Aminu Kano

== Legacy ==
{{Quote box
| quote = Nigeria cannot be the same again because '''Aminu Kano''' lived here.
| author = [[Chinua Achebe]]
| source = An Image of Africa / The Trouble with Nigeria{{sfn|Achebe|2010|p=87}}
| width = 30%
}}

=== Hausa cinema and plays ===
{{See also|Hausa-language cinema}}
As a young boy, Aminu often composed plays which he used to act out "his complaints, criticisms, and aspirations in dramatic form". In these plays, he regularly reserved the leading role to himself and gave out the other parts to his playmates.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|pages=43–44}} Later as a student at Kano Middle School, he became the first to formally write drama works in the Hausa-language.<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=228}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gar |first=Yusuf Baba |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jFjfEAAAQBAJ |title=Capturing Culture: Traditional Theater in Contemporary Hausa Video Films |date=2024-01-18 |publisher=LIT Verlag |isbn=978-3-643-96410-6 |pages=81 |language=en}}</ref> While studying at the [[Barewa College|Kaduna College]], he founded the Dramatic Society and wrote several plays in which he:<blockquote>...criticized the exploitation of the masses and challenged the system of [[Emirates of the Sokoto Caliphate|emirates]] in [[Northern Region, Nigeria|northern Nigeria]]. In the play, ''Kai wane ne a kasuwar Kano da ba za a cuce ka ba?'' ('Whoever you might be, you will be cheated at Kano market') he depicted the exploitation of country people by heartless merchants, while in ''Karya Fure take ba ta ‘ya’ya'' ('A lie blooms but yields no fruit') he raised the problem of excessive taxes levied upon the Hausa rural population. In the years 1939—1941 Aminu Kano wrote around twenty short plays for the use of schools in which he ridiculed some of the outdated local customs as well as the activities of the [[Native Authority]] in the system of indirect colonial administration.<ref name=":14" />{{Rp|page=276}}<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=228}}<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Adamu |first=Abdalla Uba |url=https://auadamu.com/phocadownload/Conference_Presentations/Media_and_Cultural_Communication_Presentations/2005%20Read%20to%20Reel%20-%20Transformation%20of%20Hausa%20Popular%20Literature%20from%20Orality%20to%20Visuality.pdf |title=Read to Reel: Transformation of Hausa Popular Literature from Orality to Visuality |publisher=Department of Mass Communication Bayero University, Kano |year=2005 |pages=8–9}}</ref></blockquote>In 1940, during the second annual general meeting of the Kaduna Old Boys Association (now Barewa Old Boys Association), a meeting where the alumni of the college "meet and have free discussions among themselves", Aminu, at the time still a student, staged his ''Kai wane ne a kasuwar Kano'' play for the KOBA attendees. According to [[Abubakar Imam]], who was among the attendees, 'observers' viewed the play as "politically inspired, capable of doing more harm than good to the stability of the region, and more especially with a global war on". This led to the school's authorities refusing to host any future meetings and to associate with KOBA.<ref name=":10" />{{Rp|page=162}}

Aminu drew inspiration from notable writers such as [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clark |first=Trevor |url=http://archive.org/details/wasitonlyyesterd0000unse |title=Was it only yesterday? : the last generation of Nigeria's "Turawa" |publisher=Bristol : BECM Press |others=Internet Archive |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-9530174-7-8}}</ref>{{Rp|page=284}} [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau|Rousseau]], [[Voltaire]], and [[Thomas Paine|Tom Paine]], attempting to adapt their works for a Hausa audience.<ref name=":3" /> He often served as the playwright, actor, and director in his plays, sometimes converting prose into drama or using strictly original material. He and his colleagues constructed stages, inviting audiences to witness their shows, often during festivals like Sallah. These performances gained popularity, sometimes drawing the attendance of even the emir and district heads. Aminu made social commentary and criticisms through these plays and shows. One notable play, initially titled ''Kar Ka Bata Hajin Naka'' ('Don't Spoil Your [[Hajj]]'), later renamed ''Alhaji Ka Iya Kwanga'' ('Alhaji, You Know How to Dance the [[Conga line|Conga]]'), cautioned Nigerians against being captivated by the superficial allure of Western ways, emphasizing that imitation was destined to fail. Instead, he advocated for change through education in their own customs.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=55}}

