One important tradition at Adamawa Provincial Secondary School in Yola in the 1960s was the Friday visit to the Lamido of Adamawa. On the first Friday of a new term and the last one before the school went on holiday, all the students would march in their white kaftan-on-white trousers from the school campus in Jimeta to the Lamido’s palace in Yola, a distance of about five kilometres, to pay homage to the traditional ruler and spiritual head of Adamawa Emirate.

The Friday homage was considered serious enough to have led to the expulsion of some students in the past. At that time, the homage to the Lamido took place every Friday. Some students got tired of the weekly long trek to and from the palace that they simply refused to go one day. The school saw their action as a rebellion and decided to send away the offenders.

That was why only nine students graduated from the school in 1960, and Ibrahim Alfa, who was the head boy, happened to be one of the lucky nine.

That rebellion by the students must have forced the school to reduce the frequency of the Friday homage to twice a term. For quite a lot of people thought the punishment imposed on the students was harsh and unjustifiable. If the purpose of the weekly homage was to instil in the students respect for traditional authority and an appreciation of the history and culture of Adamawa, they argued, the school could have made it less stressful by providing buses.

Atiku Abubakar, who had entered the school in 1961, found the visit to Lamido Aliyu Musdafa, an old student of the school who in 1953 became the 11th ruler of the emirate, interesting and educating. He cherished the opportunity to see the Lamido, a great-great grandson of Modibbo Adama, in flesh and blood. Modibbo Adama, the founder of the eponymous Adamawa Emirate, had in 1841 selected Yola, located on a swampy plain near the Benue River, as his headquarters.

The Lamido’s palace with its inner chambers, impressive architectural designs, the high surrounding mud-walls, decorative etchings on buildings and the grand nearby mosque and its tall minarets remains a testament to the town’s conservatism, long history, great legends and rich culture.
As soon as they were ushered into his presence, the Lamido would receive the students, pray for them and counsel them to embrace the good old values of hard work, honesty, humility, love, community and the fear of Allah.

Lamido Musdafa was then about a decade into what was destined to be the longest reign ever. He had succeeded Lamido Ahmadu who was forced to resign in 1952 because of what the British called “a long period of mal-administration and inability to work with the Council”. He was sent to Biu on exile. The Council of Selectors (kingmakers) drew up a long list of conditions before offering it to Aliyu Musdafa, the Walin Adamawa who was Supervisor of the Native Authority police and the eldest son of Musdafa, the 9th Lamido. Aliyu Musdafa accepted these conditions and was appointed on 26th July 1953.

The new Lamido quickly showed his pragmatism as a ruler of a heterogeneous emirate in which the Fulani constituted less than 20 per cent of the population. He expanded the Council of Selectors with the appointment of Christians and Commoners to give every group, class and interest a sense of belonging and to give them a stake in the Native Administration which he headed.

The new ruler and his Council also began to wage a serious war on corruption, which had become part of the universal culture of giving “presents”. Describing it as “one of the curses of Adamawa”, the colonial administration bemoaned its pervasiveness in an annual report in December 1953: “Office seekers, from hamlet heads to respected headmasters, have beggared themselves to achieve their ambitions and then cheated the Treasury and the people to pay off the debts and draw a dividend from their investment. The disease had got beyond the control of palliatives, so the Native Authority on the advice of the Council of Selectors put an absolute ban (save between close relatives) on the giving or receiving of presents by all Native Authority employees from the Lamido down to the lowest hamlet head or labourer.”

After his formal installation on 12th January 1955, the colonial report praised Lamido Musdafa’s “sincere attempt to march with the times and serve his people’s interests”.
The stealing of revenue by some district heads, the report said, had reduced while the standard of morality had improved as bribes were no longer openly demanded. “Good rains, good crops, good year for trade, no famine, no disasters and a distinct feeling throughout the province that the old evils of bribery, corruption and oppression are on the wane. Family intrigues continued to play a large role in politics in the province”, the report went on to say.

By the 1960s when Atiku and his schoolmates embarked on the periodic visits to the palace, Lamido Musdafa had matured quickly on the throne and had become well respected throughout the province and beyond as a wise, liberal and skilful ruler. Atiku, even as a student participant in this forced homage, admired the Lamido for his openness, humility and fatherly disposition.
It was not until 1977 when Atiku was serving in Maiduguri as a Customs Officer that he would have the opportunity to meet and interact closely with Lamido Musdafa. The opportunity came through Jamilu Lamido, a tall, lanky man with a good sense of humour, whom Atiku had met in Maiduguri. Jamilu had been born into a prominent family in Maiduguri and his wealthy father had given him to his friend, Lamido Aliyu Musdafa of Adamawa to be raised by him.

