Mustapha Adamu Animashaun - Early Life

Early Life

Animashaun was born as a freeman in the ancient city of Kano. The name of his father was Usman, while his mother was the daughter of the Chief Imam of Kano, Mallam Ibrahim. At the early age of eight, he lost his status as a freeman when he was captured as a slave, during a turbulent time in Kano. He was then sold to the palace of the Emir of Zazzau and was trained by the emir's son. As a steward in the Emir's palace, he was afforded the opportunity to travel to a few Northern Nigerian cities, he also lived in Cairo for five years. However, his search for freedom soon hit the rocks; while returning from Egypt, he was captured again and re-sold as a slave to the Waziri of Sokoto. He later left the Islamic city of Sokoto for Ilorin with a Sokoto man, Mallam Madugu. In Ilorin, he was sold to Alfa (cleric) Bello of Agbaji quarters, an Islamic center of renowned scholarship. While in Ilorin, he was raised and taught in the Islamic way; he also chose the name Adamu, a popular name at the time and was also quite popular among his peers. He was finally sold to his last master, Idris Animashaun, the head of a government Muslim school in Lagos. He enrolled in the Muslim school in 1896, where he was able to apply the Arabic and astrology knowledge he had learned in Egypt and Ilorin. His experience in the school was quite a success, he only spent two years in the school as he was already an astute and literate man well versed in Islamic knowledge which was the major vocal point of the Lagos Islamic School.