It is believed the resentment of competing interests led to the creation of the acerbic idea of a clique gaining headway through its closeness to power and thereby approximating resources of the state under the banner of capitalism.
The technical and administrative skills of the civil service were essential to a large-scale political community, and the willingness to take assignments outside of the capital city was part of the ethos.
His insistence that the next generation of traditional leaders be western educated set the stage for the transition to their subsequent roles.
The first generation of northern civil servants (i.e. those born in the decade from about 1910–1920: Tafawa Balewa, Yahaya Madawaki, Isa Kaita, Abubakar Imam) tended to be cohorts from Katsina College, and had good personal relationships with their colleagues (including Ahmadu Bello) who had gone into political life.
The second generation of northern civil servants (i.e. those born from 1920 to 1930, and reaching senior status in the service during the transition to independence such as – Mohammed Bello, Muhammadu Dikko Yusufu, Hassan Katsina) tended to have familial connections and were also part of the Katsina–Kaduna–Zaria education axis, they had close working relations with their "seniors" (the first generation) in the civil service and in the political realm.
[8] The group supposedly achieved most success during the military regime of General Obasanjo, where many of its members were appointed to key positions of power and used its alliance to obtain patronage and disburse favour to friends and associates.