Maikano Abdoulaye

Maikano Abdoulaye (1932 – 21 October 2011) was a Cameroonian politician. A veterinarian by profession, he held various positions in the government of Cameroon from 1970 to 1983, ultimately serving as Minister of State for the Armed Forces. Later, he was the Government Delegate to the Urban Commune of Garoua from 1996 to 2009, and in 2009 he was appointed as Roving Ambassador.

Maikano was born in Gaschiga, located in the Garoua arrondissement of Benoue Department. He received his primary education at Garoua's regional school and attended secondary school at Bongor in Chad from 1947 to 1948. As a Muslim, he learned to recite the Koran as a child, although he did so without any knowledge of Arabic. He was included in the first group of students from northern Cameroon to be sent to France in 1950; the group was sent by Ahmadou Ahidjo, who was a delegate in the Representative Assembly of Cameroon. After completing veterinary studies in France, he returned to Cameroon in July 1964; by that point Cameroon had obtained its independence, with Ahidjo as its President.

From 27 July 1964 to January 1966, Maikano was deputy head of the northern sector of animal husbandry at Maroua. He was appointed as Director of Animal Husbandry and Animal Industries at East Cameroon's Secretariat of State for Animal Husbandry in 1966.

Maikano was first appointed to the government of Cameroon as Minister of the Civil Service on 12 June 1970. He was instead appointed as Minister of Planning and Urban and Regional Planning (Aménagement du territoire) on 3 July 1972, and then as Minister of Animal Husbandry and Animal Industries on 30 June 1975. Three years later, on 2 May 1978, he was moved back to his former post as Minister of the Civil Service. His name was officially changed from Abdoulaye Maikano to Maikano Abdoulaye on 9 March 1979. He was appointed as Minister of the Armed Forces on 17 July 1980, and he was promoted to the rank of Minister of State on 7 January 1982, while retaining the armed forces portfolio. He was Acting Prime Minister for a time in 1982.

Maikano was viewed as a loyalist of Ahidjo, who was President until resigning on 4 November 1982; after he resigned, Ahidjo was succeeded by Prime Minister Paul Biya. According to Maikano, he was not informed of Ahidjo's resignation in advance and learned of it along with the rest of the country; he also said that Ahidjo called him and other members of the northern elite into a meeting and asked them to "work with [Biya] as you have with me". Maikano initially retained his post as Minister of State for the Armed Forces under President Biya, but a political feud soon developed between Ahidjo and Biya. Biya dismissed some Ahidjo loyalists from the government on 18 June 1983, although Maikano still kept his post; Ahidjo reacted angrily to the changes and called the ministers from northern Cameroon to a meeting at his home later on the same day. At that meeting, he told the northern ministers that they should resign from the government, hoping that by doing so they would undermine Biya. Maikano also held a meeting in Yaoundé at the home of Ibrahim Wadjiri, the Delegate-General of the Gendarmerie, at which he explained Ahidjo's plan to top military officers from the north, while also telling the officers that they should stay out of the situation due to its political nature. Ahidjo did not go forward with his plan, however, and he went into exile on 19 July 1983.

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