THE FULANI MAN WHO D€FEATED HIS OWN PARTY TO BECOME ENUGU MAYOR AGAIN

THE FULANI MAN WHO D€FEATED HIS OWN PARTY TO BECOME ENUGU MAYOR AGAIN

THE FULANI MAN WHO D€FEATED HIS OWN PARTY TO BECOME ENUGU MAYOR AGAIN

Malam Umaru Altine was a Fulani man from Sokoto Province. He was not from Enugu, yet he made political history there.

He came to Enugu as a cattle dealer and settled at Coal Camp, where many of the city’s coal miners lived. He married an Igbo woman named Esther, and over time, he became closely connected to the community.

Altine entered politics through the Zikist Movement. He later served as Secretary-General and became Vice Chairman of the NCNC Youth Association in Enugu. He was a loyal member of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s NCNC.

Because of his popularity among ordinary people in Coal Camp, the NCNC nominated him to contest for Mayor of Enugu.

In 1952, Altine won the election and became the first elected Mayor of Enugu Municipal Council. He served until 1956.

But when his first term ended, some leaders within the NCNC wanted an Igbo man to succeed him.

They asked Altine to step aside and instead backed a new candidate, D.T. Inyang.

Altine refused.

He resîgned from the NCNC, contested as an independent candidate and, in a remarkable political upset, defeated the NCNC candidate.

He was re-elected Mayor of Enugu and served another term from 1956 to 1958.

Altine was known for wearing his babban riga and turban to the mayor’s office, although he also wore Western suits. He was known to attend church and football matches whenever his official duties required him to be there.

He had also grown up in the palace of Sultan Siddiq Abubakar of Sokoto, who reigned for about 50 years.

Umaru Altine’s story remains one of the remarkable episodes in Nigeria’s early democratic history — a time when a Fulani man from Sokoto could win the trust of voters in Enugu, even against the wishes of his own political party.

He is remembered today as proof that Nigeria once practiced politics without tribe.