Reminiscences with Alhaji Bello Isah Bayero
Alhaji Bello Isa Bayero is a member of the Kano royal family and a seasoned politician. He was born into the family of the late son of the then Emir of Kano, Abdullahi Bayero. His father was a brother to the late Emir Ado Bayero. He contested twice to represent Kano State in the Senate. The 80-yearold Bayero had worked in both private and public sectors before he retired and joined politics.
You retired from the civil service and joined the private sector, what was your education background? I had my junior primary education at Gidan Makama, from where I proceeded to the state senior primary school, and later, Unity Teachers’ College. At Wudil Teachers’ College I decided to quit the teaching profession. The then Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi said I should be taken to the headquarters of the Northern Province. At that time, the late Emir Ado was working in the Native Authority, so I was sent to Kaduna for a short training.
I worked briefly as a sales manager in the Arab Brothers Company, which later became National Motors. After that, the late Emir Ado sent me to England for an Ordinary Level and Advanced Level diplomas in Economics and Political Studies at Westminster College. I also had a Higher National Diploma in Business Administration.
Can you share your experience as a student in England?
During my sojourn in England, Nigerian politics was being played there. Almost all major political decisions about this country were taken in England by the Nigerian Union and the Nigerian Students Union, which were being used to score political cards. There was a faction loyal to Obafemi Awolowo and another one loyal to the then High Commissioner.
Whenever a high level personality was coming to England, they would summon a meeting. During that period, Nigeria had only 12 states. And any time they summoned that meeting, you would notice that some of the states, especially those from the North, had no representation. And if any policy decision was taken at that meeting, it became binding on all the states. That instigated us to form a union of Kano State students in England. That meeting was held in my house.
When we first summoned the meeting, they all agreed that I should become their leader, and I was given a free hand to choose those I wanted to work with.
When another time came for a meeting of the Nigerian Union, we met in my house and wrote a letter to counter the Nigerian Students Union, on the basis that it was not a true representation of Nigerian voices unless we were recognised.
When we wrote that letter, we instructed our secretary, the late Ismail Yaro and one Suleman Mohammed, to go to the meeting but they should not say anything until when the guest of honour was to deliver his speech. We told them that after his speech they should rise up and say they had a message from the Kano State Students Union. We told them to walk out of the meeting immediately they presented the letter; and that was what they did.
When the guest of honour was to make his presentation, our secretary said he was instructed to deliver a message from the Kano State Students Union. When he started reading the letter, there was utter silence; and immediately he finished, he issued them a copy and walked out as instructed. Immediately after the meeting ended, the information spread that Kano State students were not part of the Nigerian Union. And mind you, at that time there was an intense effort to unite the country after the civil war.
The then governor of Kano State, Audu Bako, was immediately summoned to give account of the action of Kano State students in London. The then secretary to the Kano State Scholarship Board was sent to England to find out what happened. When he came, we told him that we were an independent body; therefore, nobody should give us any directive on what we should do. We presented our reasons and they came back and told the governor that we actually meant business because we had a good organisational structure.
The governor sent the state commissioner for education, Sarkin Bai (Alhaji Muktari Adnan), but he couldn’t do anything, so he decided to come to England himself. When we met, we told him that we wanted equal representation in the Nigerian Union because our country was made up of 12 states; hence each state should bring two candidates to make up the 24 persons that would vote.
In the process, the Federal Government sent the High Commissioner to reconcile us. As a result of that, one Igbo man, Mr Nashere, who was the student officer, called us and we gave him our format. We also sent it to all the governors of northern states and they all agreed with us. When Audu Bako came, we presented the format to him and he said it was okay. We said that each state should form their unions and send representatives to attend meetings of the Nigerian Students Union.
At that time there was the need for increment in students’ allowances, and Kano State was willing to do that. There was a meeting of governors in Kaduna and Maitama Sule was delegated to attend. In that meeting, Sule said Kano State was willing to increase students’ allowances, but for the sake of uniformity, he wanted the issue to be looked at by all the northern states. Some states said they could afford it while some said they could not. The student’s allowance then was 36pounds monthly and it was increased to 100pounds. Hundred pounds was a big money then because with that you could pay all your bills and still have some change. With that we gained the support of the governors; they all bought into our format.
Who were your colleagues?
Some of them have passed on while some have retired to their villages, but I know we
were many. Those who were members of our executive were myself, Nasiru Sule, a brother to Maitama Sule; the late Ismaila Yaro; Suleiman Muhammed, a press secretary to Audu Bako; the late Audu Abdulrahim; Samaila Usman, deputy governor of the Central Bank; Aminu Baba Dambatta and many others who I cannot remember.
