Pioneer First Lady of Kano, Hajiya Ladi Bako, dies at 93
Hajiya Ladi Bako, the pioneer First Lady of Kano State is dead.
Hajiya Ladi died at the age of 96 in Kano State after a protracted illness.
Hajiya Ladi was married to Retired CP Audu Bako (1924–1980), a Nigerian police officer and the first Governor of Kano State during the military era of General Yakubu Gowon following the formation of the state from part of the Northern Region.
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According to reports, the late Hajiya Ladi was born in Sabon Gari, Zaria in 1930. The street of her birthplace was called Layin Magajiya in Zaria.
She attended missionary schools up to standard 2. According to Hajiya Ladi, her parents who were from Mid-western Nigeria, came to Zaria and settled at Sabon Gari.
Late Hajiya met Audu Bako in 1949 when she was 19 and he was 25. They were seriously in love to the extent that Emir Aminu approved their marriage.
Audu Bako’s father was from Argungu, Kebbi State, and had served in the police force for 36 years.
He was appointed as the District Head of Sabon Gari in Kaduna State, his mother Dije was from Mariri in now Dawakin Kudu LGA of Kano State.
Late Ladi Bako is known to have a passion for keeping wild animals at home.
Before her death, she revealed that some villagers found two lion cubs that flood swept into their farms. They brought them to her which she gladly accepted.
The lion cubs were a male and a female brought to her on a Friday, so she named them Danjuma, (the Hausa name of a male child born on a Friday) and Jummai (for a female).
Jummai died but Danjuma grew and became very close to Hajiya Ladi, to the extent that he was allowed to sleep between Hajiya Ladi and her daughter, Zainab when she was a baby.
However, her late husband had no passion for keeping wild animals but for being at the farm always.
So after an incident with Danjuma the lion, the late Audu Bako build and opened the present Kano Zoo, and Ladi donated Danjuma as the first wild animal in the Zoo.
A statement by Air Commodore Sani Zakari (rtd) said Late Hajiya Ladi Bako had six children, three sons, and three daughters.
One of her sons is late, so she is survived by two sons and three daughters, among them Zainab Audu Bako a lady politician and technocrat.
The funeral prayer of Hajiya Ladi Bako was held earlier today (Wednesday) at Kofar Kudu Emirs Palace Kano.
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