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.

Education and early career 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. 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.

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".

A month later, on 22 August 1983, Biya publicly accused Ahidjo of plotting a coup d'état; on the same occasion, he dismissed Maikano and another Ahidjo loyalist, Prime Minister Bello Bouba Maigari, from the government. was appointed to replace Maikano. Ahidjo was tried in absentia for the 1983 coup plot and was sentenced to death by a tribunal on 28 February 1984; on that occasion, the tribunal proposed that Maikano and Bello Bouba should also be placed on trial. However, Biya halted the legal proceedings against them.

Although Maikano was suspected of involvement in the April 1984 coup attempt, which failed after heavy fighting in Yaoundé, he was subsequently appointed as Director of the National Veterinary Laboratory (LANAVET), Maikano remained in his post as Government Delegate until a successor took office on 1 March 2009; on that occasion, he was praised and credited with restoring calm to the city.

Personal life Maikano described himself as "a practicing Muslim but not fanatical" in a December 2003 interview: "I respect religious morality, that's all". He did not smoke or drink. As of 2003, he had one wife, to whom he had been married since around 1960, and no children. Regarding his career and lifestyle, he said in 2003 that "I've never had boundless ambitions. I've always led a modest life."