Was that your first time being in England?
That was my first time to go to the United Kingdom. The most important thing I noticed during my sojourn in England was respect for human rights. The social security system there did not permit anyone to indulge in begging, no matter how poor he or she was. Their social security system was patterned in such a way that if you were a labourer and you lost your job along the way, if what you earned from your job was 100pounds, you would be given either 70pounds or 80pounds to sustain yourself. And you would not go two kilometers without seeing a clinic or health facility where people within the neighbourhood registered to access medical care anytime the need arose. Once you were registered in these clinics you could access care, and any medicine a doctor prescribed, you would get free of charge in any chemist. In case of emergency, all you had to do was to call the doctor’s secretary, saying that you wanted to see the doctor. And once you arrived, you did not need to queue up; just walk in and you would be attended to.
It was later that the government realised that if they continued to give the medicine free of charge it would not sustain the system. So they introduced a system where a care seeker would pay half a crown on any prescription. By law, anyone caught without half a crown must be jailed because anyone in such situation was most likely going to commit crime. Under that system, the retirees and the unemployed enjoyed certain benefits. Under their transportation system there was a season ticket, which you bought, either for underground or bus. With that ticket you could commute by train or bus.
Here, all the unemployed and the disabled were entitled to some discounts.
In terms of security, anytime you went to England for six months they had records of your activities throughout the period. There was a time when one girl, Christian Diaby, got missing and the security operatives promised to find her, either dead or alive. They mobilised all their security outfits, Air Force, Army, Navy and others, to embark on a search mission. At the end, they found her lifeless body. She had been raped and strangled to death. They subjected her body to different tests in a laboratory to determine what caused her death. They gathered all the scientists in England. After examinations the scientists discovered a strand of pubic hair in her body and subjected it to forensic test until they were able to discover the person who committed the crime. A lot of pounds was spent for that poor girl. Comparatively, if this had happened in our country it would have gone without any action from the government.
How would you describe their food?
We had a large Hausa community in England, so anytime we wanted to eat our local delicacies like towo and miyan kukah we would visit our Hausa kinsmen. But in the hostel you would be given rice, fish and meat. If you wanted to eat something similar to our local dishes you would either go to Indian or Chinese restaurants.
What happened when you returned from England?
When I came back I worked briefly in Belmore Trading Company as their marketing manager. That was before I got an appointment in the Kano State Liaison Office in Lagos. After sometime I quit and started working in a construction company. As time went on I ventured into active politics. I also became a contractor.
You started politics right from your schooldays, what are your achievements?
In politics I contested for Senate two times. I also convinced Rabiu Kwankwaso to go for Senate. At that time we were very close and political meetings were held in my house. Based on my advice, Kwankwaso contested for governorship and won. When Kwankwaso became governor, we concluded that I should contest for the Senate seat, which I did. My campaign directory came up with a budget of N3.5million. He invited me to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secretariat and asked what my contribution would be. I told him that I didn’t have money but I could contribute N1.5million. He accepted and completed the remaining N2million. Afterwards, primaries were conducted and I was leading everywhere except in three local governments - Kura, Madobi and Garun Malam - where primary election was not conducted. Other aspirants suggested that we should converge on Kura to conduct the election for the three local government areas. I rejected that suggestion, saying it should be conducted separately as done in all the other places. While that was going on, Kwankwaso called me and said Abubakar Rimi was before him, pleading that he should ask me to withdraw for Kura Muhammad because he was committed to him. The governor asked me to make some consultations and decide on what to do. I told him that I had nobody to consult better than him. And before I joined the contest, I committed everything to God and asked for his choice. So if withdrawing from the contest at that point in time was what God had chosen for me, so be it. So, I withdrew from the contest. The following morning, my supporters protested, I had to prevail on them to take heart, and that was how it went. I also contested against Senator Lado. At that time Muhammad Abacha was contesting for the governorship of Kano State while my support was with Colonel Jafaru Isah because we had been together for a long time. They sent delegates almost four times to me, saying that I should transfer my support to Muhammad Abacha, but I declined to do that because as an elderly person I was not supposed to betray somebody after I had given him my words. As a result of that, they ganged up against me. After the primary election, the results indicated that 17,000 of my votes were invalid.
People respect you only on the basis of what you have. And these politicians have immersed enormous wealth. Ironically, there is nothing they could do with the money that you cannot do. First of all, when they wake up in the morning, they go to the toilet to cleanse themselves, get dressed and perhaps take their breakfast. Every other person does the same thing. They put on clothes and you put on yours because nobody walks around naked as a result of poverty. On the day they die they will be shrouded in the same white like any other person, and nobody takes anything to the grave, apart from his deeds. Unfortunately, in Nigeria today, looting public funds has become a passion. Where on earth, apart from this country, do you see public funds being looted at this magnitude? And people are in serious hardship. As for Buhari, I sympathise with him because he is upright and has good intentions for this country, but he came under undue influence right after his election, before he was sworn in.
