua (Katsina 1961), General Sani Abacha (Kano 1962), and Generals Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Mohammed Magoro, and Mamman Vatsa (Bida 1962).From the students of the three colleges, there were nine heads of government, either as Prime Minister, Head of State, or President. The Heads of State are: Gowon, Murtala, Babangida, Abdulsalami, and Abacha. There was also the only Prime Minister of Nigeria: Tafawa Balewa, and three Presidents — Shagari, Yar’Adua, and Buhari (who was also Head of State). They also produced the only two heads of the Northern Region Government — Sardauna and Hassan Katsina — and many governors, ministers, justices, permanent secretaries, military officers, heads of service, and secretaries of government at both state and federal levels.
History has not been kind to two military officers from Borno State who seem to have been forgotten. First, Lt. Umar Lawan, who was the first Northern officer to be commissioned, even before Maimalari. And as we know, Maimalari taught Generals T.Y. Danjuma, Domkat Bali, Gibson Jalo, Emmanuel Abisoye, Alani Akinrinade, and Joseph Garba. For the record, Lt. Lawan graduated from Kaduna College in 1951 but did not go far in the army as he changed to the civil service. Second, Lt. Col. Abogo Largema was among the four Northern military officers killed in the January 1966 coup. He also graduated from Kaduna College in 1950, was from the Margi ethnic group, and from Damboa area. As the only two people privileged to lead the Northern Region Government — Sardauna as Premier and General Hassan Katsina as Military Governor — they wielded enormous power in the region, which nobody else did. Interestingly, they worked hard to unite Northern elites, especially traditional rulers, civil servants, politicians, soldiers, and business people, based on Northern identity and solidarity. They created and strengthened a relationship of mutual respect based on age, seniority in school and public service. Much is known about the virtues of Sardauna, who was a politician and a District Head — and as such, experienced in traditional and modern administration — but this is what Chief Sunday Awoniyi, who served under the two leaders in the Northern Region Government, stated in the same book, about General Hassan Katsina, who could have been a military dictator if he had chosen to be: “General Hassan Katsina was one of the most approachable of men. Well-born, exalted and accomplished as he was, he looked down on no one. He helped anyone who approached him for assistance, irrespective of his place of origin, religion or status. He obeyed the laid-down rules.
If he was told that he could not do certain things because the rules forbade them, he accepted readily even at some personal inconvenience… After leaving office Hassan never looked back or hankered after political office, elective or appointive. He was therefore not in competition with anyone, but became a highly revered reference point for reconciliation in all aspects of our national life. His prestige became a cherished national asset… AFFECTION FOR HIM GREW WITH HIS YEARS OF RETIREMENT” (emphasis mine p255-7). The claims of Chief Awoniyi can easily be verified. For example, I was part of a Katsina State Government delegation sent to seek support for Hassan Usman Polytechnic — the state polytechnic — from a federal establishment. We met the officer in charge, who was a Christian from Southern Kaduna. When we presented our request, he smiled and said that if he did not help the polytechnic, God would punish him because the man whose name it bears was responsible for what he became in life. According to him, he was advised to meet him at home for assistance to secure a job after graduation, and he got the job for him. My experience with the officer made it easy for me to connect with a story told by Tokunbo Awolowo, daughter of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who narrated to Edmond Obiloin an interview that any time they had a family meeting with Chief Awolowo, he never missed the opportunity to advise them to be good to whoever they meet and should not expect any reward from them because their reward is in Australia. Not even in Africa.
