60 years after the 1st coup: Sardauna’s legacies abandoned by northern leaders

National President of the Gamji Members Association, Dr. Abdullahi Bala Isah, in this interview, gives a blunt and sobering assessment of leadership in Northern Nigeria after the death of the Sardaunan Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello. He reflected on the mission of the Gamji Foundation, the collapse of values that once sustained the north, and the fading recognition of Sardauna’s family and ideals.

What is the purpose of establishing the Gamji Association and what has it achieved since inception?

Gamji Members Association was established, primarily to inculcate the lifestyle and exemplary leadership attributes of late Sir Ahmadu Bello and other national leaders. We are of the opinion that they lived very sterling qualities, showing exemplary leadership qualities that ought to be emulated and remembered for sustenance of what they did for this region and the nation at large.

Are today’s northern leaders learning from and upholding the legacy of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto?

Quite a number of Northern leaders today have deviated from the foundation of development and progress late Sardauna laid for the north. It is very obvious, the Sardauna legacy is only being continuously pronounced but it is very obvious that the current crop of leaders are far away from the standing attributes of Sir Ahmadu Bello and other national leaders because they were quite humble, selfless, and all they concentrated on was how to improve and bring development stride in the northern region which up to today are evidently there but neglected by the current leaders.

Do you think late Sardauna would be glad living in today’s northern Nigeria?

When late Sir Ahmadu Bello passed on, and most of what he did were documented. His contemporaries, quite a number that lived after his demise showed so much disappointments because they were quite surprised with complete deviation by those who were privileged to be in positions of authority in the north. So, you could use that to explain that he himself would  be so disappointed because most of what he was fighting for had been abandoned. There are a lot of examples to make reference to. Sardauna was what all the northern governors are today – that was what was his role. He was person covering all the provinces that existed then – covering education, health, commerce and trade. It was obvious that he had good plans for northern Nigeria. But today, one is saddened by the fact that all the current leaders do is to keep making reference to what Sardauna had done without doing the same thing. You can see that those that were Sardauna’s contemporaries that lived after him were also selfless.

Our National patron, Justice Mamman Nasiru, who was an associate of late Sir Ahmadu Bello, is always with us when we are holding lectures to sensitize people about what Sardauna and his contemporaries had done so that even the younger ones would understand but today, all northern leaders think about is amassing wealth, something which was not an attribute of late Sir Ahmadu Bello and his associates.

How did Sardauna checkmate corrupt practices?

He as a a person was an example because he lived a very simple life.

Let me tell you, when Sir Ahmadu Bello was to appoint Justice Mamman Nasiru as the Minister of Justice, Justice Mamman Nasiru took a loan that he had not paid, Sir Ahmadu Bello asked him to go and settle the debt before assuming office and he had to pay that loan before he was allowed to assume office. Also, when the coup took place, some Ministers working with late Abubakar Tafawa Balewa could not even afford to transport themselves back to the north simply because salary had not been paid before the coup because coup took place mid month. That shows you how humble and selfless they were. So, their life style and obedience to rules guided them to achieve what they did. Today, those rules are still there but being violated.

What steps is the Gamji Association taking to help younger generations, especially the children born 20 to 30 years after the assassination of the Sardauna, understand his leadership style, principles and legacy?

Gamji Members Association is like a Pressure Group; it is not a government organ. The little we can do is by way of sensitizing through lectures, through community development, and engaging in some national activities. We did these; we are well known, we have held several lectures, commemorating Sir Ahmadu Bello years and also do tributes in honour of his associates and during these lectures, we get speakers that speak so much about the person attributes and what was obtainable.

Like I have said, our leaders were joining us in the crusade in terms of these sensitization but it got to a point that we realized that the crop of leaders we have today were not encouraging what Gamji Members Association was doing. And that was why in recent times, you would notice that even our lectures and other activities are at a very diminishing level. Gamji Memorial clubs are supposed to be in all tertiary institutions and we have tried all to establish the club tertiary institutions and also holding Gamji Weeks but today, politicians and leaders don’t encourage the activities of Sir Ahmadu Bello.

Did Sardauna leave behind personal wealth or assets for his family and if yes, what does this say about his values?

It is a well known fact that Sardauna did not amass wealth. Today, apart from his home and Kaduna House, which has even been converted to a museum which is Arewa House, Sardauna did not amass anything. Justice Mamman Nasiru, who is our National patron and a symbol of Gamji Members Association lived in the same house that he lived when he was Minister in Kaduna during Sardauna’s time when he was Minister of Justice. And that was what many of their colleagues were. If you go all over, you find that they lived very humble lives quite different from what is obtained from today’s northern leaders.

Unfortunately, even Sardauna’s family is not been recognized by the current leaders of even the current region. They are not being given the recognition they ought to have been given.

What do you think is responsible for Sardauna’s family not being given due recognition?

I am sorry to say. Family of Sardauna hasn’t been duly recognized. For example, even when Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation was formed by the then Northern Governors, no member of Sir Ahmadu Bello’s family and extension was brought to serve as a member of Board of Trustees of the foundation that they established.

Secondly, take a look at all contemporaries of late Sir Ahmadu Bello that established foundations like the Awolowo foundation, the Zik Foundation, the Michael Okpara Foundation and other notable foundations that are in existence which was established to recognize the contributions of other people, the Sir Ahmadu Bello ‘s family was not given that recognition.

I wouldn’t know if the family was approached to form part of the foundation officials but is not likely they would reject such opportunity.

How has Sardauna’s death affected the political, social, and economic life and future of Northern Nigeria?

That was a senseless coup by very selfish persons who had their narrow interest. Today, that assassination is what has set Nigeria and northern Nigeria back. And events that have been shaping the politics of Nigeria could be linked to what happened in that senseless coup. And it is very unfortunate, sixty years we are still talking about division, and for this long, the unity of the country is being affected. Everything is being done according to where one comes from and which religion one practices. It wasn’t Sardauna’s intent. He didn’t care which religion you practice – whether your are Muslim, Christian or Pagan, all he was interested in was to move the north forward. And his development plan is still there to see; it was an ambitious plan to see that the north move forward which was truncated by that senseless coup.

Unfortunately, years later, we won’t say those that took over immediately from him but many years later, today it is something else.

From what we have gathered from our elders who worked with him, Sardauna’s main focus was on literacy. During his time, there was both formal and non-formal education and he did tremendously well. He planned mass education for all the units that made up the north to achieve sustainability of his programme. But immediately after the senseless coup, and regionalisation was tinkered with, and we had twelve states, unfortunately, immediately we approached second Republic, the issue of divisions along ethnic and religious line cropped up and that affected what could have been achieved if we had followed what Sardauna had started. It is on record that Sardauna went to a community that was predominantly Christians and another community that was predominantly Muslims but his emphasis was to encourage access to education. It was during his time, led by Alhaji Abubakar Coommasie and Late Abubakar Imam that that he brought ‘Yaki da Jahilici’ (war against illiteracy or ignorance). So, there was massive enrollment in both formal and non-formal education and even elderly people were encouraged to step up their levels of education.

Sardauna encouraged school enrollment through incentives and ensured that traditional rulers also enrolled their wards in schools and traditional rulers including wards heads were asked to bring some of their children to school and that led to mass enrollment.

Establishment of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1962, tremendously helped improved the educational development of Northern Nigeria. Before Independence, northern Nigeria was much more backward but Sardauna’s policy, even though we couldn’t catch up with other regions, the gap was closed.

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