Malam Aminu was born in Unguwar (Sudawa) in Kano. His father, Yusuf was a judge in the Shariah Courts in Kano and a prominent religious scholar.
The late Aminu Kano studied the Holy Qur’an under the tutelage of Malam Halilu. Malam Halilu was the Imam of the Emir of Kano Abdullahi Bayero from 1929 to 1953. He attended Shahuci Primary School and Kano Middle School between 1930 and 1937. Then transferred to the Katsina Teachers Training College where he graduated in 1942 and was deployed to continue his teaching job at the Bauchi Teachers Training College.
In 1946, Mallam Aminu Kano was sent to England to study at the London Institute of Education with Alhaji Sa Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, where the instituted a union termed, Bauchi General Improvement Union, an organization used to raise awareness of their rights.
He remained in Bauchi until 1948 when he was transferred to the Maru Teachers Training College in then Sokoto State.
Mr. Aminu Kano continued to oppose the evil policies of the British, and as a result, he was sent back to England for another course, but soon after his return, he formed the Northern Teachers Association (NTA), because at that time there was no such organization in the North, except in the South of the country and he became the Secretary of the Association.
Political Struggle to Free the Poor from the Colonialists and Monarchs
Since his graduation, Malam Aminu has wanted to do four things in his life in the field of social work, but in the end, no one got it, but he was told, he had to teach, and he does not know the art of teaching at all, but it is in the teaching profession that Malam has been able to become a politician and achieve all his goals that will wipe away the tears of the common people in this country.
In this way, he met with the masses and told them how to know their rights, how to wisely study, and how to be involved in the politics of this country which he never expected to enter. But he entered it and lived in it until he died.
Mr. Aminu entered politics, not for his personal interest, but to achieve the following goals:
(1) He entered politics to join the ranks of nationalists who fought against European colonialism, for the sake of Nigeria’s independence,
(2) for the poor to have the freedom and flexibility to pay taxes and levies, because they were paying flat rate with the rich irrespective of their status,
(3) He also taught the poor to say no, when he was commanded to cultivate in the king’s garden, without being given a penny,
(4) The traditional rulers should be removed from the control of the judiciary and the prisons;
(5) Mallam Aminu was the first person in the North to push for women’s rights in the North, their right to vote during elections, and their right to participate in politics and governance.
(6) Give the children of the poor the opportunity to study and be allowed to hold political and public office.
Although the NEPU party was not formed by Mallam Aminu, his involvement and leadership of the party, made him popular and popular in the hearts of the people of the North.
Mallam Aminu contested three times in the NEPU but only won once. In 1954, he ran for the Federal Parliament but lost to the late Alhaji Sule Maitama. In 1956 he again lost when he ran for the Northern State Assembly. He won the election in 1959, in a run-off election for the Federal Parliament. After his swearing-in, he was given the post of Deputy Chief Whip.
Mallam became the PRP’s presidential candidate in 1979 but lost. The PRP has only two governors (Kano and Kaduna).
Nigerians will never forget Mallam’s contribution to the development of Nigeria and the realization of his rights.
Mallam Aminu Kano was the first political candidate to elect a woman as his running mate in the 1983 presidential election, Mrs. Bola Ogunbola, but he did not see the election.
When it comes to religious and secular education, Mallam was the first to establish an Islamic school.
This article was first published in Hausa on Labarai24