Although he sent several of his plays to [[Gaskiya Ta Fi Kwabo]], the government-run Hausa-language newspaper, none were accepted.<ref name=":14" />{{Rp|page=277}}<ref name=":3" /> According to [[Abdalla Uba Adamu]], 'The traditional establishment was too entrenched to accept literary criticism, especially from one of them.'<ref name=":3" /> Nevertheless, Aminu Kano's plays were influential in Hausa cinema, with several of his plays adapted to film.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McCain |first=Carmen |date=2013 |title=Nollywood and Its Others: Questioning English Language Hegemony in Nollywood Studies |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/article/538429 |journal=The Global South |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=30–54 |doi=10.2979/globalsouth.7.1.30 |s2cid=144044295 |issn=1932-8656}}</ref> He was particularly influential on [[Maitama Sule]], one of Hausa cinema's early adopters. Sule mentioned attending Kaduna College after Aminu had graduated, recalling that almost all the plays he acted in were written by Aminu.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|pages=56–57}} He added that he remembered an occasion where:<blockquote>...students swarmed to the railroad station to greet Aminu when they heard that he was enroute from Kano to Bauchi and would stop for a short time in Kaduna. The train was delayed for several hours, so they all trooped over to the field to perform a play of his on which they had been working. Aminu, when he arrived, joined the cast...<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=57}}</blockquote>Sule played a pivotal role in founding one of Northern Nigeria's first film production companies, the Maitama Sule Drama Group.<ref name=":3" /> His social and political critiques are often reflected in [[Cinema of Nigeria|Nigerian films]], particularly [[Kannywood|those in the Hausa language]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McCain |first=Carmen |date=2013 |title=Nollywood and Its Others: Questioning English Language Hegemony in Nollywood Studies |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/article/538429 |journal=The Global South |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=30–54 |doi=10.2979/globalsouth.7.1.30 |issn=1932-8656}}</ref>

=== Reformist ideas ===
Aminu Kano joined the Northern Elements Progressive Union as a political platform to challenge what he felt was the [[autocratic]] and [[feudalistic]] actions of the Native Northern Government. He geared his attack on the ruling [[elite]] including the [[emir]]s, who were mostly [[Fulani]]s. The potency of his platform was strengthened partly because of his background. His father was an acting Alkali in Kano who came from a [[Lineage (Buddhism)|lineage]] of Islamic clerics, Aminu Kano also brought up Islamic ideas on [[Justice|equity]] in his campaign trails during the first republic. Many talakawas ([[commoners]]) in Kano lined up behind his message and his political stature grew from the support of the Kano commoners and migratory petty traders in the north.<ref>M. G. Smith; Government in Kano, 1350-1950, Westview Press, 1997. p 492-493.</ref> Many of the tradesmen later manned the offices of NEPU. He also sought to use politics to create an [[egalitarian]] Northern Nigerian society.

Another major idea of his in the prelude to the first republic was the breakup of [[ethnic]]ally based parties. The idea was well received by his emerging support base of petty traders and craftsmen in towns along the rail track. The men and women were mostly migratory individuals searching for trade opportunities and had little ethnic similarities with their host communities. He also proposed a [[fiscal policy|fiscal]] system that favors heavy taxation of the rich in the region and was notably one of the few leading Nigerian politicians that supported [[women's rights|equal rights]] for women.

Mallam Aminu Kano is highly respected politician in Northern Nigeria. He symbolized democratization, women's empowerment and freedom of speech. An airport, a college and also a major street are also named after him in Kano. His house where he lived and died and buried has been converted to Centre for Democratic Research and Training under the Bayero University Kano.

=== Women's empowerment ===
Aminu's deep concern for his mother and the societal constraints she faced led him to make women's empowerment a lifelong dedication.<ref name=":17">{{Cite journal |editor-last=Wakili |editor-first=Haruna |title=The Social and Political Thoughts of Malam Aminu Kano |url=https://www.academia.edu/38919731 |journal=The Social and Political Thoughts of Malam Aminu Kano |date=January 2019 |publisher=Mambayya House, Centre for Democratic Studies, Bayero University |publication-place=[[Kano, Nigeria]]}}</ref>{{Rp|page=53}} He refrained from having multiple wives, asserting that the Qur'an permitted a Muslim to marry up to four wives only if equal treatment was ensured, which he thought was impossible to achieve. He interpreted this as the Qur'an not advocating polygamy. A strong believer in education as a means of women's emancipation, he sponsored a school for women which convened at his home from 1952 until his death in 1983, offering courses in handicrafts, sewing, Hausa, and basic English literacy. During his two year course at the Institute of Education, he wrote all his term papers on "The Problem of Girls' Education in Kano".<ref name=":14" />{{Rp|pages=290-291}}<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=102}}<ref name=":15">{{Cite journal |last=Callaway |first=Barbara J. |date=1987 |title=Women and Political Participation in Kano City |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/421813 |journal=Comparative Politics |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=379–393 |doi=10.2307/421813 |jstor=421813 |issn=0010-4159}}</ref>

Throughout his political career, Aminu consistently challenged the exclusion of [[Women in Nigeria|women]] from public life and formal political processes. He evoked Islamic concepts of "freedom," "[[jihad]]," and "justice" to advocate for [[women's empowerment]], positioning it as a fundamental concern within his political party. Alongside his cousin [[Isa Wali]], he championed this cause in the 1950s and 1960s, a stance that was relatively rare during that period. During the 1970s and 1980s, with the [[Second Nigerian Republic|return to democracy in Nigeria]], the [[People's Redemption Party]] (PRP), under his leadership, emerged as the only political party in Nigeria addressing this issue, and Aminu became closely associated with advocating for [[women's rights]] more than any other politician in the country. He argued that the [[Quran|Qur'an]] gave Muslims the right to "have a direct say in the affairs of the state or a representative chosen by him or her".<ref name=":16">{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/hausawomenintwen0000unse |title=Hausa Women in the Twentieth Century |date=1991 |publisher=Madison, Wis. : University of Wisconsin Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-299-13024-4 |editor-last=Coles |editor-first=Catherine |editor-last2=Mack |editor-first2=Beverly}}</ref>{{Rp|page=153}}<ref name=":15" /><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/womenstatedevelo0000unse |title=Women, the state, and development |date=1989 |publisher=Albany : State University of New York Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-7914-0064-7 |editor-last=M. Charlton |editor-first=Sue Ellen |pages=108 |editor-last2=Everett |editor-first2=Jana |editor-last3=Staudt |editor-first3=Kathleen}}</ref>

