He started early education at the Koranic School in Bauchi and like most of his contemporaries, he studied at the Katsina College for further education and soon acquired his teaching certificate.
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As a legislator, he was a vocal advocate of the rights of northern Nigeria, and together with Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, who held the hereditary title of Sardauna of Sokoto, he founded the Northern People's Congress (NPC).
Newns was devastated by the assassination in 1966 of his friend Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Prime Minister of Nigeria, with whom he had worked closely during the constitutional preparations for Nigerian independence.
Abdulsalami Abubakar | Atiku Abubakar | Abubakar Tafawa Balewa | Yahaya Abubakar | Siddiq Abubakar III | Muhammadu Kudu Abubakar | Mohammed Bello Abubakar | Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University | Abubakar Barde |
At the time of the January 66 coup led by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, Dikko Yusufu was acting Inspector General since the I.G. Louis Edet was on leave at the time, and had to deal with the crisis when the Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and others were found murdered.