Anti-

SECTION FOUR
Self-Knowledge, The Intellectual and National Liberation

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Anti-Colonial Politics and the Struggle for Socio-economic
Zungur
Sani Ali & Aminu Hayatu Sanusi
Department of Political Science, Bayero University, Kano

prognosis is in the hands of those who are willing to get

rid of the worm-
1967:11)
Abstract
The significance of the individuals to the struggle for national liberation can never
be overemphasized
Zungur is certainly an embodiment of this. As a concept and practice, nationalism
is a contested phenomenon, for within the context of colonialism, all classes
recognize the imperative of a nation and essentially its sovereignty. Ironically, this
is the only point of agreement. And the reason for this is not far from sight because
each class has its own conception of nationalism from the standpoint of its class
Zungur in the struggle for

anti-colonial context. The method adopted is qualitative and through the

utilization of documentary sources and specialized interview, it aims at
evaluating, interpreting and explaining the role Zungur played in the struggle for
material redistribution in the context of the national
Zungur, nationalism is a struggle against external and
internal oppression of humans by humans. Focusing on real and tangible benefits
Zungur never offered communalism,
ethno-regionalism or even nationalism as food.

411
 Nationalism and Economic Justice in Nigeria

Introduction
An inquiry into the politics of decolonization in general and in particular
the material condition and circumstances to which it was a response, (i.e.
the struggle for state power or an exertion of influence over the state
among social groups and classes in the context of colonial encounter) must
inevitably involve reference to the role and relevance of agency in the
struggle against this decisive historical drama, hurricane and intervention
that gave birth to the colonized. Nevertheless, in sharp departure from
methodological individualism, the relevance and significance of the
agency must be understood within the context and framework of history
making as a collective, conscious and organized activity of men and
women to which they are part and parcel. Put in another way, the agency
did not constitute and cannot serve as the supreme mover of history.
Instead, what is at issue is the convergence and confluence of the society
and classes in a historically specific context of crisis, namely colonial
encounter and situation in which response was articulated by the
divergent sections of the nationalist intelligentsia as a midwifery. Here lies
Zungur as a member of what Gramsci calls the
organic intellectuals concerned with articulating the position of the
subjected social elements/groups, organizing and mobilizing their passion
for the dismantling of the exploitative colonial order.

The struggle against colonialism or the anti-colonial movement was

neither monolithic nor consensual, for colonialism met a stratified social
formation with antagonistic social groups and classes, creates its own
further divisions, deepens and exacerbates certain existing divisions in line
with the exigencies of its interest, hence the emergence of different and
contesting anti-colonial tendencies. In Zungur was
produced by one of these tendencies and in turn helped to organize and
give it a focus. This tendency associated with Northern elements
Progressive Union (NEPU) and the Zikkist movement in sharp contrast
with the mainstream petty-bourgeois nationalist tendency associated with

Cameroons (NCNC) and Action Group (AG) is what in this paper we

choose to call populist-nationalism. Since the focus of this paper is the
c Zungur with particular emphasis on colonial
 Anti-

Northern Nigeria, it is imperative to make reference to this social and

biographical formation as a supplement to the historical reality which
produced him, i.e. the era of colonial encounter, for doing this seems to
provide the only basis for adequate contextualization.

Zungur was born in Bauchi Emirate on Tuesday 24th November

1915 in Ganjuwa Ward of Bauchi metropolis, present-day Bauchi State, an
area which had been profoundly influenced by Islam, its ideas, literature
and patterns of socio-political and economic organization. The Bauchi
Emirate itself was a product of Usman dan Fodio-led Jihad (Islamic
revolution) which gave birth to the Sokoto caliphate. By the first decade of
the twentieth century, however, the caliphate was effectively subjugated
and brought under British colonial domination, the last area of what is now
Nigeria to become part of the British Empire. The area was reconstituted
as a political entity known as Northern Nigeria, which now consists of
nineteen states.

Muslim jurist in the person of Bello Ibn Idris. It was under the tutelage of
his father that he was able to specialise in such Islamic sciences as Tawhid

exegesis) (Yakubu, 2006:58). He proved to be exceptionally brilliant to such

an extent that his father had to warn his brothers against the futility of
competing with him. His horizon was widened with secular knowledge,
the so-called Western education to the extent that by 1933 he had reached
the peak of the existing levels of education in Northern Nigeria. By January
1934, he had distinguished himself as the first northerner to be admitted to
the then highest educational institution Yaba Higher College in Lagos at
a time when to venture outside the North in search of Western education
was a rare and bold act (Yakubu, 2006: 59). To sum it up, as the best student
of the then Katsina College, he was nominated for a one-year advanced
studies at Yaba, his expenses amounting to £16, being fully paid for by the
colonial administration (Ibid). The college curriculum, far below the
expectation of Nigerian students who were yearning for a full university
education, and which partly grounded the opposition and agitation
around which Nigerian Youth Movement came into existence, was, as
Zungur lamented, frustrating to ambitious students for its narrowness and
lack of prospect for growth. His refusal to return to Yaba was exploited by

413
 Nationalism and Economic Justice in Nigeria

infuriated the colonial establishment.

