In the 1950s a Fulani cattle dealer leaves Sokoto for Enugu, wins the backing of Nnamdi Azikiwe, joins mainstream Enugu politics, and eventually becomes the first Mayor of the Coal City. Travelling through four Nigerian cities, and cross checking the tiny but significant details of a rare story, Weekly Trust explores the life and legacy of Enugu’s first Mayor.

Nigeria never fails to shock. This power to shock in a positive sense is embodied in the life and career of Umoru Altine, scion of the Sokoto Caliphate, who, on a record two occasions, became the Mayor of Enugu, which lies deep in Nigeria’s South-East. He was the first ever Mayor of Enugu. Agu Gab Agu, one time Chairman, Enugu North Local Government invited the Umoru Altine family to Enugu in 2004 in his capacity as Chair of the local government. This was simply to celebrate the achievement of their late father. He tells Weekly Trust ‘Our history before that time did not reflect his towering achievement in terms of Nigerian unity. I was going to name a public institution after him, but time did not allow for that. ‘He says that a street was named after the late Mayor somewhere in the Coal Camp area of Enugu during the First Republic. Here is a political story, which also doubles as a Love epic, a war story, a tale of benevolent mentors, and a travel narrative as well.
How an individual rose to great political heights, after engaging in the north-south cattle trade, is a golden thread which is very alive in this narrative. It is also a story about a future Nigerian state which can come into being if the living prayerfully carry this volition deep in their spirits, and also act to bring it about. The events at the heart of this story occurred some 67 years ago, but they act as living mirrors, presenting delightful, magnetic images of a Nigeria of a future time. A son of the far north travels to the very heart of the South-East, he leaves his comfort zone and does very well in the East, rising to the position of Mayor in a new world and culture.
Documents obtained at the National Archives Enugu by Weekly Trust indicate Umoru Altine’s name listed among those who won elections in Enugu in 1954.This is seen in a press release on the Enugu Urban District Council Elections. His address is given as 39 Carter Street, Ogui, and the letter is dated 29 March and signed by the Town Clerk. Another document is a special announcement made 26 March 1954 by the Programme Announcer, Nigerian Broadcasting Service, Enugu, Umoru Altine is shown as having contested against D.T Inyang, scoring 117 votes to the latter’s 53. Another letter dated 26 March 1956 with the heading Enugu Municipal Election, informs Umoru Altine that he has been returned unopposed in elections for Ward 25. His address is given as 1&3 Hassan Lane, Uwani Enugu.
(he joined the army and worked with the railways) and politics (one account says he first contested an election in Tambuwal, Sokoto state), and he carved a niche for himself in these respects. He was handsome, was always well dressed, and people were magnetically drawn to him. In Enugu, he wore the Babban Riga, as well as a Turban. On other occasions he wore suits as the event demanded. A noble, free and simple spirit is in evidence here. This Prince smoked, loved Nsala soup with fresh fish, a popular meal of the Enugu Igbo, so says his wife, had a high sense of personal hygiene and had a good command of English. He never fell ill, so says Ma’Inna Altine, his Sokoto based daughter. He was fluent in Fulfulde and, to cap it all, he married an Igbo Lady.
According to Esther Altine when Weekly Trust interviewed her at Government House, Awka where she is SA (Lodge) ‘Reverend Okenwa from Obosi actually trained him, gave him basic training and education. I don’t know where they met, whether this was in the north or here in the east. I think he had his secondary education with the Reverend in the north. ‘One account says Umoru Altine worked at the railways at Zaria, joined the Army at a point, and ended up in Enugu, first as a major factor in the cattle trade where he also became quite popular, and he later emerged as Mayor of that city after winning the election. Hajiya Hafsat Altine, one of his wives, who lives in Kaduna, says that she is aware that her husband worked in the railways in Zaria at a point, and also at the Gaskiya Corporation. But she knows nothing about his being in the army at any time.
‘Market Women supported him’
Mu’azu Maiyaki, a politician in Kaduna, also comments on the rise of Altine in Enugu. His words ‘Umoru Altine became Mayor of Enugu in the 50s, at the beginning of the real political evolution of the city. He began his career up North, and he actually contested an election on a different platform, not the NPC, in the north. The platform was an opposition party, not really NEPU, and he contested and lost the election around the year 1952 in Tambuwal constituency. It was after this that he left for Enugu’. The INEC headquarters, Abuja, does not have records on the Tambuwal elections of 1952 referred to here, Weekly Trust discovered. Mu’azu Maiyaki shows how Umoru Altine and Nnamdi Azikiwe drew close to each other in Enugu politics. According to him, ‘There was a kind of alliance between NEPU of those days and the NCNC, and Zik embraced him, just as he picked many others. Zik had a notion of Nigeria at that time, and he wanted to build a structure whereby all Nigerians, were to feel at home in any part of Nigeria. Umoru became an Enugu based man, and he found himself in the struggle of the early 50s, whereby he made many contributions in trying to reorganize the Enugu chapter of the NCNC. During the two elections which he contested in Enugu, he garnered a lot of support, particularly from the women associations of Enugu then. He identified with the aspirations of the women elements of the Ogbete market, such as the allocation of shops, which, he said, must be fairly allocated, and he fought for that. It was under that kind of struggle that he contested the first election. In the subsequent election which was in 1957, there were about 13 or 12 wards, out of which Umoru Altine won eleven. It was really a landslide victory. Also there was what used to be known as the Stranger elements of the NCNC of those days. He contested under the platform of the NCNC with the stranger elements.’ He speaks of Umoru Altine’s place in Enugu politics ‘The emergence of Umoru Altine was commendable, in the sense that he was not born there, but was able to adapt to the system, and got accepted into the mainstream of Enugu politics. That is something we should emulate.’ He comments on the possibility of Nigeria repeating Altine’s achievement in Enugu. His words ‘What happened in Enugu is possible today. But we really need to remove the suspicion, the mistrust and forge confidence among the populace. If the leaders can really start this, nothing is impossible.’
