The government of Northern Nigeria was modelled after the Westminster system. A premier acts as head of government and presides over the day-to-day affairs of government, while a governor acts as head of state and commander-in-chief of the constabulary. [1] [2] The Lower house of parliament, called the House of Assembly, is composed of elected representatives from the various provinces of the country. The Upper house of parliament, called the House of Chiefs, is similar to the British House of Lords. It is composed of unelected emirs of the various Native Authority Councils of the nation's provinces. [3] Before 1963, the Queen of the United Kingdom served as the sovereign of Northern Nigeria. [3]
In the period immediately after the world war II, Nigerian politics took a new direction. In 1946 the British colonial administration introduced the Richards Constitution which divided Nigeria into three regions – the North, the West and the East. Nigerian political representation was introduced at the federal and the regional level, and Nigerian political parties were allowed. The dominating political party in Northern Nigeria was the Northern People’s Congress, dominated by the Islamic political elite in the North and widely perceived as a Muslim party. To the Christian communities like the Bachama's and others throughout the Middle Belt the Northern People’s Congress was perceived as the chief political enemy, and Christian dominated parties were founded in the Middle Belt, especially the Middle Zone League and the United Middle Belt Congress which were supported by most Bachama's. To the Christians of northern Nigeria the main political aim of the period was to avoid Muslim domination and to resist what they saw as a long-standing British imperialism and Muslim Fulani sub-imperialism in northern Nigeria.
The structure of Northern Nigeria's governments is entwined in the administrative structure of the Sokoto Caliphate, In 1903, the governor of Northern Nigeria, Lord Lugard, guaranteed the administrative structure of the region when he decided to preserve the emirate system of the caliphate; in later structural adjustments the emirates were slowly translated into provinces, some of which became composed of multiple emirates. [6]
As opposed to Nigerian Nationalism, Northern Nigeria never experienced a phase of nationalism that usually preceded the independence of most African countries, Northern Nigerianism on the other hand was directed against the perceived dominance and influence of the Nigerian South. [8] In the 1940s the Northern Nigerian delegation opted to maintain Nigeria's federal structure and subsequently voted against Independence. In 1952 another rejection of Independence by the North led to attacks on the Northern Delegation to the Lagos conference; News of the attacks led to the 1953 Kano Riots and the famous "mistake of 1914" speech delivered by the sardauna.
In the 1970s organised Northern Nigerian activism slowly led to the emergence of powerful pan-northern interest groups, these groups were however severely decapitated by the sweeping victories of Shehu Yar'adua Peoples Democratic Movement in 1993. since 1999, Northern Nigerianism has continued to suffer electoral setbacks.
The emirs of Northern Nigeria preside over the numerous emirates of the country; their number has gradually grown since the introduction of sub-class emirates in the third and fourth Nigerian Republics. Although constitutionally nominal since the first republic, they continue to be a source of authority and influence throughout Northern Nigeria. [9] In 2014, the selection of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as Emir Kano led to a four-day standoff purportedly instigated by the president, who was afraid of the influence that Sunusi would garner from the office. [10]
Local politics in Northern Nigeria has been plagued by kleptocratic interest groups since the fall of the Northern Central Government. Organized kleptocracies in the form family compact political groups usually rule the Northern Nigerian grass roots. Some have speculated that cultural influence of the Nigerian South could be responsible for the endemic corruption that is plaguing Northern Nigeria's political polity. [12]
Kano is a city in northern Nigeria and the capital of Kano State. It is the second largest city in Nigeria after Lagos, with over four million citizens living within 449 km2 (173 sq mi); located in the Savanna, south of the Sahel, Kano is a major route of the trans-Saharan trade. The city has been a trade and human settlement for millennia. It is the traditional state of the Dabo dynasty who since the 19th century have ruled as emirs over the city-state. Kano Emirate Council is the current traditional institution inside the city boundaries of Kano, and under the authority of the Government of Kano State.
The Sokoto Caliphate was a Sunni Muslim caliphate in West Africa. It was founded by Usman dan Fodio in 1804 during the Fulani jihads after defeating the Hausa Kingdoms in the Fulani War. The boundaries of the caliphate are part of present-day Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria. It was dissolved when the British and Germans conquered the area in 1903 and annexed it into the newly established Northern Nigeria Protectorate and Kamerun respectively.
Northern Nigeria was a British protectorate which lasted from 1900 until 1914 and covered the northern part of what is now Nigeria.
