Aminu Kano

=== Pre-Independence (1950—1959) ===
{{Quote box
| quote = Nepotism, poverty in its nakedness, disease, slavery under another garb, injustice and shameless greed are as common as they had been before the abrupt advent of the 19th-century imperialism. The promotion or appointment of illiterate men, young or grey bearded, to high offices of state usually for the mere accident of birth or for the "hypocritical nearness" is not only enough to rob the people of their intelligence and initiative but also a proof to show that this organised autocracy is a replica of the native un-Islamic rule which the British imperialism premeditated not to abolish.
| source = —In Aminu's 1953 review of Dr. Walter Miller's "Have We failed in Nigeria?"{{sfn|Paden|1973|p=286}}
| width = 40%
}}
After his resignation, Aminu returned to [[Kano (city)|Kano]] and formally joined [[Northern Elements Progressive Union]] (NEPU) party.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=101}}  The stated goals of the party included the "emancipation of the talakawa" (commoners) through "reform of the present autocratic political institutions". During the second annual convention of the [[Northern People's Congress|Northern Peoples' Congress]] (NPC) in December 1950, a resolution by NEPU, drafted by Aminu, called for the NPC to be declared as an "an explicitly nationalist political party".<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=95}}  It became evident that a political party was needed for the North, to keep up with the continued democratisation of the country.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|pages=359-360}} However, powerful emirs and "certain administrative officers" viewed the NPC as a group with dangerously radical ideas. Concerns from moderate and conservative members arose, with fears that the NPC, if viewed as radical, would struggle to be the dominant party in the North. Several NPC members threatened to withdraw from the organisation if members of NEPU were not expelled.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|pages=95-96}} According to [[Shehu Shagari]], who informed Aminu and Zungur on their way to the convention, as a member of the Sokoto Youth Social Circle wing of the NPC, he was given instructions to oppose any bid by the both of them at the convention. He further claimed that Aminu, upon hearing of this, encouraged him to "exercise the mandate I had been given" and assured him of their continued friendship and respect.<ref name=":30" />{{Rp|pages=68-69}}<ref name=":28">{{Cite book |last=Auwalu |first=Anwar |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WYurDwAAQBAJ |title=Politics as Dashed Hopes in Nigeria |date=2019-08-23 |publisher=Safari Books Ltd |isbn=978-978-55986-5-0 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=25}} Consequently, NEPU withdrew from the NPC, forming an independent political party.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|pages=140-141}}<ref name=":28" />{{Rp|pages=25-33}} 

Aminu participated in the primary voting phase of the first parliamentary election in September 1951 for the [[Northern House of Assembly]]. His party, NEPU, secured victory with 12 out of the 26 seats allocated for Kano city, outperforming the other three parties, including Native Administration officials who collectively held six seats.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=30}}<ref name=":20" />{{Rp|page=74}} The subsequent stage involved the final [[Electoral college|colleges]], which elected candidates to the [[Parliament of Nigeria|House of Assembly]] through a [[secret ballot]]. These colleges, comprising relatively small groups, each cast several hundreds votes or less.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=29}} Despite NEPU's success in the earlier stages, Aminu was less fortunate in the final voting process, receiving 16 votes out of 68, and no NEPU member secured a position in the 1952 House of Assembly, which served as an electoral college for the [[House of Representatives (Nigeria)|House of Representatives]]. Four NEPU members, initially successful in the intermediate stage, found themselves competing against previously defeated candidates from the Native Authority during the final stage.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=30}}<ref name=":20" />{{Rp|page=74}} Because of the outcome of the elections, it was perceived that British officials and the Native Authority had devised an electoral system that favoured the Native Authority,<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=30}}<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":21">{{Cite book |last=Yahaya |first=A. D. |url=http://archive.org/details/nativeauthoritys00yaha |title=The native authority system in northern Nigeria, 1950-70 : a study in political relations with particular reference to the Zaria native authority |date=1980 |publisher=Zaria, Nigeria : Dept. of Political Science, Ahmadu Bello University |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-978-125-014-9}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=78-79}} and "a high proportion of elected members became defenders of its interests".<ref name=":21" />{{Rp|pages=78-79}} Sir Bryan Sharwood-Smith, former Governor of Northern Nigeria, 'wished' that Aminu had won the election as it "might have taken some of the bitterness out of Aminu's system" and that "[Northern Nigeria] needed all the able men it could muster, and of Aminu's ability there could be no question".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sharwood Smith |first=Bryan |url=http://archive.org/details/recollectionsofb0000shar |title=Recollections of British administration in the Cameroons and Northern Nigeria, 1921-1957: But always as friends |date=1969 |publisher=Durham, N.C., Duke University Press |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>{{Rp|page=225}} 

