Mrs Najatu Mohammed, who granted us the interview on our cover this week, is not a stranger to struggles. Her background is about agitations. Her late husband, Bala Muhammed, was a radical politician. She cut her teeth under radical lecturers at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Her political career, too, shows a streak of radicalism.She was born in 1956 in Kano Municipal Council into a family that, according to her, “has a long political lineage, a radical one for that matter”. Her socialist father, Alhaji Ali Abdullah, a top notch of the Northern Elements Progressive Union, NEPU, was a political soul mate of Aminu Kano.
In this interview with our magazine, Najatu explains her background: “Where I come from, in Kano, we have progressive politics; we had people that were so nationalistic in their outlook, like the late Aminu Kano and his contemporaries. My father was one, he was a contemporary of Aminu Kano and I grew up seeing him go in and out of prison for what he believed in.” She also grew up seeing people, like Dankassa, tied to the vehicle of the Emir and, as she puts it, dragged to their death. Apart from her father, her husband, the late Dr. Mohammed who was assassinated on 10 July 1981in Kano, also moulded her political philosophy. So also did the late Dr Bala Usman who taught her History at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Her antecedents helped her to walk firmly where men would stagger. She was the first female in Nigeria to become a student union president – in ABU - between 1983 and 1984. Later, she became Vice-President, National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS. What is more, she was the first woman from Northern Nigeria to win a senatorial seat in Kano Central District. In her party, the All Nigeria People’s Party, ANPP, she was the National Campaign Director for the presidential campaign of retired General Buhari and Okadigbo in 2003.
When such a woman decides to grant an interview, readers can expect her to speak fearlessly, with truth to power. That was exactly what she did when she fielded questions from our Abuja Bureau team comprising OLUOKUN AYORINDE, TONY ORILADE AND FEMI IPAYE
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There is another must-read story on the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, leader, Henry Okah.
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