‘He was in the army’
Ibrahim Tambuwal, a retired civil servant, based in Sokoto, also speaks further on Umoru Altine. According to him ‘He joined the army at Kano, then he was taken to Lagos with a group of soldiers for training. After the period of training they were then taken to Enugu. After his military service, he remained in Enugu. When the time to leave came, he left the army and became a politician’. However, Ibrahim Tambuwal does not recall ever hearing that Umoru Altine contested an election in Tambuwal Constituency. His words ‘An election in Tambuwal? I never heard of it. He never told me because I knew him very well.’ Esther Altine, the late Mayor’s wife, does not recall her husband referring to a career in the army at any point. Hajiya Hafsat Altine also has no memory of her husband referring to a stint in the army. However, Bala Altine, one of the many children of the late Mayor and a civil servant in Kaduna, tells Weekly Trust that his elder brother Abubakar Altine, who is now late, was in the army at a point.
‘I doubt if it can happen today’
Saeed Altine, who is now a businessman in Abuja, wants to write a book on the life and career of his late father. But he is not sure that what happened to his father in Enugu of the 50s can recur in Nigeria today. His words, “I doubt if it would happen now. If you look at the situation carefully, it’s as if Nigeria has been divided.’ ‘He adds that his father went to Enugu firstly, as a cattle dealer, and stresses that his participation in politics came in later. Dauda Altine, another son of Umoru Altine, who lives and works in Sokoto, shares the views expressed by Saeed above. According to him ‘I don’t think it’s possible today. All these politicians today do not reflect trust and friendliness, unlike the generation of the 50s. They simply want to accumulate money for themselves and their families.’
Mohammed Tafida, of the Department of Political Science Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, explains why it is difficult for Nigeria to simulate the events in Enugu of the 50s ‘It is like a dream, and this is because of the preponderance of the phenomenon we call corruption. This is being driven by the trinities, that is greed, fear and ignorance.’ Dr. Hudu Abdullahi of the Political Science Department says that the country is progressing towards disunity in almost every respect. He does not foresee any positive change in the country over the next 50 years.
‘He was great’
Bala Altine tells Weekly Trust the little that he knows about his father’s early days. His words ‘He was born in Sifawa, in Bodinga local government area of the state. He went to an Islamic school, and later on was exposed to western education right there in Sokoto’. He also adds that his father worked for a while at the railways at Zaria. This was before he moved over to Enugu where his political career flowered. Ma ‘Inna Altine, daughter from her father’s marriage to Esther, speaks very fondly of her father. She adds that she was her father’s favourite child. Her words ‘When you see things happening in Nigeria these days, you just get confused. If a Fulani man, who speaks less Hausa than Fulani, will go to a place which is different from his, to go and mix with the people freely, and marry from that community, and then contest for elections twice in that community, you know he is really a great man. We are sorry to see what is happening in Nigeria now.’
Very few references
There are only few references to Umoru Altine in the available literature. Some of the references just stretch to a mere twenty words. Some less. All of a sudden after making the round of libraries at the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, help came in the form of a brief text authored by the late Bala Usman and Alkassum Abba. In The Misrepresentation of Nigeria (2005) commenting on Altine’s rise in Enugu, he writes ‘What happened in Enugu, which led to a Fulani cattle-dealer, Alhaji Umoru Altine, elected as the first Mayor of Enugu in 1956, on the NCNC ticket, and winning again in 1958 against Zik and the NCNC, is revealing about how fallacious the monolithic Igbo view of Eastern Regional politics is’. (p.50). Bala Usman goes on to write ‘In 1956, Alhaji Umaru Altine, was opposed by the Udi-Nsukka-Agwu United Front, the UNAUF, but he won, heavily supported by the non-indigenous Igbo, who constituted over 50% of the population of Enugu’.
Umoru Altine was the Mayor of Enugu, and his wife Esther, was thus the Mayoress of the coal city. Once the ‘Duke and Duchess,’ as Esther described the couple, came to Enugu on a visit from the United Kingdom. Until the moment of going to the press, it was not possible to find out the actual names of the Duke and Duchess, and the exact year of the visit. However, it was Umoru Altine and his young wife who was just 19 when he married her, who received the August guests at the Enugu airport .In spite of the many years interval between that moment and the present, his wife still has fond memories of the glorious occasion. Her words ‘That was great. The Duke and Duchess visited Enugu for the first time. As young as I was, I was able to shake her hand after my husband had done so. It was great indeed.’ It was a memorable day, witnesses say. The Atilogwu dancers leapt into the air as though defying gravity. The flutes made sweet sounds as the drums began to yield a stunning melody. The two visitors from Britain held hands and beamed into the Enugu sunshine, as the gathered crowd clapped and clapped again when they noticed the smile.
To be continued
< Prev
Next >




