The Baikies: Hausa Christians with European background
Professor Adamu Baikie, a seasoned educationist and former Vice Chancellor of different Nigerian and foreign universities, is one of the prominent members of the Baikie family. The family has other members in all walks of life and in different parts of Ni
The name Baikie was adopted from a European missionary explorer who was in Nigeria around the 17th Century. Many Nigerians who embraced Christianity through the missionary work of the ‘white’ Baikie adopted his name and one of such Nigerians was the patriarch of the Zaria Baikie family.
Aside the European connection, the family is proud to be the first Hausa Christian family to have strong ties with the famous Kano Palace. Its patriarch, Batson Bangbhayiga Abdallah Baikie, had worked with the Kano Native Authority, where he served different titleholders like the then Galadima and Madakin Kano. The diligence of Pa Baikie to work endeared him to the then emir. This tie between the Baikies and the Kano palace still exists, as only recently, the Sarkin Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, paid a visit to the Baikies’ family house in GRA, Zaria.
According to 87-year-old Professor Adamu Baikie, who is now the eldest in the family, his father was born in Lai town in the present Chad Republic between 1889 and 1890. At the age of seven, Pa Baikie was captured by warriors from Sudan-Wadai on the outskirts of Lai town where they were guarding their farm against bird attack.
Pa Baikie was taken to Masena Bagirmi, a village in the Sudan-Wadai where he was handed over to the king of the village as a servant. Because of the trauma of losing his relatives, Pa Baikie become stubborn to his master despite the nice treatment he enjoyed from the king and his wives. As a result of this, Pa Baikie was around 1900 given out and his journey to Nigeria began through Dikwa in the present day Borno State.
Dikwa was then under the occupation of France and Britain. Along with about 24 other boys and girls who were lucky to have survived the perilous journey to Dikwa, Pa Baikie was freed and handed over to a chief in the town. He was later moved to Mafoni through Maiduguri.
At Mafoni, Pa Baikie was accepted by the European masters hence he was given opportunity to work in the doctors’ houses, hospital and other privileged places. He was also among the first set of captives to learn the English alphabets.
Having spent some time in Mafoni and Gaidam, Pa Baikie was among the set of captives moved to southern Nigeria through Yola and Rivers Niger and Benue around 1905 and 1906. After many stopovers at Mokwa, Zungeru, Kutigi and Bida, all in the present Niger State, Pa Baikie was placed under different European masters