In the North, together with his comrade in arms and colleagues (many of
whom were graduates of Katsina College), he continued with the work of
organizing and mobilizing the people for change through advocacy under
the platform of various organizations and associations. From 1948-50, he
was appointed as the federal (later renamed national) secretary of the
National Council of Nigeria and Cameroons (NCNC), a party he resigned

Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU). Coming into hegemonic

contestation with the emirates aristocracy (what Mamdani calls the
decentralized despotism), their allied local Ulama and modern educated
elements, NEPU (apparently for tactical and strategic reasons) had to
formulate its indictment of the status quo first by reclaiming, and
dissociating the aristocracy from the rightful course of the 19th century
Jihadists (which the latter vulgarized and appropriated) but in a more
inclusive sense, by articulating a succinct, people-oriented and radical
dence. This, they did, taking into
account the new historical setting the hybridity of colonial milieu (given
the multi-religious setting of Northern Nigeria), which rendered the
articulation of an Islamic response untenable. In a nutshell, this is how
S Zungur emerged in the struggle for the emancipation of the down
trodden masses against internal and external oppression in colonial
Northern Nigeria and Nigeria at large. The objective of this paper is to
examine through thematic narrative, the speci
Zungur made contributions to the then ongoing anti-colonial struggle for
socio-economic liberation as a social critic and reformer, women-liberator
and populist nationalist with a view to learning from his example.

An Overview of Literature and Theoretical Grounding

It must be admitted right from the outset that very little is written about
Zungur and the role he played in the radical strand of anti- colonial
politics whose major concern was the struggle against injustice and
exploitation of the downtrodden masses. The major and known scholarly

Zungur poems) published by the Northern Nigerian Publishing Company

 Anti-

Political Thought from Maraba-da Soja through Arewa Jamhuriyyako

Mulukiyya to Wakar
Zungur)
(1973); Zungur

Political Writings of a Nigerian Nationalist (1999). The works of

Abdulkadir and Zungur regardless
of his writings i Zungur
during his six years association with him in Bauchi but neglects his life
before and after their encounter and provides no explanations on not even
any reference to his voluminous contribution in poetry. A historian,
Yakubu furnishes us with an anthology rather than a biography and as
such the work is limited in terms of exposition, and without examining the
existing literature on his subject matter vis-à-vis his own narrative. More
so, the anthology itself is flitted and processed by the criterion of selection
done on the basis of a paradigm-the culturalist prism:
For data is meaningless in historical terms until it has been
sorted and sifted. But as that happens it ceases to be mere data
the categorisation employed to do the sifting and sorting
comes from the theories of the historian not the original data
(Alchin, 2003: 127).

Yet because of his academic interest in the crisis of aristocracy and the
response to that in colonial Northern Nigeria, Yakubu always focuses on
Jamhuriyyako Mulukiya
(The North: Republic or Monarchy?) to the neglect of his last and second

other writings. It is against this background that this paper draws from the
Zungur with a view to bringing his
salient contribution to the radical anti- colonial movement in Northern
Nigeria with particular reference to the struggle for social and economic

Fanon).

With regard to the anti-colonial politics in Nigeria, pioneering works on

Nigerian politics and Northern Nigeria in particular (with few exceptions)
tend to portray Northern Nigeria as inherently and incurably conservative
with nationalist consciousness being an imported commodity from
Southern Nigeria (Coleman, 1958; Dudley, 1968; Akinyemi, 1986; and

415
 Nationalism and Economic Justice in Nigeria

Kukah 1993) to mention just a few. In short, Mazrui recently reiterated this

limitation discernible
from the above outlook has to do with the unit of analysis: religious, ethno-
reg or cultural essentialistic.

However, if our object, as a matter of fact, is to grapple with the social

forces and interest that gave rise to the phenomenon of anti-colonial
struggle, then we must turn to the sociology of decolonization. The essence
is to grasp the struggle of social groups towards their freedom as well as
the awareness of this very struggle and freedom (Wilmot, 1994:81). It is in
this regard that the insights of Fanon and Cabral are relevant to this paper.
For Frantz Fanon (1963), decolonization is the meeting of two forces,
opposed to each other by their very nature, which, in fact, owe their
originality to that sort of substantification which results from and is
nourished by the situation in the colonies. The colonized in this context do
not fight for ideas, for things that exist only in the heads of individuals. The
people fight and they accept the necessary sacrifices. But they do it in order
to gain material advantages, to live in peace and guarantee a future for
their children (Cabral, 1969). Hence, for them, the question goes beyond
fighting the international wing of colonial capital to encompass social
liberation against exploitative order.

In specific terms, this paper will employ as its theoretical underpinning the
Marxian conception of the expansion of capitalism in the colonial era, and
the response from the colony to that encounter. As Marx and Engels put it:

extinction to adopt the bourgeois mode of production,

it compels them to introduce what it calls civilisation
into their midst, i.e. to become bourgeoisie themselves,
in one word, it creates a world after its own image
(1986:38)

This was brought about by the internal contradictions of capitalism which

at a particular stage came to constitute a stumbling block to the further
realization of profit, or in Marxist terms, there was a reduction in the rate
of profit and arrest in the capitalization of surplus values. The solution
from the capitalist point of view was to turn to the foreign lands, conquer
 Anti-

them, subjugate them and integrate their economies into the western
European capitalist system.

