Abba Habib with his children is one of those surviving images that appears ordinary until it is placed within its historical setting. The photograph, associated with Gaskiya ta fi Kwabo, issue 712 of 1 May 1956, shows Habib with three of his children. They are identified as Mustapha, aged 12, Fati, aged nine, and Kaka, aged one.
The picture belongs to a period of rapid constitutional change. Nigeria was still under British colonial rule, but political authority was increasingly passing into Nigerian hands. Regional governments had become powerful institutions, political parties were competing for influence, and negotiations over independence were reshaping relations between the regions.
Abba Habib occupied an unusual position in that process. He came from Dikwa Emirate, in the area now within Borno State, and his political career was closely connected with the Northern Cameroons, territory administered by Britain under the United Nations trusteeship system.
By the time the family photograph appeared in 1956, Habib was no longer simply a local political figure. His responsibilities linked Dikwa and Bama with Kaduna, London and the international debates surrounding the political future of the British Cameroons.
From Dikwa Native Authority to Northern Politics
Abba Habib had worked in education before moving into administration within the Dikwa Native Authority, one of the institutions through which local government operated during the colonial period.
By the early 1950s, he had entered Northern Regional politics and was associated with Bama and Dikwa in the political representation of the Northern Cameroons.
That background mattered because Dikwa was part of a politically complex frontier region.
Following Germany’s defeat in the First World War, its former colony of Kamerun was divided between Britain and France. The British controlled territories later became United Nations Trust Territories. The Northern Cameroons were administered in close association with Northern Nigeria, although their international legal status remained distinct.
For politicians from areas such as Dikwa, local questions could therefore become matters of regional, federal and international concern.
Habib emerged as one of the Northern People’s Congress figures involved in those discussions.
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The 1953 London Constitutional Conference
In July 1953, Abba Habib, then styled Ajiyan Bama, was among the advisers who attended the London Conference on the Nigerian Constitution with the Northern People’s Congress delegation.
The senior NPC delegation included Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto; Abubakar Tafawa Balewa; Aliyu Makaman Bida; and Usman Nagogo, the Emir of Katsina.
Habib’s presence placed him inside one of the most important constitutional negotiations of late-colonial Nigeria.
The conference followed an intense political crisis over Nigeria’s movement towards self-government. Regional disagreements had exposed sharply different views about how quickly constitutional power should be transferred and how a future Nigerian federation should be structured.
The Cameroons question added another layer.
During discussions involving representatives connected with the British Cameroons, Habib supported the continued association of the Northern Cameroons with the Northern Region.
The position did not settle the territory’s future. Political opinion within the Northern Cameroons remained contested, and the territory later experienced vigorous debate over its constitutional options.
Nevertheless, Habib had become an important northern voice in a question that would eventually require United Nations supervised plebiscites.
Abba Habib with his children in the Politics of 1956
The date of Abba Habib with his children gives the photograph particular significance.
In 1954, Habib entered the Northern Regional Executive Council with responsibility for Local Industries. During the same period, the Northern Regional Government created a specialised ministerial responsibility for the Northern Cameroons.
Habib became the first Minister for Northern Cameroons Affairs.
The role extended beyond ceremonial representation. The Northern Cameroons were a Trust Territory for which Britain remained internationally accountable through the United Nations. Their administration therefore carried an international dimension that ordinary regional administration did not.
By 1956, Habib was also chairman of the Consultative Committee for the Northern Cameroons, established in April 1955.
The committee advised the Northern Regional Executive Council on the territory’s particular needs and provided a channel through which views from the Northern Cameroons could be communicated to the regional government.
This was Habib’s public position when Gaskiya ta fi Kwabo published the family photograph.
The contrast is striking. Government records show the minister dealing with administration, constitutional status and regional policy. The newspaper photograph presents the same man beside Mustapha, Fati and the infant Kaka.
That contrast gives the image much of its historical value.
From Northern Cameroons Affairs to Trade and Industry
Habib’s responsibilities changed as Northern Nigeria’s ministerial system developed.
By 1957, he was serving as Minister of Trade and Industry. Abdullahi Dan Buram Jada became Minister for Northern Cameroons Affairs on 1 September 1957.
Habib remained a significant member of the Northern Regional Government.
By 1959, he was still serving as Minister of Trade and Industry, participating in the work of the Northern legislature and answering questions relating to his portfolio.