It is not an understatement to say that I am one of the first three persons in Kano that served Buhari the most. Whenever he was coming to Kano he would call to inform us to receive and accompany him to wherever he was going. When he was through we would see him off. When he arrived home, he would call to express his appreciation. Sometimes he would call to seek my advice on certain issues; and I would advise him to the best of my understanding. And he would accept some of them and act accordingly.
Over 80 per cent of those who surround him succeeded in separating him from his loved ones. Some of us will meet him and spend like an hour with him, but unfortunately, he would dump your advice. I once told him that the people he halted their smuggling businesses and foreign exchange, together with the politicians he was planning to jail, had ganged up against him and are determined to ensure his downfall by all means, and the easiest way they could succeed is through starving the masses and putting the blame on his decisions. So I advised him to try as much as he did when he was a military
head of state to import foodstuffs from some of these countries, even if it’s in the form of trade by barter and sell it out to the masses at give-away prices. By so doing, whosoever hoarded foodstuffs would have no option but to bring out and sell or risk serious loss. He accepted that initially, but later, his new friends were at it again. They asked how he could do that while trying to boost local production. He accepted their advice and threw away ours. That was how he lost the sympathy and support he hitherto enjoyed from the masses. His second mistake was that he failed to realise that this is a democratic rule, and in politics there are certain things that are ideally right, but in reality you can’t do away with them.
What were you doing after your retirement from civil service?
After my retirement from the civil service I joined a company that was into the construction of vehicles and spare parts. I was also participating actively in politics. And there are people in positions of authority who are either our classmates or those we have helped in one way or another that still respect us. These people usually give us some contracts that we either execute or sell to gain something. That is what I am doing up till today. You know, everybody is now a contractor, and that is what brought this country on its knees. Basically the political system of this country was in such a way that the permanent secretary was in charge of the ministry, whether there was a minister or not. This was because there were laid down rules on how to run the affairs of the ministry. If you were posted to a ministry, the permanent secretary would take his time and write about 20 pages of rules and regulations and what punishment awaited you if you violated any of them. At that time, civil servants need nothing other than their salaries. They protected their integrity. All a civil servant wanted was to reach his retirement age, collect his gratuity and buy a house with it and continue collecting his pension. But as time went by, things changed and civil servants realised the benefits of becoming contractors. They started having their companies and awarding contracts to themselves.
Did you associate with Malam Aminu Kano?
Yes, we did, although we were relatively young. He respected me a lot. Whenever he was going to England, he would write and inform me. When he arrived we would gather in his hotel room, and he would always advise us saying, “You are the future leaders, don’t let anyone use you to achieve his personal aim.’’ Sometimes he would make some financial donations to our union. When I was about to marry, he presented a set of babban riga and a pair of shoes to me in London and gave my wife 50pounds. That was the extent I associated with him.
Where did you meet your first wife?
I was in London when I got married. One of my roommates from Adamawa appreciated my way of life. He observed that I always stuck to my religion, observing my prayers and fasting accordingly. That impressed him. He used to ask whether I was married and I told him I was still single. He said he had a niece he would offer me to marry. I said it was alright, but I would see her first. So one day, I met him when he was a district officer in Bauchi and he took me to her. We eventually got married.
What is the difference between the Kano State Students Union of your time and the present Arewa Youths Forum?
What we are lacking in the North at the moment is leadership. At that time things were done rightly. I remember when General Hassan Usman Katsina was the governor of the Northern Region. He wanted to build a house, so he found a land and approved it for his plan, but Yahaya Gusau, who was the permanent secretary, queried how a governor could approve a land for himself. He said it was not possible. He said if the governor wanted a land he should wait until he was out of office so that the person who succeeded him would give it to him. And that was exactly what happened.
The impression the people of the southern part of this country had was that northern leaders were thieves. But when Sardauna was killed they discovered that apart from his clothes and turbans, he had nothing.
At that time, the emirs did not enroll their children in school but the children of the village heads; so they were educated. It came to a point where almost all those that ruled were children of village heads.