However, far from performing and fulfilling the historical mission of

replicating itself in the colony as Marx and Engel envisage, colonial
capitalism as many scholars of the Third World testified, becomes an
instrument and historical agency for halting the autonomous development
and further progress of the territories in favor of the development of
western Europe (Fanon, 1963; Frank, 1967; Cabral, 1969; Rodney, 1972;
Kay, 1975; Amin, 1976; Baran, 1978; and Ake, 1978 and 1981). In the words
of Fanon:
Colonialism sees that it is not within its powers to put into
practice a project of economic and social reforms which will
satisfy the aspirations of the colonized
colonialist state quickly discovers that it will have to do in the
colonies exactly what it has refused to do in its own country.
(1963: 167)

But as colonialism searched for alliance with this or that fraction of the
nationalist bourgeoisie and created a rudimentary proletariat, an
exploited, sucked and subordinated peasantry as well as large reservoir

through the attendant contradictions. This set the stage for the
decolonization process. It is important to note that the response to colonial
capitalism was not uniform or homogenous as a result of intra- and inter-
class contradictions that have developed among the socio-economic

subjected social elements in colonial Nigeria must be understood against

this background.

Zungur
Elsewhere, Gramsci has demonstrated the inextricable connection of the

economic and political development (1957 and 1971). The encounter with
colonialism plunged the colonized into socio-economic and political crisis
arising from the fact that their needs, aspirations and expectation could
no longer be met or satisfied by the logic of the old pre-capitalist system
of production. A series of problems at different levels emanates from this
colonial situation that must be tackled if the colonized are to chart an

417
 Nationalism and Economic Justice in Nigeria

alternative course of proceeding in the prevailing circumstance, the

challenge of modernity. This requires a proper understanding of the
problems of the society and the principal sources of contradiction.
Needless to say, leadership is necessary for articulation mobilization and
Zungur in more ways than
one.

A Social Critic and Reformer

Social criticism and anti-celebration of the society as it is, in parripassu
with the reforms arising from that are made possible by the existence of
inherent disjuncture between assumption and action, theory and practice.
As such, the gap constitutes a basis for continuous struggle to
approximate the ideal.

comprehensive and virtually sparing nothing of social and public

importance from tradition and culture to religion, politics to law and
justice, education to gender etc. In short, Zun
criticism is well captured in the opening verse of his most popular poem
Arewa Jamhuriyyako Mulukiyya (The North: Republic or Monarchy?)
which reads:
If you want to speak, speak the truth
whatever the consequences, damn them!

He pursued his criticism and advocacy for reform through poetry,

associational platforms and ultimately full-
Zungur pursued social criticism and advocacy for reform through the
formation of associations at the grassroots level. As a matter of fact, there
was not a single issue or cause to which he committed himself without an
organized forum for that purpose. Apparently, it was partly for the
purpose of educating people to always make a distinction between
custom and superstition, on the one hand, and religion, on the other hand,
that such early association like Young Men Muslim Association (YMMA,)
and to some extent the Northern Nigerian branch of Ahmadiyya
Movement were founded. He also founded the Hausa Youth Keep fit in
1943 (The later Northern Nigeria Youth Movement NNYM), Zaria
Friendly Society (ZFS) and Northern Provinces General Improvement
Union NPGIU (Yakubu, 1999: 27). He also founded Jamiyyar
 Anti-

Najeriya Ta Arewa, contributed to the formation of Bauchi General

which he actually named.

It is important to note that the contribution of these associations towards

attitudinal and social change can never be overemphasized, for they were
particularly concerned with the socio-cultural, religious and educational
problems and issues in Northern Nigeria. In the final analysis, however,
the formation of political parties as the natural successors of these

became central to the solution of the issues and problems that gave rise to
these associations in the first place.

nowhere captured as in his following words (in both verse and prose):
Glory be to you, spare me from those
Who are unjust in all affairs

And render them power less over everything

Guard us against witchery and the sorcerer
And (against) the palace poet
who chants the pompous verse
That the poor is a poodle of the rulers
Tax is arbitrarily imposed on him
And he must pay to avoid the shackles
Chains, fetters and handcuffs
Are all weapons of oppression
We pay tax and pay ten percent
We pay fines and yet in trouble
So also money for license and court commissions
And stall fee for selling spindle and every item, even
braiding
And for complaint on all matters
Before the elite judge
One is arrested without cause
Explanation or reason just like that
If you appeal you have merely frittered away
Your money in the pond of the oppressors
They treat the poor like animal
Their pony for horse racing

419
 Nationalism and Economic Justice in Nigeria

The local collaborators and their European masters

Have joined forces for evil
We will surely continue to tell the truth
Even if we are going to be roped to the penistip.
Never should we give up, take heart
We should not despair over issues
Just because of torture and molestation
And frequent unwarranted imprisonment
We will never retreat nor withdraw
We will persist until we triumph.
(in Yakubu, 1999, pp. 373, 375, 377 and 391).