His ministerial career therefore followed several stages. He first held responsibility for Local Industries, then became the first minister specifically responsible for Northern Cameroons Affairs, and later moved to Trade and Industry.
This progression reflected the changing structure of the Northern Regional Government as it assumed greater responsibilities in the years immediately preceding independence.
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The Northern Cameroons Question Outlived His Ministry
The political question with which Habib had become closely associated remained unsettled even as Nigeria moved towards independence.
A United Nations supervised plebiscite was held in the Northern Cameroons in November 1959. Voters chose to postpone a final decision about the territory’s future rather than immediately enter the approaching independent Nigerian federation under the existing arrangement.
Nigeria became independent on 1 October 1960.
A second plebiscite was held in the Northern Cameroons on 11 and 12 February 1961. Voters were asked whether they wished to achieve independence by joining the Federation of Nigeria or by joining the Republic of Cameroon.
The majority chose Nigeria. The official result recorded 146,296 votes for joining Nigeria and 97,659 for joining Cameroon.
The Northern Cameroons formally joined the Federation of Nigeria on 1 June 1961.
The outcome gave lasting importance to the constitutional debate in which Habib had participated years earlier. His role formed part of a wider political process involving regional leaders, local communities, British colonial authorities and the United Nations.
Waziri of Dikwa
By the end of 1960, Habib had moved into another phase of public life.
The New Year Honours published on 31 December 1960 appointed him an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE. He was identified as Waziri of Dikwa and as a former minister.
His political presence continued into the following years.
Northern parliamentary proceedings of 25 February 1965 listed M. Abba Habib, Wazirin Dikwa, representing Dikwa North, during proceedings concerning membership of the legislature’s Committee of Selection.
He had become a politician whose public career crossed education, Native Authority administration, regional government, traditional office and parliamentary service.
Why the 1956 Photograph Matters
Historical photographs often acquire greater meaning when placed beside the events surrounding them.
The photograph of Abba Habib and his children appeared on 1 May 1956, while Habib was serving as the first Northern Regional minister responsible for Northern Cameroons Affairs.
Nigeria was moving towards independence. The constitutional status of the Northern Cameroons remained unresolved. The Northern People’s Congress was consolidating its political strength in the North, and regional institutions were acquiring responsibilities previously exercised under colonial authority.
Mustapha, Fati and Kaka therefore appear beside their father at a moment when his public responsibilities extended far beyond Dikwa.
The portrait presents a side of political history that government papers rarely preserve. Parliamentary proceedings record offices, policies and debates. The photograph captures a politician within his family during the same period.
Conclusion
Abba Habib with his children is a family portrait anchored to one of the most consequential periods in modern Nigerian history.
Habib participated in the 1953 constitutional discussions, served in the Northern Regional Executive Council, became the first Minister for Northern Cameroons Affairs, later served as Minister of Trade and Industry, and continued in political life as Waziri of Dikwa.
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His career also intersected with a constitutional question that outlasted colonial Nigeria itself. The Northern Cameroons eventually chose union with independent Nigeria in 1961, eight years after Habib took part in discussions concerning the territory’s continuing connection with Northern Nigeria.
The 1956 photograph preserves a quieter moment within that larger history: Abba Habib standing with Mustapha, Fati and Kaka while the political map around their family was still being decided.
Author’s Note
Abba Habib’s story illustrates how Nigeria’s road to independence was shaped not only by the country’s most famous national leaders, but also by regional politicians working at the intersections of local authority, party politics, colonial administration and international trusteeship. The 1956 portrait of Habib and his children gives that political history a human face, while his career shows how decisions involving Dikwa, Kaduna, London and the Northern Cameroons became part of the process through which the boundaries and institutions of independent Nigeria emerged.
References
British Library, Endangered Archives Programme, Gaskiya ta fi Kwabo, Issue 712, 1 May 1956, EAP485/1/1/256.
United Nations, reports on the Cameroons under United Kingdom Administration, including records covering Northern Cameroons Affairs, the Northern Cameroons Consultative Committee and Abba Habib’s ministerial responsibilities.
UK Parliament Hansard; Northern Regional Legislature Parliamentary Debates; The London Gazette, records covering the 1953 Nigerian constitutional conference, Habib’s ministerial and parliamentary service, his position as Waziri of Dikwa and his OBE.
