Sultan
Atiku became the Sultan in 1837 when his brother Muhammed Bello passed away. Atiku was disliked by some of the Emirs of the Caliphate who tried to organize for other candidates, but Atiku was quickly named the successor to his brother.
Atiku attempted to reverse some of the policies of Bello that he considered extravagant. He banned dancing and music and made instruction in the Caliphate much more rigid. In addition, although Bello had operated his administration out of Wurno for the final years of his life, Atiku moved the capital back to Sokoto.
However, his reign was highly unpopular to both the population and the Emirs of the Caliphate. At the end of his reign, the tension came to a fore when he recognized an autonomous leader carving out the Adamawa Emirate. Modibo Adama has fought in the Fulani war with Atiku's father Usman dan Fodio. Atiku saw an opportunity to support a ruler more loyal to him in Hamman Sambo and so recognized an independent Emirate under Hamman Sambo that took a significant part of the Adamawa territory. Adama threatened to leave the Sokoto Caliphate and instead join the Ottoman Caliphate as a result of the situation. The Adamawa Emirate was close to civil war until emissaries arrived revealing that Atiku had died and his successor had quickly reversed the decision to recognize Sambo.
Atiku died on November 23, 1842 and Ali Babba bin Bello, his nephew, was named the successor.
Read more about this topic: Abu Bakr Atiku