Zungur further lamented:

I write because I feel these things so passionately that I must

chronic ill health. I have tried to put the thought of the destiny
of Northern Nigeria behind me and tend to my own
immediate personal affairs. And I cannot. I go to bed with
these thoughts: I get up with them. They are there when I
experience my ghastly attacks of my neurotic conditions.
They are there when I say my prayers, or sit to converse with

Women Liberator
Every scholar undoubtedly decides according to his [sic]
knowledge of the conditions of his age. The decision,
however, may not necessarily be the same in every age
because judgment emanates from the circumstances
underlying it. (Usman dan Fodio, Tanbih al-Ikhwan, in
Hodgkin, 1975:244-5).

Zungur must be understood as a man of his time and society.

Consequently, social progress in the era of colonization requires the
liberation of women from socio-cultural subjection as well as the
mobilization, release and utilization of their creative energies and
potentialities towards a more inclusive, all-round development and open
system of social organization. As an agent for change, Zungur was a
pioneer in the struggle for women emancipation in the mainstream
colonial North. Whereas Dan Fodio fought to open the space for the
education of women in a society that sought to seclude them, Zungur's
emphasis is on their education, enfranchisement and participation in
 Anti-

public sphere. Each of them was dealing with the problems of his time. The
first thing Zungur did on the platform of BGIU caused serious
consternation to the audience, especially the colonial and native
administrators. He drew attention to the Qur'anic verses on the equality of
sexes (Kano, 1973: 2). The equality of sexes as it relates to educational and
other opportunities were tabled and discussed in women's favor. The
widely held belief supported by the official Ulama(scholars) that
education and especially higher education to a woman is fruitless exercise,
was demonstrated as baseless from the point of view. Zungur
pointed to the fact that this perception and attitude would certainly
jeopardize the interest of the North in Nigeria's federation. He perceptively
maintained that unless women were educated to enable them to participate
in public services, commerce banking, health sectors etc, the North would
be left behind in an independent Nigeria (Yakubu, 1999).

Also, Zungur does not believe that the political sphere is the prerogative of
men. For instance, much to the chagrin of the Northern emirs and chiefs,
he (as the Adviser on Muslim Law) ruled in favor of women into the
ss as far back as 1949 (Fage and
Alabi, 2003). On the whole, NEPU as a political organization, its individual
members in their private capacities and other forward-looking
personalities and organizations played a crucial role in the agitation for
women empowerment, especially in the area of education. Relegating
women to the background would certainly have its socio-economic and
political implications.

From the economic angle, the nature and challenges of life in the modern
times render the participation of women necessary in the socio-economic
and political life of their society. The transition from a tributary mode to a
dependent capitalist system was gradually reorganizing life in accordance
with capitalist "rationality". Whereas in the tributary mode, the economy
was embedded in the social relations, now, social relations are gradually
being embedded in the economic system. Consequently the new economic
systemwas hostile to communal and organic bond, kinship ties and
dependence. Colonial economy was gradually pushing and necessitating
individual autonomy on men, no less than on women. The pressure of the
new system, especially on the underprivileged social groups and
individuals was more on the womenfolk given the patriarchal social

421
 Nationalism and Economic Justice in Nigeria

system in the core north. It may, therefore, not be an exaggeration to say

that if colonial North was the periphery of Nigeria's colony, then women
were the periphery of the periphery, of the periphery in the sense of
socially being denied of an independent source of income, or a way of
earning a living.

From the social angle, it is noteworthy that labor and productivity are
crucial to mental transformation. They instill a sense of discipline and
practicality in people. The more productive people are, the broader their
horizon and outlook. Material labor is the very instrument and the very
activity that change people's condition and consequently, their life and
consciousness. In essence, to deny women participation in this sphere is to
encourage and give free play to obscurantism among them. Worse still,
neglecting their education was akin to shooting the society in its own legs,
undoing with its left hand, the work of its right hand. In a nutshell, since
women are the mothers of society, responsible for child rearing, and thus
crucial to socialization, they hold up a mirror for society's own reflection.
You are what they are. Aminu Kano summed it up when he noted that:
The problem lies in ignorance which was more common
among the women who first bring up the children. They
are ignorant about health and the child care. Their heads
are full of superstitions, legends, beliefs and apathy.
Incapable of devising any new thing, they submit to fate
and to the work of medicine men and witches or the
power of prayer (Adarnu, 1973: 35).

Politically, women were demobilized, emasculated and plundered.

Consequently, their contribution to the political and decision-making
process was lost. In addition, it increases their apathy while reinforcing
patriarchal bias and grip on the political system.
Populist-nationalist

-economic liberation must be

understood in its wider national context and people-centered perspective.
Thus, the term populist- du
nt with the question of socio-economic liberation
under colonial situation with a view to showing that his conception of
nationalism goes beyond the transfer of political power from the British
colonizer to Nigerian nationalists. He conceives nationalism as a struggle
 Anti-

and quest for establishing a just social order against internal and external
oppressors. His point of departure from the mainstream elitist and petty-
bourgeois nationalism lies in his ability to take one step forward and shift
the focus of the struggle for independence from the British colonialists to
the arena of social emancipation.

