Ahmadu Bello was a Nationalist, a Pan-Nigeria politician and the first and only premier of Northern Nigeria. Considered to be one of the founding fathers of the modern Nigerian, Ahmadu Bello was born on June 12, 1910.
Bello started his political journey at the age of 23 when he sought to become the Sultan of Sokoto. Though he was not successful but the experience lead him to became the political leader of the Rabah District in northern Nigeria. And the successful Sultan conferred on him a traditional title “Sarduna” and elevated him to the Sokoto Native Authority Council.
Here are 5 quotes of the first premier of Northern Nigeria, Ahmadu Bello
5 Quotes of Ahmadu Bello
1. Here in Northern Nigeria, we have People of many different races, tribes and religion who are knit together to common history, common interest and common ideas, the things that unite us are stronger than the things that divide us.
2. It is true that we politicians always delight in talking loosely about the unity of Nigeria. Sixty years ago, there was no country called Nigeria. What is now Nigeria consisted of a number of large and small communities all of which were different in their outlooks and beliefs. The advent of the British and that of Western education has not materially altered the situation and the many and varied communities have not knit themselves into a composite unit
3. It is our determination that everyone should have absolute liberty to practice his belief according to the dictates of his conscience. The cardinal principle upon which our University is founded is to impart knowledge and learning to men and women of all races without any distinction on the grounds of race, religious, or political beliefs.
In our prayers, let us beseech the almighty God for continued and peaceful progress and for the furtherance of prosperity and happiness of the people of this land.
4. As I speak to you on this historic day, I am beseech by many emotion, the emotion of gratitude, gratitude to the Almighty God that I have been spared to be of service to my people and to lead them toward this great event in our history; the emotion of humility, humbly conscious of my own limitations and of the pressing need for everyone of us to give in our best now and in the future even more than we have done in the past; the emotion of pride, proud that I and my colleagues has succeeded in the face of many difficulties in the aim of acquiring self government as soon as it was practicably; and finally the emotion of joy, gladly rejoicing that I can share with all of you this day an immense feeling of relief and contentment as a successful outcome of our advancement towards the creation of a self governing region of northern region of Nigeria (March 15, 1957).
5. I always remind people of our firmly rooted policy of religious tolerance. We have no intention of favoring one religion at the expense of another.
