Hajia Hauwa Momoh, one of the widows of late Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero, and her daughter, Zainab Ado Bayero have cried out that they have become destitutes and abandoned by the family of the prominent traditional ruler. Hauwa, daughter of the late Otaru of Auchi in Edo state, Ahmed Momoh claimmed in an interview with The Sun that she has two kids; Zainab and Ahmed Tijani for Ado Bayero who were well catered for by the monarch and his older children until he passed on in 2014, after which they were ejected from one of the monarch’s homes in Kano and today, they have been rendered homeless with no benefit from the late Emir’s estate.
Zainab and her mother, Hauwa told Saturday Sun that they are currently homeless and have been wandering about looking for help across the country.
Zainab said on several occasions, her father’s eldest sons promised to help but they have refused to fulfill their promises. She said they are being treated with disdain because her mother is not a northerner.
Hauwa also explained why they are going through their current ordeal. In her words, “You know in Kano, when you are not from there, that is what they do. When Bayero died they promised to do things for us and help but every year, I have been begging for help. They keep on telling us they will help. That is what they did for six years. For the past six years since he died, nobody is doing anything and nobody is looking for us. My daughter wants to talk because when I spoke, they didn’t answer me.”
Zainab breaks it down further, “Nasiru Ado Bayero who is now the Emir of Bichi and Aminu Ado Bayero who is also the current Emir of Kano promised to look into our situation after our father died. But every year I have been begging for help; for the past six years since our father died, nobody is doing anything. I don’t understand why they have to abandon us.
“During my dad’s lifetime, he used to send Nasiru to take care of some stuff if our father couldn’t because he was so busy. So Nasiru used to be the one giving us money for settling feeding and upkeep. So Nasiru was always part of our lives as a big brother. Even when my brother was born, Nasiru was part of the people that came to do the naming rituals and he used to visit us all the time to give us gifts, but when the Emir died, he became distant and no longer used to be the loving brother when my father was alive.”
She said since she passed out of secondary school, she could not further her education while her younger brother’s education was halted in SS1. She therefore, begged the Federal Government to give her and her younger brother scholarship so that they can go back to school and finish their education.
“We have been to different Emirs and even Ooni of Ife to talk to my father’s family but they are not listening to them. Even former Emir, Sanusi was aware about the situation. Right now we just want the government of Nigeria to intervene in our situation because as citizens of Nigeria, we deserve the right to live and have access to education. My father’s sons have oppressed us and they refused to help. They sabotage and they lied against us. We are refugees in our own country,” she lamented.
She narrated how some operatives of the now disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the police were sent after her mother the last time she spoke out to the media in Abuja. She alleged that the family of the late Ado Bayero had warned her mother not to talk to the press again, hence their plea that their pictures should not be published along with this story for the purpose of their safety.
Princess Hauwa’s father, Ahmed Momoh was the Otaru of Auchi, Edo State and a close friend of the late Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero. Ahmed in 1984 handed over his daughter to the emir to be her guardian and also assist her with admission into the Bayero University, Kano. However, Hauwa and the late emir became so intimate and became pregnant for him and later went on to have another child for the emir bringing to two the number of kids for the emir.
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