For him, freedom from colonialism must mean something tangible to

Nigerians rather than a mere transfer of political power. It is this relentless
emphasis on a just social order devoid of privilege, ascription and other
forms of domination against the underprivileged and downtrodden
Zungur. Of
equal importance, to the extent that he sought to achieve and consolidate
this within the context of one viable and united Nigeria, he is a nationalist
par excellence. To a certain extent, the transition from national to social
emancipation is reminiscent of Fanon's clarion call and insistence that
rapid steps must be taken from national consciousness to political and
social consciousness (1963). While delivering a speech at the annual
convention of the NCNC in Kaduna following his assumption of office as
the Federal Secretary of the party, he unambiguously emphasized that:
Freedom like slavery, is resultant and those who try to seize
it in itself, like those who grasp for images in water, will lose
the gains they have (made). We should, therefore, be
prepared to wage war on two fronts-wars against those who
deny us political, economic and social freedom, and war
against those individuals or groups of individuals that
attempt in any way whatsoever, to retard our speed towards
a united Nigeria, with a united purpose and a united action
(Yakubu, 1999:54).

As soon as he assumed this office, he insisted and succeeded in ensuring

that thename and office of the Federal Secretary was replaced with a
National Secretarywith a view to reinforcing the national image of the
party. This, according to Jinaidu Muhammad, was to show that it is not just
a party which believes in division along ethnic, regional, cultural, or any
of such reactionary and primordial identifications (Interview, March 14,
2010). Thus, when Bayo Doherty, a Yoruba ethnic chauvinist called for the
alliance of the Hausa and Yoruba, allegedly on account of their religio-
cultural affinity, to check the Igbo's tendency and drive todominate
Nigeria, his response was both scathing and virulent. He doggedly and

423
 Nationalism and Economic Justice in Nigeria

unflinchingly defended the nationalist stance and objective of the NCNC.

He was no less devastatingly critical of religious opportunists whose
representative was Gideon M. Urhobo. He responded to Urhobo's
"Scriptual commentary on Jesus, Muhammad and Zik" which portrayed
Jesus as the savior and true prophet and Muhammad as an impostor. He
exposed this opportunism as a danger to Nigeria's nationalism. He
believed that Nigeria will only be meaningful as a country if it remained
united. He usually admonished against centrifugal tendencies citing the
partition of India and creation of Pakistan as an example and result of
division and disunity. On one of such occasions, he cautioned
emphatically:
That this issue of our struggle will be the issue not only for
freedom but for peace in the country after freedom has been
gained. For we should realize that the freedom we are after
cannot resolve the issue which will produce it or rather the
freedom alone, cannot decide the issue in favor of Nigeria. It
could decide it against Nigeria. We should take lesson from
India (Yakubu, 1999: 1:59).

Consequently, he constantly stood and dissociated himself from any kind

of tendency or move which was meant to give the impression that the
North where he came from and the South were too different and
incompatible (Rimi, 1981: 201 and interview with Jinaidu Mohammed,
March 14, 2010). And in articulating progressive ideas, positions, and
agenda, the North and South must be treated as one. In other words, as one
of the bearers of the radical tradition in Northern Nigeria, he played a
constructive role towards ensuring that Nigeria not only attained
independence, but also remained intact as a country after independence,
for Zungur believed that it would be futile to struggle for and achieve
independence if this achievement would only lead to the break-up of the
country. Although Nigeria did not break up, it experienced a civil war
between 1967 and 1970 as a consequence of divisive politics. To sum it up,
to the extent that he believed in the oneness and corporate existence of
Zungur was certainly a progressive and
nationalist par excellence. None the less, Zungur observed that National
integration and unity could only be achieved on the basis of mutual trust
and sincerity.
 Anti-

In Northern Nigeria, no one can talk about those who played a significant
and constructive role in the struggle for socio-economic liberation without
paying attention to Zungur. He stood ever determined and
enunciated views and positions which he felt were appropriate to the
development of especially his immediate society to the extent that in spite
of his privileged background as a son of the Chief Imam of Bauchi, his
education both Eastern and Western confronted the emirates aristocracy
and colonial establishment right from early age, and even under chronic
illness, Zungur made a significant contribution in the direction of social
liberation. In addition, he espoused and embodied the basic progressive
principle that the government has a role to play in ensuring that those who
are underprivileged are empowered to assume a responsible place in
society, through for example, education and rural development. In
particular, he placed much emphasis on the education of the people for
which he was very critical of the British colonial attitude of non-
intervention in the North, as well as the emirates aristocracy. He put equal
importance to the education of women as that of men. For him, education
is in itself an empowerment.

Looking at the life, writings and struggle of Zungur, one may

discern the fact that he was basically concerned with the meaning and
purpose of political power and the basis and condition for t
obedience to those exercising it. For him, political power is first and
foremost a public trust and mandate. Its legitimacy is founded on the
discharge of certain responsibilities, the republica (public good) or what is
known by the same name in Islamic discourse as Maslaha the public
welfare. Entrusted to protect the lives of the people and serve as the
custodians of the societal resources, they are obliged to ensure peace and
harmony, the operation of a just legal system in both form and content and
provide the basic necessities of life to their people, i.e. education, health
care, transportation etc. He certainly believed that those exercising political
power must be responsible and responsive to the yearning and aspiration
of the people they govern. In particular, they must pay attention to the
flight of the common man and woman. It may, therefore, be said that
Zungur had a coherent philosophy and understanding concerning the role
of the state and those who were in charge of state power towards the
empowerment of the common man or woman. This philosophy is certainly
radical and progressive in the context of his time and society. It is coherent

425
 Nationalism and Economic Justice in Nigeria

and progressive even though it is inadequate from the standpoint of the

Marxian class analysis and interpretation of societal development, which
we adopt as our theoretical frame of reference.

