While in Sokoto, he became a member of Jam'iyyar Mutanen Arewa, a Northern Nigeria cultural association that later evolved into a political party and became the dominant party in Northern Nigeria during the Nigerian First Republic. However, in 1950, he led a splinter group of young radicals from Jam'iyyar Mutanen Arewa, and formed the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU). Notably, a few years earlier, an Igbira man and trader, Habib Raji Abdallah had founded an organization called the Northern Elements Progressive Association in Kano. The organization was founded along the nationalistic political thoughts of Nnamdi Azikiwe.K. W. J. Post; The Nigerian Federal Election of 1959: Politics and Administration in a Developing Political System Oxford University Press, 1963. p 73 In 1949, a few of Azikiwe's supporters were jailed including Abdallah, leading to the breakup of the organization
