Ado Bayero was born on the 15^th June 1930 (Sunday 17^th Muharram 1349), when his father, Abdullahi Bayero, had been on the throne for four years. Ado was the eleventh child of his father and the second of three born to his mother, Hajiya Hasiya. He was named after Abdullahi's first son, Ado, who had died at the age of five. Because of traditional name avoidance, he was given the nickname "Mallam" (the teacher, or scholar) by his parents.

As a child he was given religious instruction within the palace, and he was later enrolled in the school within the palace which had been opened by his father the emir in 1936. Ado was then enrolled at the Kano Middle School, where he studied from 1942 to 1946.This was followed by further studies at the School for Arabic Studies, from which he graduated in 1947. He then took up employment with the British Bank for West Africa (BBWA), now the First Bank of Nigeria.

Ado Bayero left the bank to begin his career with the Kano Native Authority in 1949. While working for the N.A. he attended a number of clerical and administrative courses in Nigeria and abroad. In 1952 he attended the Clerical Training College, Zaria. He then took a course on Local Government in the United Kingdom. In 1953 he became the Chief Clerk of the Kano Town Council. He contested and won the election to the Northern Regional House of Assembly in Kaduna on the ticket of the Northern Peoples' Congress (NPC) in 1954, and he made his inaugural speech in the House on 3^rd. March 1955. In April 1957 Ado Bayero resigned his seat in the House to take up an appointment as the Police Chief of the Kano Native Administration Police (Wakilin Doka). He was appointed Nigeria's Ambassador to Senegal in late 1962.

In the second week of October 1963, Ado Bayero was on a French course in Switzerland when he was summoned back to Nigeria after the death of his uncle, Emir Muhammadu Inuwa. He arrived back in Kano on the 14 ^th. October to be informed that he had been appointed the new Emir of Kano. On 25^th. June 1966 the Emir of Kano Ado Bayero was installed as the Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in an obvious attempt to try and ease tension and hold the nation together. Since then he has been called on to play many mediating roles, and he has been given numerous honours and degrees.

From the 12^th. to the 15^th. October 2003 the people of Kano Emirate as well as of Nigeria as a whole will join the Emir of Kano Ado Bayero in celebrating the fortieth anniversary of his reign.

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