On the question of obedience to those exercising power, his wisdom is

derived from the conditionality laid by Islam through the very Qur'anic
verse which calls for such obedience in the first place, for the indigenous
ruling elite sought to justify the mas
following Qur'anic injunction:
O ye who believe! Obey God and obey the Apostle and those
charged with authority among you. (Qur'an 4:59)

Yet, the tendency was to do this selectively, and without carrying the verse
to the end, as if Allah had ordained the masses to obey those charged with
authority unconditionally. His position is that those charged with
authority do not, unlike the prophet, enjoy divine guidance. Obedience to
them is not unquestionable but dependent upon certain conditions. And
Allah has not safeguarded them from lies, selfishness, deceit and
oppression. That is why He set an important condition for the obedience
of the ruled to those in authority. Thus, Allah states that:
If ye differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to God and
His apostle, if ye do believe in God and the last day. That is
best and most suitable for final determination (Qur'an 4:59 in
Yakubu, 1999:248-9).

To sum it up, disagreement with emirs and rulers is neither a sin, nor
apostasy provided it is on a just cause. In fact, it attracts a reward from
Allah. Thus, he tried to bring this out as an Islamic condition of checks and
balances for the ruler and the ruled. Ultimately, he drew the revolutionary
conclusion that "it is obligatory for people who are oppressed and
repressed to wage a war for self-liberation" (Abba, 2000:29).

Now, in spite of this positive and constructive understanding of state and

Zungur has never come to terms with the essence
of politics as interest, and political power as the organization and pursuit
of this interest. The production of surplus, appropriation of it and the
antagonistic classes that sprouted since the collapse of the communal
mode, has ensured that political power is either used to oppress, or to
liberate. In a society already divided into antagonistic social groups and
 Anti-

classes, political power cannot be the expression of public trust and

mandate, especially where the ruling elite are undisciplined, reactionary,
oblivious and ignorant of their enlightened self and long term interest. He
did not clearly see politics as the struggle for power among conflicting
social groups and classes but as a public consensus and trust. Neither did
he perceive conflict as an inherent element of politics, a manifestation of
irreconcilable interest but as a temporary result of deviation from the
societal code of conduct and consensus, the breach and betrayal of public
trust. But because class interest (and of course its perception) overrides
societal organic values and bond, the ruling elite turn deaf ears to his
admonition and urge to mend their ways. His persistence in seeing things
through the lens of societal values regardless of social class division and
antagonism explains his occasional cul-de-sac. As Machel clearly puts it: "a
given group can impose its interests and make its objectives triumph only
if it has control of society; in other words, if it rules that society" (1977:1).
He elaborates:
Once distinct and conflicting interests emerged in human society,
the question of power, the problem of who should take decisions,
of the criteria to be used in decision-making and on whose behalf,
became a fundamental issue in society (1977:6).

In a nutshell, the quest for a just social order in a society riddled with class
antagonism, without placing class division as the principal source of
contradiction, is the most basic illusion of populism. A paper and discourse
of this nature cannot be complete without reference to Arewa Jamhuriyya
ko Mulukiya ( Zungur is
best known for this poem and mainly misunderstood out of it. It is
generally regarded as his magnum opus. Consequently, many of his
readers perceive it as representing what he stood for without equal
attention and weight to his previous and subsequent writings and the
circumstances of its composition. In other words, Arewa Jamhuriya ko
Mulukiya is hardly studied as part of the totality of his writings.

Yakubu rightly contextualizes it within NCNC's betrayal of Zungur's trust.

On this, he was preceded by Aminu Kano. Yet, if Arewa Jamhuriya ko
Mulukiyya was an incidental political verse, it has become imperative to
ask why it has come to constitute a point of departure in Yakubu's
representation of Zungur. Why is the last poem he composed in a more
reflective and independent mood subordinated to the incidental Arewa

427
 Nationalism and Economic Justice in Nigeria

Jamhuriya ko Mulukiya? The reason for this is not farfetched. Jihadin

Neman Sawaba (The struggle for freedom) is indeed a determinate
absence, an aphoria in Yakubu's narrative of Zungur. If he begins to talk
about it, the adversarial populist nationalist image will overshadow the
mainstream petty-bourgeois nationalist image. Hence, he remains silent
about it. It is noteworthy that Yakubu offers neither commentary nor
analysis of the poem he ranks as the second best of Zungur's political
verses, the mere possession of which earned many NEPU activists in
Bauchi an automatic three month jail sentences by the Alkali courts
without the option of fine, and apparently the most "seditious" political
verse composed in colonial Northern Nigeria. Surprisingly, this poem was
recognized and given its rightful place in the political thought of Zungur
by a reactionary Orientalist of Hiskett's stature. Thus, Yakubu cannot tell
Zungur.

In short, studied carefully, a perceptive reader will notice that it is the

scholarly concern of Yakubu with the crisis of the Aristocracy in Northern
Nigeria that gave birth to and threw light on the life and career of Zungur
as their reformist critic, a far-sighted scholar who told truth to power. This
is true of the "Anthology" he composed as it is of his recent "Emirs and
Politicians in
often reference to Arewa Jamhuriya ko Mulukiya is dictated by his
academic concern with the aristocracy per se than the popularity, or
Zungur. Paradoxically, the
aristocracy Zungur vehemently opposed became the very lens for
understanding his adventure in the anti-colonial struggle for socio
economic liberation.

