MALAM AMINU KANO: 33 YEARS AFTER

“Mallam Aminu Kano embodied the essence of leadership; to protect the weak, nurture the poor, and provide peace and stability to the minds of the citizen. If he had been a thief, Mallam Aminu would have had houses in Ikoyi, St John’s Wood, Knightsbridge, Malibu and the Avenue Foch. Instead, the house where you are celebrating his anniversary is testimony that he remained a man of the people…” So said Dr. Patrick Wilmot in a Tribute sent to the 15th Aminu Kano Memorial Lecture that took place this Sunday, April 17, 33 years since Mallam Aminu Kano (the ONLY Mallam in Nigerian politics) died, aged 63.
Since 2001, it has been the tradition of Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Research and Training (AKCDRT), Mambayya House, of Bayero University, Kano (BUK) to commemorate the occasion. (Mambayya House was originally Mallam’s home where he lived, died and was buried). Without fail again, the event held this Sunday at the aptly-named Sa’adu Zungur Hall – Mallam Sa’adu, politician, poet and scholar, being Mallam’s political teacher and mentor.
In his Welcome Address, BUK Vice Chancellor (VC) Professor Muhammad Yahuza Bello described Mallam as “one of Nigeria’s greatest political leaders and committed democrats of all times.” These annual memorial activities, according to the VC, in the form of either a symposium or lecture to discuss issues of national importance in remembrance of the late Mallam, have had presentations from the likes of radical scholar late Dr. Yusufu Bala Usman; Alhaji Tanko Yakasai; the late Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf; Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife; the late Professor Ahmad Usman Jalingo; late Alhaji Mudi Sipikin; Ambassador Yahaya Abdullahi; Professor A.D. Yahaya; Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa, former Governor of Kaduna State; late Alhaji Aminu Saleh, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation; and the late Professor Omo Omoruyi, former Director-General of the defunct Centre for Democratic Studies (CDS), Abuja, among many others.
Although the advertised lead papers were by Barrister Solomon Dalong, radical scholar-activist now Sports Minister and Professor Sule Bello, an Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (ABU)-based radical scholar, the tribute sent to the occasion by Dr. Patrick Wilmot, excerpted as the first paragraph in this piece, elicited the most interest because it discussed Mallam as should be discussed. Wilmot, himself of ABU till 1988 when he was “unceremoniously bundled out of the country by the then military regime” (according to reports popular at that time) said, among other things:
“Mallam’s political party, NEPU [Northern Elements Progressive Union], was founded on the principle that the poorest of the society, the talakawa, the abandoned and disinherited ones needed the protective cloak of political leadership. The Big Men of traditional politics supplied the tanks and battering rams for the rich to rob the destitute, protect those who did not need it, and enrich the wealthy who suffered from excess. NEPU was a party whose leaders and followers suffered imprisonment, torture and punishment because they refused to bend their knees to those who had elected themselves masters of society and assumed the powers of gods…
“Mallam Aminu wore his simple caftan and cap, did not grant himself allowances for expensive food, clothes, sports utility vehicles, overseas medical attention, expensive aides, air travel, holidays, PR men and women, bodyguards, lawyers, bankers and financial advisors. He spent his time with his people, catering to their needs, rather than calculating how to enrich and empower himself.
“Mallam Aminu was a man who earned the respect of the people, because he never distanced himself from them with the wealth he stole from them and invested in foreign banks, securities and properties. He remained forever Mallam, not some exalted Majesty, the Plenipotentary, His Excellency, the President and C-in-C, the Unique Miracle of the Twentieth Century.
“The lesson current political leaders must learn from this man of the people is that citizens will only identify with their leader and recognise his or her legitimacy if followers can see their lives go forward, believe that there is a better future for their children, guarantee that they can live safely in a society where they will have life, security, happiness and liberty. Other than that is barbarism.”
In the lead paper, Sports Minister Dalong discussed, academically, the anti-corruption crusade of his Principal, President Muhammadu Buhari. He sought to establish a critical link between democratic consolidation and the social malady of corruption in Nigeria, and how the fight is a response to the deadly social malady. He further posited that corruption in Nigeria thrives luxuriantly like a colony of trees along a river bank as an indication of gross deficit of normative values such as transparency, accountability, due process, rule of law, constitutionalism and a host of others which underwrite democratic governance. This, according to him, has been our harrowing experience in Nigeria since the return to civil rule in 1999, and it is instructive to note that the prospect of consolidating democracy in an environment suffused with corruption is pretty remote.
“Corruption,” said Dalong, “is simply defined as the illicit conversion of public goods for private use. It is the abuse of public trust by public office holders for pecuniary gains. Corruption has greatly undermined the integrity of the public sector in Nigeria. Anyone who is appointed into public is believed to be adorned with the garment of corruption because of the unenviable legacies of past leaders. Ordinary citizens who are not holding any office of public trust have cultivated huge appetite for corrupt behaviour. There is hardly any dividing line between what used to be considered as African sense of hospitality and brute corrupt behaviour in Nigeria.”
In the second lead paper, History Professor Sule Bello said, interalia, that: “Politics has been reduced to hooliganism. Politics in Nigeria today is the biggest investment. Imagine people who were elected into political offices now allocating pensions to themselves. This is not the ideology of late Mallam Aminu Kano. Late Mallam had to borrow a coat to attend a constitutional conference during his time. Today our politicians are into politics to make money, whereas a good leader is someone who is ready to sacrifice for his subjects.”
Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari, in his contribution, said Mallam Aminu Kano is still being remembered 33 years after his death because he lived a life for the progress and development of the masses. Governor Masari added that: “Many people died the same year as the late Mallam, and many others after him, but they were not being remembered as faithfully as Mallam is. It is not the matter of how long you live, but how well you live. Late Mallam Aminu Kano has lived his life for others to enjoy. He sacrificed his time, money and experience for the masses.”
Professor Hafizu Abubakar, Deputy Governor of Kano State said in his contribution that corruption caused by bad upbringing is the major problem of Nigeria. “Our fore fathers like late Mallam Aminu Kano were opportune to acquire both formal and informal education and they practiced them all in their daily affairs and that made them live well.”
Mallam had collapsed and died that fateful morning of April 17, 1983 in the middle of his party’s political crisis. The Peoples’ Redemption Party (PRP), Nigeria’s closest to a socialist party, had been riven into factions, Santsi and Tabo, respectively led by the late Comrade Michael Imoudu (symbolised by late Muhammadu Abubakar Rimi who was then seeking re-election as Kano State Governor), and the original rump left with Mallam (symbolised by then Senator, later Kano State Governor, Sabo Aliyu Bakinzuwo). It was a really acrimonious crisis, and many commentators then and now hold that that political upheaval caused Mallam’s demise at that particular time.
May Allah have mercy on the soul of Mallam Aminu Kano.