Today, August 8, 2025, marks 75 years since the birth of one of Northern Nigeria’s most revolutionary political movements — the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU). On this day in 1950, eight determined, patriotic, and restless young Nigerians gathered at No. 9 Ibadan Road, Sabon Gari, Kano, at about 4 p.m. to take a bold step that would alter the region’s political history.
Those present at that historic meeting were Abba Maikwaru, Baballiya Manaja, Musa Kaula, Abdulkadir Danjaji, Abubakar Garba Bida, Mudi Sipikin, Magaji Danbatta, and Bello Ijumu. Their resolve gave birth to NEPU — the first and only revolutionary political party in Nigeria at the time.
NEPU’s emergence was anchored on the Sawaba Declaration — “Sawaba” meaning freedom in Hausa — a manifesto that challenged the colonial-supported feudal order and spoke directly to the Talakawa (common people) of Northern Nigeria. The Declaration condemned the autocratic Native Administration system, which, in alliance with British authorities, perpetuated inequality and oppression.
Its core principles were clear and uncompromising: free the Talakawa from class oppression and poverty, replace autocratic rule with democratic institutions controlled by the masses, and mobilize ordinary citizens in a conscious class struggle to seize political power and dismantle entrenched privilege.
This was more than politics — it was a social revolution. NEPU became the political home of the marginalized, laying the ideological groundwork for socialist and progressive movements that would later inspire the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) and other reformist struggles in Nigeria.
The party’s formation was fueled by years of frustration among radical thinkers and activists such as Mallam Aminu Kano, Sa’adu Zungur, Mudi Sipikin, and Abba Maikwaru. Disenchanted with the conservative leadership of the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), they envisioned a Northern Nigeria where education, healthcare, and political representation were accessible to all, regardless of class, ethnicity, or religion.
NEPU quickly became the main opposition force in the North, forging a strategic alliance with the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). Together, they challenged the dominance of the NPC. In the 1959 elections, the NCNC/NEPU coalition made significant gains, reflecting its deep roots among the working class and the poor.
Though NEPU was banned by military decree in 1966, its spirit endured. The Sawaba Declaration’s message — to replace poverty with comfort, privilege with equality, and political, economic, and social slavery with freedom — remains as urgent today as it was three-quarters of a century ago.
Seventy-five years on, NEPU’s legacy still speaks to the heart of Nigeria’s democratic aspirations. Its story is a reminder that true change comes from courage, ideology, and the mobilization of ordinary people against injustice. The eight young men who met in Sabon Gari in 1950 may be long gone, but the movement they began continues to inspire the fight for equality, equity, justice, patriotism, pan-Africanism, progress, and development.
The flame they lit has not gone out — it burns in every protest, every ballot cast for justice, and every voice that refuses to bow to oppression. NEPU’s history is not just a chapter in Nigeria’s political past; it is a call to action for every generation that dreams of a freer, fairer, and more dignified nation.
Garba Ubale Kankarofi writes from Kano. He can be reached at garbakankarofi09@gmail.com