Raising the debate about Arewa Jamhuriya ko Mulukiya a little further, it

is more constructive to look at it as a manifestation of the forward-
backward outlook characteristic of populist-nationalist tendencies,
discernible in the so-called African socialism. This was a mode of thought
brought about by the crisis of a backward economy's encounter with
colonial capitalism, inherent to a transition from pre-capitalist to capitalist
mode; and giving rise to different conceptions, reflecting the interest of the
emerging social groups thereby arousing feudal socialism:
lamentation, half lampoon; half echo of the past, half
menace of the future; at times, by its bitter, witty and incisive
 Anti-

criticism, striking the bourgeoisie to the very hearts core; but

always in its ludicrous effect, through total incapacity to
comprehend the march of modern history (Marx and Engels,
1986:57).

However, the composition of Jihadin Neman Sawaba witnessed a shift

arising from the unprecedented realisation that the aristocracy and colonial
administrators are two sides of the same coin: an oppressive ruling
oligarchy. Although the concept of class has not taken a central position in
his understanding of the colonial situation and the question of socio-
economic liberation, he has certainly lost any confidence in the aristocracy,
and never found consolation in the petty bourgeois elements. His quest for
a just social order remained unshaken. That is why our paper is of the view
that the Sawaba later years united by one purpose of clear and total
commitment to the flight of the masses, represent a departure from earlier
phase of speaking truth to the Northern feudal elements, and flirtation
with NCNC petty bourgeois nationalists. This subsequent concentrated
concern is to be found in the following successive writings of the last
decade in his life: "Why I joined the struggle for Sawaba"; "Sawaba
Declaration"; and Jihadin Neman Sawaba (The Struggle for Freedom)

Conclusion
From what we have said so far, the legacy, contribution and contemporary
Zungur to socio-economic liberation is now very
obvious to warrant a rehash at this point. Suffice it to say that at the heart

north was a call for conceptual breakthrough in social perception and

attitudinal disposition, with particular reference to the role of human
agency and responsibility in shaping and controlling its own affairs, as
opposed to resignation to fate or fortune. To the extent that belief in the
unqualified power of fate over human affairs is still widely held in the
Zungur is
still relevant to our own ti ungur would
have posed the question: how do we know our destiny outside our struggle
and history? His belief and commitment to the bottom-up strategy for
societal development through grassroots associational life (not as a
substitute for state-driven agenda but as its complement) is better
appreciated today when the North is compared with both the Southwest
and Southeast. Northern agenda for development has right from the very

429
 Nationalism and Economic Justice in Nigeria

beginning largely remained statist, that is to say, state-driven. Thus,

Mustapha observes that the unfamiliarity of the North with the sort of
grassroots self-help drive commonly found in the South has contributed in
no small measure to the developmental gap between the two areas (2004:
27-4).

Zungur is very simple. He looked at

crude materialism, ostentation and vanity with contempt. His conception
of achievement at two levels is as valid today as it was during his time, that

individual sense of discipline and responsibility and secondly, one's role

in the public domain which entails bringing benefit to others. In particular,
he was opposed to the culture of dependence and parasitism. And to this
extent, considering the persistence of this socio-cultural menace and
burden to all productive persons especially in the f
Zungur is as important today as he was in the colonial period. The
persistence of begging and continued cultural subjection of womenfolk
and the consequences of these on the development of the people North of
Nigeria is equally compelling as it was during his time, for the people have
not been able to go beyond many of these problems that occupied his life
and struggle.

His legacy and contemporary significance is also to be found in

thecontinuous recognition and appreciation of his contribution among
patriotic and progressive scholars, politicians, public office holders,
forward-looking individuals especially of Northern Nigeria's background.
Aminu Kano sums it up:
Looking at the example of Zungur in the political
history of Nigeria, most of the important personalities in the
country have certainly benefited from him, though; they may
refuse to acknowledge that openly. As for me, if I do not state
what I learn from him, I have certainly betrayed him and
history, and have crippled the effort of those who are
committed and dedicated. He has reinforced my fearlessness.
I have learned to search for the basis of things. I have sucked
the breast for enduring hardship. I have become committed
to the cause of the underprivileged and downtrodden (1973:
15-6). (Our translation)
 Anti-

In short, the significance to society of a person like Zungur is a pointer to

the crucial role of the individuals in the course of history-making, and the

11). This does not mean that everybody

can be like him. However, his life and struggle as a human being with flesh
and blood, a man who could not even afford a blanket to cover himself at
the time of his death (Adamu, H. Mohammed, I. 1978:9) has become not
only a challenge to all of us, but indeed is a parameter for evaluating all
those who seek to, or occupy a public office in the name of the public good
or interest, for even the most self-seeking of the public officials claim or
pretend to occupy their seats in the interest of the public.

