Aminu Kano

==Early life and education ==
'''Aminu''' was born in the Sudawa ward of the city of [[Kano (city)|Kano]] on 9 August 1920 to Rakaiya and Mallam Yusufu of the Gyanawa, a [[Fula people|Fulani]] clan known for their [[Islamic scholarship]], particularly in [[Sharia|Islamic law]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":14">{{Cite book |last=Paden |first=John N. |url=http://archive.org/details/ethnicenterprise00ligh |title=Religion and political culture in Kano |date=1973 |publisher=Berkeley, University of California Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-520-01738-2}}</ref>{{Rp|page=274}} Of his mother's six births, he was the only one to reach the age of 15. Both of his parents were well learned in Islam, and his father later served as the Acting Chief Alkali of Kano. His grandmother was given the Fulani title of ''Modibbo'', typically reserved for respected Islamic scholars.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=330}} According to local tradition, [[Usman dan Fodio]], the founder of the [[Sokoto Caliphate]], himself appointed a relative of Aminu to the position of [[Kano Emirate|Kano]]'s chief [[Qadi|Alkali]]. Since then, the Gyanawa have been sought after to occupy legal positions such as alkalis, walis and [[mufti]]s.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Feinstein |first=Alan |url=http://archive.org/details/africanrevolutio0000fein |title=African revolutionary; the life and times of Nigeria's Aminu Kano |date=1973 |publisher=[New York] Quadrangle |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-8129-0321-8}}</ref>{{Rp|page=27}}<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195382075_3 |title=Dictionary of African biography |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-19-538207-5 |editor-last=Akyeampong |editor-first=Emmanuel K. |pages=290 |editor-last2=Jr. |editor-first2=Henry Louis Gates}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Whitaker |first=C. S. (C Sylvester) |url=http://archive.org/details/politicsoftradit0000whit |title=The politics of tradition continuity and change in Northern Nigeria, 1946-1966 |date=1970 |publisher=Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-691-03079-1}}</ref>{{Rp|page=329}}<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Sklar |first=Richard L. |url=http://archive.org/details/nigerianpolitica0000skla |title=Nigerian political parties : power in an emergent African nation |date=1983 |publisher=New York : NOK Publishers International |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-88357-100-2}}</ref>{{Rp|page=100}}<ref name=":14" />{{Rp|page=274}}[[File:ETH-BIB-Kano-Tschadseeflug 1930-31-LBS MH02-08-0084.tif|left|thumb|225x225px|Aerial view of Kano in the early 1930s.]]Aminu's maternal lineage also had several learned men and women dating back centuries. They were Fulbe who emigrated from [[Kukawa]] in the [[Kanem–Bornu Empire|Bornu empire]] to Kano.<ref name=":14" />{{Rp|page=274}}<ref>{{Citation |last=Gwadabe |first=Maude Rabi'u |title=Tarihin Malam Aminu Kano |date=25 December 2023 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhsV76d9kco |access-date=2024-01-03 |publisher=[[Media Trust|Aminiya Trust]] |language=ha}}</ref>{{Rp|location=1:15}} Among them was a mallam who served as a personal adviser to the then [[List of rulers of Kano|Emir of Kano]], [[Sulaimanu|Sulimanu]]. This mallam supported himself by breeding and selling pigeons, earning the nickname Mallam Mai Tattabari ('the mallam who raises pigeons'). This nickname became an official title in the [[Gidan Rumfa|Kano palace]] and has been passed down to his successors, serving as the emirs' personal Imams and advisers on Islamic law.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=27}}

As an infant, Aminu began his education with his first teachers being his mother and grandmother, who both taught him the [[Arabic language]] and how to read the [[Quran]].<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=100}}<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last=Jack |first=Homer A. |date=1959 |title=Malam Aminu Kano: A Profile |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4184021 |journal=Africa Today |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=6–10 |jstor=4184021 |issn=0001-9887}}</ref> After his mother died in 1926,<ref name=":31">{{Citation |last=Salau |first=Mohammed Bashir |title=Aminu Kano |date=2024-01-30 |work=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History |url=https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-590 |access-date=2024-02-17 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.590 |isbn=978-0-19-027773-4 |last2=Oluokun |first2=Oyedele}}</ref> he relocated to his uncle's home to live under the care of his maternal grandmother, who lived there. Consequently, Halilu, his uncle who was later appointed 'Mallam Mai Tattabari', became responsible for his Koranic education.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|pages=41–43}}<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/literaturesinafr0000unse |title=Literatures in African languages : theoretical issues and sample surveys |date=1985 |publisher=Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-521-25646-9 |editor-last=Andrzejewski |editor-first=B. W. |pages=243 |editor-last2=Piłaszewicz |editor-first2=S. |editor-last3=Tyloch |editor-first3=W.}}</ref>{{Rp|page=243}} Aminu was further enrolled into Shehuci Primary School, a western school, where he was taught how to read and write in English.<ref name=":14" />{{Rp|page=276}}<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=243}} He adopted the name of his birthplace, [[Kano (city)|Kano]], as his surname, a common practice among [[Western education|western]] educated Northern Nigerians at the time.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hempstone |first=Smith |url=http://archive.org/details/newafrica0000hemp |title=The new Africa |date=1961 |publisher=London, Faber and Faber |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>{{Rp|page=604}}

In 1933, Aminu began attending Kano Middle School (later renamed [[Rumfa College, Kano]]), a boarding school. There, in 1935, he led one of the first student strikes in Nigeria against a shortage of soap, poor food, "too many restrictions, and too severe a code of behavior".<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|pages=48–49}} He then proceeded to Kaduna College (later renamed [[Barewa College]]) where he obtained a diploma in education in 1942.<ref name=":14" />{{Rp|page=276}}<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=243}}<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Segal |first=Ronald |url=http://archive.org/details/politicalafricaw0000sega |title=political Africa : a who's who of personalities and parties |date=1961 |publisher=New York : Praeger |others=Internet Archive |pages=122–123}}</ref>