Northern Nigeria was an autonomous division within Nigeria, distinctly different from the southern part of the country, with independent customs, foreign relations and security structures. In 1962 it acquired the territory of the British Northern Cameroons, which voted to become a province within Northern Nigeria.
Ado Bayero CFR, LLD, JP was the Emir of Kano from 1963 to 2014.
Ahmadu Ibrahim Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto, knighted as SirAhmadu Bello, was a conservative Nigerian statesman who masterminded Northern Nigeria through the independence of Nigeria in 1960 and served as its first and only premier from 1954 until his assassination in 1966, in which capacity he dominated national affairs for over a decade.
Colonial Nigeria was ruled by the British Empire from the mid-nineteenth century until 1960 when Nigeria achieved independence. British influence in the region began with the prohibition of slave trade to British subjects in 1807. Britain annexed Lagos in 1861 and established the Oil River Protectorate in 1884. British influence in the Niger area increased gradually over the 19th century, but Britain did not effectively occupy the area until 1885. Other European powers acknowledged Britain's dominance over the area in the 1885 Berlin Conference.
Sir Herbert Richmond Palmer was an English barrister, who became a colonial supervisor for Britain during the inter-World War period. He served as a Lieutenant Governor in Nigeria, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of The Gambia and Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Cyprus.
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, known by the religious title Khalifa Sanusi II, is a spiritual leader in the Tijanniyah Sufi order of Nigeria. He is a member of the Dabo dynasty and was emir of the ancient city-state of Kano. He was born in Kano in 1961 into the royal family as the grandson of Muhammadu Sanusi I. He succeeded his great-uncle Ado Bayero to the throne on 8 June 2014, and spent most of his reign advocating for cultural reform in Northern Nigeria, until his dethronement on 9 March 2020 by the state government.
Chief Victor Babaremilekun Adetokunboh Fani-Kayode, Q.C., SAN, CON (1921–1995) was a leading Nigerian politician, aristocrat, nationalist, statesman and lawyer. He was elected deputy premier of the Western Region of Nigeria in 1963 and he played a major role in Nigeria's legal history and politics from the late 1940s until 1995.
Nigerian traditional rulers often derive their titles from the rulers of independent states or communities that existed before the formation of modern Nigeria. Although they do not have formal political power, in many cases they continue to command respect from their people and have considerable influence.
The Kano Emirate was a Muslim state in Northern Nigeria formed in 1805 during the Fulani jihad when the Muslim Hausa-led Sultanate of Kano was deposed and replaced by a new emirate which became a vassal state of the Sokoto Caliphate. During and after the British colonial period, the powers of the emirate were steadily reduced. The emirate is preserved and integrated into modern Nigeria as the Kano Emirate Council.
For the Arab Hutaymi tribe, see Sulluba
Alhaji Sir Muhammadu Sanusi I, KBE was the Acting Governor of Northern Nigeria (1957) and Emir of Kano from 1954 to 1963. He was the eldest son of Emir Abdullahi Bayero. He was a powerful Emir that had substantial influence in the colonial Northern Nigeria. He hosted a grand durbar festival for Elizabeth II when she visited Kano in 1956. The power tussle between him and his distant cousin Sir Ahmadu Bello the Sardauna of Sokoto and accusations of financial malfeasance led to his abdication, and subsequent self-exile in Azare 1963. His grandson, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria was Emir of Kano from 2014 to 2020. Sanusi belonged to the reformed Tijaniyya order of Ibrahim Niass
The Kano Peoples Party was a Nigerian political party in the first republic. Formed in 1963, it soon became the second largest opposition party in Northern Nigeria overtaking the United Middle Belt Congress. In 1966, the Party was proscribed along with other political parties by the military.
The Kano Emirate Council is a traditional state in Northern Nigeria with headquarters in the city of Kano, the capital of the modern Kano State. Preceded by the Emirate of Kano the council was formed in 1903 after the British pacification of the Sokoto Caliphate.
The Colonial history of Northern Nigeria extends from the British pacification campaigns to the independence of Northern Nigeria in 1953.
The history of Northern Nigeria covers the history of the region form pre-historic times to the modern period of Northern Nigerian state.
Muhammad Abbas was a Regent of Kano and later Emir of Kano. He was appointed regent by Lord Lugard after the pacification of Northern Nigeria, he presided over the transformation of the Caliphal Emirate into an Emirate subject to the British throne under the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria.
The Sultanate of Sokoto is a traditional state in Northern Nigeria with headquarters in the city of Sokoto, capital of the modern Sokoto State. Preceded by the Sokoto Caliphate, the council was formed in 1903 after the British pacification of the caliphate.
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