Finally, whatever are the limitations of his proposed populist-nationalist

agenda embodied first in the Zikist movement and NEPU and later built

(1979-83), it is more viable and promising to Nigeria's nation-building

project. In a nutshell, it is the truncation of this alternative in the colonial
and "post-colonial" era and the triumph of the divisive petty-bourgeois
mainstream nationalism in Nigeria that entrenched ethno-regional and
communal politics which plunged the country into civil war;
constitutionally enshrined indigene citizen dichotomy as reflected in the
principle of Federal Character; the agitation for state creation;
resource control; Sharia implementation; in short, the illusion and
fetishism of federalism as a panacea the shadow as opposed to substance
of the problem (which has come to be reflected in the institutionalism and
instrumentalism of the mainstream Nigeria's political science scholarship),
for the substance of politics fundamentally lies in the forces and interests
political power is mobilized to serve.

Works Cited
Abba, A. (1993) The Politics of MalamAminu Kano. Kaduna: Ceddert
Abba, A. (ed) (2002) The Politics of Principles in Nigeria: The Example of the N.E.P.U,
Selected Documents (1950-1966). Kaduna: Ceddert.
Abdulkadir, D, (1974) . Zaria: The
Northern Nigerian Publishing Company Limited.
Adamu, H. A, (1973) The North and Nigerian Unity: Some Reflections on the
Political,Social and Educational Problems of Northern Nigeria. Zaria: Gaskiya
Corporation.

431
 Nationalism and Economic Justice in Nigeria

Ake, C. (1981) A Political Economy of Africa. Harlow , Essex: Longman.

Ake, C. (1978) Revolutionary Pressures in Africa. London: Zed Press.
Alchin, N. (2003) Theory of Knowledge. London: John Murray Publishers Ltd.
Amin, S. (1980) Class and Nation Historically and in the Current Crisis. London:
Heinemann.
Baran, P. A. (1978) The Political Economy of Growth. Peoples' Publishing House, New
Delhi
Cabral, A. (1969) . Stage I
Publishers, London.
Chatterjee, P. (1993) Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World: A Derivative
Discourse. London: Zed Books Ltd.
Coleman, J. S. (1958) Nigeria: Background to Nationalism. Los Angeles: University
of California Press.
Dudley, B. J. (1968) Parties and Politics in Northern Nigeria. London: Frank Cass
and Corn Limited.
Fage, K. S. and Alabi, D.O (2003) Political and Constitutional Development in Nigeria:
Pre-colonial to Post-colonial Era. Kano: Northern Printers Ltd.
Fanon, F. (1967) Black Skin, White Masks. Grove Press, New York.
Fanon, F. (1963). The Wretched of the Earth. Penguin Books Limited. USA
Frank, A. G. (1969) Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America. New York
Monthly Review Press Vol. 5 No. 39, pp 371.
Gramsci, A. (1957). The Modern Prince and other Writings. New York: International
Publishers.
Hiskett, M
Maraba da Sooja through ArewaJamhurriyya Koo Muluukiyya to
African Language Studies, XVI :1-23.
Hodgkin, T. (1975) Nigerian Perspective: An Historical Anthology. London: Oxford
University Press.
Iweriebor, E. G. (1996) Radical Politics in Nigeria, 1945 1950: The Significance of the
Zikist Movement. Zaria: Ahmadu Bello University Press.

rian
Publishing Company Limited, Zaria.
Kay, G. (1975) Development and Underdevelopment: A Marxist Analysis. Macmillan
Press, London.
Kukah, M. H. (1993) Religion, Politics and Power in Northern Nigeria. Ibadan
Spectrum Books Limited.
Laclau, E. (1990) New Reflections on the Revolutions of Our Time. Verso Publishers (1st
edition), London.
Mamdani, M. (2002) Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of
Late Colonialism. Ibadan: John Archers Publishers Limited.
Mannheim, K. (1976) Ideology and Utopia. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
 Anti-

Marx, K. and Engel, F. (1986) Manifesto of the Communist Party. Moscow Progress
Publishers, USSR.

Muhammed, I. Z. (eds)
Development. The 30th Memorial Anniversary of Gen. Murtala
Muhammad. Kano: Centre for Democratic Research and Training,
Mambayya House, Bayero University.
Mohammed, B. (1978) Africa and Nonalignment: A Study in the Foreign Relation of
New Nations. Kano: Triumph Publishing Company Ltd.

In Kymlicka, W. et al (ed), (2006) "The Global Diffusion of Multiculturalism:

Trends, Causes, Consequences" Vol. 6, pp. 17-34. James Currey Oxford UK..
Rimi, A. M. (1981) The Struggle for Redemption: Selected speeches of Mohammed
AbubakarRimi. Edited by Edet Uno, Zaria: NNPC
Rodney, W. (1972) How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. London: Bogle-ouver
Publications.
Sulaiman, I. (1986) A Revolution in History: The Jihad of Usman Dan Fodio. London:
Mansel.

Wilmot, P. F. (1979) In search of Nationhood: The Theory and Practice of Nationalism

in Africa. Lantern Books Limited, Ikeja Lagos.
Yakubu, A. M. (1999)
of a Nigerian Nationalist. Kaduna: Nigerian Defence Academy Press.
Yakubu, A.M. (2006) Emirs and Politicians: Reform, Reaction and Recrimination in
Northern Nigeria, 1950 1966. Kaduna: Barka Press and Publishers
Limited.

433

View publication stats