During the Kano civil war or Basasa, Sumaila was a major hub for pan-Yusuf forces because of its close proximity to Takai; the capital of the Yusufawa.

In 1903, the entire Fulani military contingent of the fort under Dan-Sumaila Garba- Maje Gabas was lost in the Kano- Sokoto expedition.

Political crisis however within the province's administration and fears of the pre-federal Nigerian government then being administered from Lagos and managed by non-Northerners scuttled the mining efforts.

In 1967, the collapse of the Government of Northern Nigeria again ended the administrative independence of Sumaila, this was not to be restored until the Second Nigerian Republic when a Sumailan, Abubakar Rimi was elected Governor of Kano under the People's Redemption Party.

Animal husbandry, leather manufacturing, and textile weaving are some of the other significant economic activities in Sumaila Local Government Area.

[6] Naqib al-ashraf (Arabic: نقيب الأشراف) (plural: nuqaba or niqabat) was a governmental post in various Muslim empires denoting the head or supervisor of the descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

[7] Ashraf in the Ottoman Empire were accorded special privileges, including personal inviolability, certain tax exemptions and immunity from regular prosecution.

They are related to the Alaouite dynasty of Morocco and are said to have migrated to the Sultanate of Kano in Nigeria due to conflicts and wars within the Moroccan monarchy after the death of Ismail ibn Sharif.

Most of their ancestors were Islamic saints, the Muallimawa family Dynasty a branch of the Madinawa clan holds the position of Naqib al- ashraf in Sumaila.