User:BlueSahelian/Mai Maina

Muhammadu Mai Maina (1874 – 1964) was the first chief of Askira and was the founder of the emirate.

Early life
Mai Maina was born in Jega in 1874. His father, Yerima Abdu, was the grandson of the chief of Gimbana, Abdussalam, and a descendant of Abdullahi dan Fodio, the founder of the Gwandu Emirate. His mother, Salamatu, was the daughter of the chief of Lokoja, Abbega, a Marghi man who was noted traveller who had accompanied Dr. Heinrich Barth on his exploration of West Africa. Mai Maina's father died shortly after his birth. His mother took him back to Lokoja, where he was brought up by his grandfather Abbega.

Career with the Royal Niger Company
In 1894, Mai Maina was taken as a servant by a military officer of the Royal Niger Company. He was one of the few servants employed by the company at the time. Because to his knowledge of English, Nupe, and Hausa, he was employed as an interpreter for the company. His first assignment in this role was during the company's war on Bida in January 1897, which was the Royal Niger Company's first military campaign against the emirs of the Sokoto Caliphate.

On Abbega's recommendation, Mai Maina was selected for a reconnaissance mission to Kano. His task was to determine if the Emir of Kano had a "well-disciplined army" and to "discover whether, as was said, he had sent some of his slaves to Lokoja to join the army there who, after their training, had returned to Kano and were now instructing the Emir's men in the arts of European warfare." Disguised as an itinerant trader, he arrived in Kano in 1901. He stayed with a longtime friend who lived in the city. This friend introduced him to the Wambai of Kano, Mahmuda, who was the brother of the Emir, Aliyu Babba. After trading his goods with the Wambai, Mai Maina befriended him. Upon completing his assignment, he concluded that the Emir "certainly had a lot of rifles but no disciplined army."