Ambiguities of Colonial Law: The Case of Muhammadu Aminu, Former Political Agent and Chief Alkali of Kano

Abstract

Colonial law in Africa involved European moral and legal codes representing some rules of western law, as well as elements of African customary law. In Muslim polities such as Kano in northern Nigeria, customary conventions included Islamic law. The colonial situation embodying political and economic domination, however, negated the ideal practice of the rule of law. Enforcing colonial law was neither clearcut and straightforward in British Africa, as reflected in the career of Chief Alkali Aminu, formerly a political agent in the British colonial administration of northern Nigeria. In 1920 Chief Alkali Aminu adjudicated a ransom for a “slave” girl, based on pre-existing Hausa custom and Islamic law, as well as British legislation. Aminu’s decision, however, provoked deliberations by senior colonial officials and acknowledgement of ambiguities in colonial law. Details of the deliberations, included in the paper, provide sources on African history including insights on policy making in British colonial administration.