[[File:Aminu Kano and Bello Ijumu (1956).jpg|thumb|Aminu and [[Bello Ijumu]] of the [[United Middle Belt Congress]] before the [[1954 Nigerian general election|1956 general elections]].|276x276px]]A mass rally of "15,000 souls [taxpayers]" by NEPU was organised in Kano to protest this outcome. The party organised mock elections to show that direct elections could be conducted in an orderly fashion. NEPU managed to raise enough funds to send Aminu to England "to plead their case before the [[British Parliament]] and the general public". With the help of [[Thomas Lionel Hodgkin|Thomas Hodgkin]] and John Collins, Aminu was able to meet members of the [[House of Lords]], [[Fabian Society|Fabian]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MPs]], and the [[Secretary of State (United Kingdom)|British Secretary of State]]. The Native Authority retaliated by harassing and jailing NEPU members around Kano, notably physically assaulting [[Gambo Sawaba]], the prominent women's rights activist and leader of NEPU's women's wing. The NPC, the leading political party in the North, also had 'a group of hooligans' who were colloquially known as ''Yan Mahaukata'' ('mad people').<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|pages=155-156}} In addition to establishing the Positive Action Wing (PAW)<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=392}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=OFEIMUN |first=ODIA |date=3 November 2012 |title=Awolowo and the forgotten documents of the civil war, by Odia Ofeimun (2) |url=https://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/11/awolowo-and-the-forgotten-documents-of-the-civil-war-by-odia-ofeimun-2/ |work=Vanguard}}</ref> to counter these aggressions, some members of the British Parliament, such as [[Fenner Brockway]], put pressure on the colonial government to cease the repressive actions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Commons Chamber Volume 520: debated on Wednesday 4 November 1953 |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1953-11-04/debates/ced768a1-0a2d-4c60-946d-a442a4ffa181/CommonsChamber#main-content |website=Hansard.Parliament |publisher=[[Parliament of the United Kingdom|UK Parliament]]}}</ref>  

Due to his high status within the party Aminu was well protected against the physical violence the other NEPU members suffered.<ref name=":25">{{Cite book |last=Reynolds |first=Jonathan T. |url=http://archive.org/details/timeofpoliticsza0000reyn |title=The time of politics (zamanin siyasa) : Islam and the politics of legitimacy in Northern Nigeria, 1950-1966 |date=1999 |publisher=Lanham, Md. : University Press of America |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-57309-272-2}}</ref>{{Rp|page=137}} However, Aminu faced numerous arrests by the Native Authority. Notably, during the federal election campaign of 1954, he was convicted twice. First, for flying NEPU's flag on his car in Kano city—an act traditionally reserved for the Emir of Kano and the British Resident. Second, for publishing articles with alleged 'seditious intent,' resulting in a three-day imprisonment for the former and a £50 fine for the latter.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=364}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carter |first=Gwendolen Margaret |url=http://archive.org/details/nationalunityreg0000cart |title=National unity and regionalism in eight African states: Nigeria, Niger, the Congo, Gabon, Central African Republic, Chad, Uganda [and] Ethiopia |date=1966 |publisher=Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>{{Rp|page=91}} In another incident, he was accused of [[Bid'ah|heresy]] by a group of ''mallamai'', led by [[Nasiru Kabara]]. The accusation centered around the belief that the wearing of ''Sawaba'' buttons by NEPU members was un-Islamic, and NEPU was alleged to be collaborating with Christians against the religious leaders of the North. Accompanied by his advisers Danladi and [[Lawan Dambazau]], Aminu appeared before the [[Kano Emirate Council|Emir's council of Kano]] to address these charges. Given the gravity of the accusations, he and the aforementioned advisers "performed the ablutions of a man facing impending death (last rites)". At the meeting, Aminu pointed out that the emir's council was not a debating society and that discussions should be held separately and later reported to the emir. This was agreed and a second meeting was scheduled. At this second meeting, Aminu said that NEPU's alliance with [[National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons]] (NCNC) was not against Islamic teachings as even Muhammad once made a defense alliance with Jews around [[Medina]]. He also said that the Emir of Kano himself had recently consulted Christian [[Igbo people|Igbo]] engineers to work on the [[Great Mosque of Kano]] in the 1950s. On the matter of the Sawaba buttons, Aminu questioned if it was also considered un-Islamic when some emirs wore the [[Order of St Michael and St George|medal of the British Order of St. George]]. A compromise was eventually reached and NEPU members were only allowed to wear party badges at mass rallies.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|pages=149-151}} 

Aminu was elected the President-General of NEPU at the third annual convention of the party in 1953, succeeding Abba Maikwaru. A year later, the party formed an alliance with [[Nnamdi Azikiwe]]'s [[National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons]] (NCNC).<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=322}}<ref name=":21" />{{Rp|pages=146-147}} He contested in the [[1954 Nigerian general election|1954 Federal elections]] for Kano East but lost to [[Maitama Sule]].<ref name=":5" /> During the [[1956−57 Nigerian regional elections|1956 regional elections]], Aminu contested for the Kano East constituency. He lost the election to [[Ahmadu Dantata]], one of the wealthiest Nigerians and heir to the [[Alhassan Dantata|Dantata business empire]].<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=333}} The election, conducted on the basis of male taxpayer [[suffrage]], concluded with Dantata securing 2,119 votes against Aminu's 1,776.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|pages=328-329}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 November 1956 |title=Zaben Arewa Falle Daya |url=https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP485-1-1-292 |access-date=18 January 2024 |work=[[Gaskiya Ta Fi Kwabo]] |pages=1 |language=ha}}</ref>

The [[1959 Nigerian general election]] marked a significant milestone as the first election featuring direct voting in every constituency. Aminu, running under the NEPU-NCNC alliance, again contested for the Kano East constituency and received 60.4% of the votes, securing a seat in the [[Federal House Of Representative|Federal House of Representatives]].<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=374}}<ref name=":20" />{{Rp|page=370}} At the House, he was appointed the position of the Deputy [[Chief Whip|Government Chief Whip]], and Chairman of the Alliance Committee on foreign affairs and is reported to have declined a ministerial appointment as he deemed it 'unseemly' to accept a position "with prestige and no power" with about 2,000 of his party followers in prison.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=187}}<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=374}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Coleman |first=James Smoot |url=http://archive.org/details/politicalparties0000cole |title=Political parties and national integration in tropical Africa |date=1964 |publisher=Berkeley : University of California Press |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>{{Rp|page=630}}