http://weeklytrust.com.ng/index.php/new-news/12004-sokoto-prince-who-became-enugu-mayor

What about the Nnewi princess that has become a mayor in Kaduna, TANI ASTA HAMMAN?

I believe Azikiwe was a true nationalist.....a idealist who really desired an integrated nation; he was aware of the heterogeneous nature of our country but actively sought to overcome these divisions through various means. Unfortunately he was more an idealist than a pragmatist, and reality soon caught up with him in his quest to unify this country.

You can understand his passion for one united Nigeria when you consider how his environment shaped his world view and ideals as an individual and politician: he was of Igbo ethnic stock; born in the north and was fluent in spoken Hausa.....and Yoruba; studied in the USA; lived/worked in Lagos; and was mentored by Hebert Macaulay (the first Nigerian nationalist, and of Yoruba ethnic stock).

I think Azikiwe would have been a good Prime Minister or President for Nigeria, but unfortunately by the time he sought for elective office in Nigeria, schisms and divisions along ethnic and religious lines had eaten so deep into our collective national psyche and his ambition was reduced to a mere 'ethnic agenda'.

Quite sad really!

Afam4eva:
cos things were far more tribal then than they are now.

I doubt this statement
Nigeria is so divided now that it is hard to pretend
Someone openly says certain section of the country cannot rule again and people also openly commend him!

Enugu has always been great for non-Igbos

SAI UMORU ALTINE

Cc: lalasticlala