Had he participated in the [[1983 Nigerian presidential election|1983 Presidential election]], his running mate would have been Mrs. Bola Ogunbo, which would have been the first time a Nigerian woman was nominated for high national office. He advocated for the greater involvement of women in public affairs, implementing large-scale education programs for women through his party PRP and appointed several women to public positions. In both the parties he led, the [[Northern Elements Progressive Union]] (NEPU) from 1953 to 1966 and the PRP from 1978 to 1983, women were encouraged to engage politically. However, while these parties established women's wings and addressed issues concerning education and voting rights, they often stifled female members' attempts to independently confront wider issues. The women's wings, though present, did not lead reformative or revolutionary changes for women.<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|page=157}}

=== Islamiyya schools ===
During the 1950s, drawing inspiration from Islamic schools in [[Sudan]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tankarkar |first=Maijama'a Sule |date=18 May 2012 |title=Remembering Mallam Aminu Kano |url=https://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/5163-remembering_mallam_aminu_kano.html |access-date=2024-01-11 |website=Premiumtimesng.com}}</ref> the writings of [[Abdullahi dan Fodio]], and some similar reformist movements in Nigeria, Aminu initiated the establishment of the first ''Islamiyya'' schools, aiming to reform and modernise Islamic education in Kano. To garner support, Aminu proposed the programme to influential ''mallamai'' in Kano, including Sheikh Na’ibi Suleiman Wali and [[Inuwa Wada]]. The first of these schools was established in the Sudawa ward of the city, which quickly rose in popularity with an initial enrollment of 30 students that soon grew to 60. Parents, especially those with young girls, favoured these schools as they focused on Islamic education while also incorporating aspects of Western education which was a viable alternative to not attending school at all.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=|pages=142-144}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Daneji |first=Abdalla Uba Adamu |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368602049 |title=From Evolution to Revolution: The Kano Emirate Yesterday Today and Tomorrow |date=July 2021 |location=Kano |pages=12}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mustapha |first=Olusegun |date=2018-04-20 |title=Tunawa da Marigayi Malam Aminu Kano |url=https://aminiya.ng/tunawa-da-marigayi-malam-aminu-kano/ |access-date=2024-01-11 |website=Aminiya |language=ha}}</ref><ref name=":18">{{Cite journal |last=Reichmuth |first=Stefan |date=1989 |title=New Trends in Islamic Education in Nigeria: A Preliminary Account |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1570982 |journal=Die Welt des Islams |volume=29 |issue=1/4 |pages=41–60 |doi=10.2307/1570982 |jstor=1570982 |issn=0043-2539}}</ref><ref name=":19">{{Cite book |url=https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00M825.pdf |title=Kano State Education Accounts 2005/2006 |date=2006 |publisher=Kano State Education Accounts |pages=19–20}}</ref>

An education officer inspected the schools and was impressed with the program, leading to its integration into the formal school system. Within a year, ten more Islamiyya schools were opened in major cities across Northern Nigeria, including Kano, [[Kaduna]], and [[Jos]]. By 1958, there were approximately 60 such schools. Given that most support for these schools came from NEPU members, they became politicised and were occasionally targeted, even violently. Nevertheless, the popularity of these schools endured, particularly among female students.<ref name=":18" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kane |first=Ousmane |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8CGIM8F6fuQC |title=Non-Europhone Intellectuals |date=2012 |publisher=African Books Collective |isbn=978-2-86978-506-9 |pages=38 |language=en}}</ref>

Following Nigeria's independence in 1960, the Northern Government increased its support for Islamiyya schools. By the 1970s, primary school students "in addition to their primary studies attend an Islamiyya school fo several hours a day".<ref name=":18" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bray |first=Mark |url=http://archive.org/details/educationsociety0000bray |title=Education and society in Africa |date=1986 |publisher=London : Edward Arnold |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-7131-8158-6}}</ref>{{Rp|page=92}} Today, the majority of children in Northern Nigeria attend Islamiyya schools alongside traditional primary education.<ref name=":19" /> These schools have received support from the Nigerian government and international organizations, such as [[United States Agency for International Development|USAID]], as part of efforts to promote goals like girls' education.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thurston |first=Alex |date=2012-05-18 |title=Nigeria's Islamiyya Schools: Global Project, Local Target |url=https://therevealer.org/islamiyya-schools-draft/ |access-date=2024-01-11 |website=The Revealer |language=en-US}}</ref>