The practice is not uncommon in many Nigerian societies. It symbolizes friendship and the strengthening of ties between families. Jamilu grew up in the palace of Lamido Musdafa in Yola and he was treated like any of his children. He became quite close to the Lamido who gave him one of his daughters to marry. He is something of an authority on royal protocol in the palace. Through the Lamido, he came to know a lot of prominent people in the country, including other traditional rulers and members of the military elite that ruled Nigeria in the recent past. He moves with ease in the corridors of power and has a gift of making friends easily.

Jamilu introduced Atiku to Lamido Musdafa. Atiku started visiting the Lamido whenever he was in Yola. The Lamido became fond of him and began to treat him like a son. Jamilu visited him regularly in Maiduguri, bringing the Lamido’s best wishes. Atiku admired the Lamido’s liberalism and sagacity.

“He understands the complexity of the environment in which he operates. His ability to hold together such a diverse emirate is marvellous. I admire his ability to accept change. His life straddles colonialism, independence, military rule and democratic government in Nigeria. He has managed to maintain a cordial relationship with constituted authority”, Atiku said. As an orphan, Atiku had always cherished a father figure in his life. The Lamido filled that void in his life.

Sometimes in 1982, the Lamido informed Atiku about his decision to give him the traditional title of Turaki Adamawa.
Atiku was flabbergasted. He had not expected such an honour and so he did not know how to respond to it. He consulted his family and his boss, Abubakar Musa. His family was happy but worried about the undue attention it was likely to bring them. Musa advised him to take it.

The Turaki in traditional Fulani society was a prince in charge of household matters. It was a title usually reserved for one of the Lamido/Emir’s favourite sons. It was seldom given to an outsider or a commoner. To ensure that Atiku met the “blood tie” requirement for the title, the Lamido decided to give him one of his daughters, Princess Rukaya, to marry. Atiku asked Jamilu to inform the Lamido that he would accept both the title and the princess. He expressed his appreciation to the Lamido for his love and honour, promising never to disappoint him.

Following months of careful planning and elaborate preparations, the turbaning of Atiku as the Turaki of Adamawa took place on November 19, 1982 at the Lamido’s Palace. Also honoured on that day was Ali Baba (the then Internal Affairs Minister) who took on the title Dan Madami of Adamawa.

“The Lamido just liked me. He is a very perceptive person. I think he saw in me the promise of the future. I was popular and had wide contacts and tremendous goodwill”, Atiku explained.

On his part, Jamilu said the decision to give Atiku the title was made by the Lamido. “All I did was to introduce him to the Lamido as one of his sons in the Customs who was doing well in his job and that he was a schoolmate of the Lamido’s son, Barkindo Musdafa, the Ciroma of Adamawa. From then, he started coming to see the Lamido, to pay homage. Lamido liked him because he is humble, respectful and kind,” explained Jamilu.

He also recollected how Atiku had visited the Lamido, then Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, regularly any time the ruler was in Zaria on official engagement. “One day, the Lamido said to me: ‘One day this your brother is going to be a big man’. I thought he was thinking about his possible appointment as Director of Customs. You know the Lamido studies people very well. He saw in him what many people did not see at the time. It was during the turbaning ceremony when we saw the number of people and aircraft he attracted to Yola that we realized that the Lamido had given the title to a well-known and influential person. The title was not given to him because he had money. We did not know if he had money. All I know is that he has been a good son to the Lamido,” Jamilu added.

In an interview with the media before the ceremony, the Lamido gave reasons for his decision to confer such an important title on a relatively young man. He described Atiku as a good man. As Turaki, the Lamido said, Atiku has become one of his sons. “The Turaki is the man who looks after the Lamido,” he said. Lamido Musdafa I, father of Lamido Aliyu Musdafa, introduced the title of “Turaki Adamawa” about 90 years earlier. Atiku, who was only 36 at the time of his investiture, is the fifth holder of the title.
http://ngnewstoday..com/2010/03/how-lamido-musdafa-met-and-adopted.html