When I returned from England, we used to gather at the emir’s house in Nasarawa GRA with likes of Abubakar Rimi, Musa Magami and others. That’s where we would chat all day long. One day, Aminu Baba Danbappa returned from Sabon Gari and met so many cars parked. He looked at them and said, “Look at these villagers, when you were brought to be enrolled in school, you and your parents were crying, but today you are educated. Look at how you parked cars.’’ He abused all of them and left. I asked: “How come somebody abused you and none of you said anything?’’ They replied, “Why didn’t you talk?’’ And I said I didn’t talk because I was not a villager.
He accepted that initially, but later, his new friends were at it again. They asked how he could do that while trying to boost local production. He accepted their advice and threw away ours. That was how he lost the sympathy and support he hitherto enjoyed from the masses
Why do you prefer the British model of democracy?
First of all, if Nigeria had followed the footsteps of America, we would have been living in peace. This is not how Americans conduct their affairs. What we borrowed from America is not what we are practising here. Even an insane person knows that the British model is what will suit Nigeria. The British colonised us, they know everything about us and they set up the kind of governance that befits us.
There is no better democracy than a situation where all members of a state assembly would be elected and they would select the governor from among themselves. And the governor would select his commissioners according to the geographical spread of the state. In this case, if you sack me as a commissioner I will still remain a member of the assembly because I was elected like any other member.
Despite your age you still look agile, what’s the secret?
First of all, whenever I feel different anywhere in my body, I quickly go to see a doctor. I have a medical record of over 40 years from England, Saudi Arabia and other places.
I went for a surgery recently. There was nothing troubling me in my body, but Dr Abubakar Imam of Urology Hospital asked me to go for MRI at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. When I met Dr Mijinyawa, who has been my doctor for long, he booked me for a test. When the result came out, the doctor said I had to undergo a surgery. I asked what the problem was and he said I had a tube in my system. He said I would not feel any pain then, but whenever it burst there would be a serious problem. I gave the result to my in-laws and they went to Saudi and booked for us to see a doctor. They gave us $10,000, which we spent on food, transportation and drugs.
The people we met there said they knew nothing about our coming but they would attend to us if we could pay 150,000 Saudi riyals. So my in-laws asked us to return back so that they could secure a visa for us. When we returned, they contacted Egypt and they demanded $35,000 for the surgery. Then we heard of some American doctors that were operating in Abuja. When we contacted them they gave two options - either an open surgery that would cost N3million or computer surgery that would cost N12million. My in-laws asked for my choice and I told them that no one would cut my body just like that while I didn’t feel any pain. So they paid for the computer surgery and everything went successfully. So the secret is proper maintenance of the body. There is nothing more important than consulting a doctor who would examine you and ask you all sorts of questions to enable him make an informed decision. Similarly, I don’t shy away from buying drugs, no matter how expensive they are. And I follow the dosage as prescribed. I also follow instructions given by the doctor. You can see that I am close to 80 years but I can still drive my car to anywhere I want to go. And I eat whatever I like; I don’t have any specific diet. We used to have a sports court at the backyard where most governors came for some exercise.
Do you like travelling?
I travel a lot. However, it has reduced due to the economic situation in the country. I still have a ticket that reads Kano-London, London-Paris, Paris-London, London-Kano.
As a member of a royal family, do you hold any traditional title?
No. Right from my young age I used to have a radical approach to issues. I used to offer pieces of advice to the late Emir Ado Bayero who was my guardian. I was always with him and he respected me. He often asked for my advice and I would tell him what I believed was the right thing. If he had something that worried him I would proffer solution to it. That was how we related up to the time he returned to his Lord.
Are you into farming?
I was a farmer for a short while. I had a farm at Janguza, behind the army barracks. It belonged to the Emir Abdullahi Bayero. He gave it to my father, and when he died I purchased it from other heirs and obtained a certificate for it. I used to have some cattle and sheep in it. I started farming but I later discovered that it was no longer feasible, so I stopped. Now, some people farm in it.
Are you still in active politics?
Of course, I am still in politics. Politics is all about life. It affects you, your children and grandchildren. If you say you are not interested you are cheating yourself. There are lots of ways you can contribute your quota, and that is exactly what we are doing now. We cannot fold our arms and say we have no business in politics.
What do you have to say about the gale of defections by politicians from one party to another?
Everything they are doing now is because Buhari listed some people he said were looters and would face the wrath of the law.
Would you like to speak about your family?
I have two wives. I spent more than 40 years with my first wife before she started revolting as if she was under an evil spell. I followed all diplomatic ways to calm her down but she refused. Then I decided that the only solution was to take another wife. That’s what I did about seven years ago. I have 10 children with the first wife: five males and five females. Two of the male children have passed away and three are alive. One of the females also passed away. All the remaining four female children are married; they all live in Abuja. My eldest son is an engineer; he is a lieutenant colonel in the Nigerian Army.