Mamadou Maidah was a Niger

Niger

Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...

ien politician and diplomat.
Mamadou was the Foreign Minister of Niger from 1963-1965, and a leading member of the ruling PPN-RDA party.

Mamadou—his surname—was born in Tessaoua

Tessaoua

Tessaoua is a city located in the Maradi Region of Niger. It has a population of 31,667 . Tessaoua is historically an important city in its region. It is situated in a central geographical location. Tessaoua is a mid-point on a historical trade route between Agadez, Niger in the north and Kano,...

 in 1924, the child of local Hausa

Hausa people

The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. They are a Sahelian people chiefly located in northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger, but having significant numbers living in regions of Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Sudan...

 aristocratic family, whose father was a Marabout

Marabout

A marabout is a Muslim religious leader and teacher in West Africa, and in the Maghreb. The marabout is often a scholar of the Qur'an, or religious teacher. Others may be wandering holy men who survive on alms, Sufi Murshids , or leaders of religious communities...

 (religious leader) and one time head of the Tessaoua local council under French colonial rule. Maidah became a teacher at Katibougou Teachers College, Kati, Mali (then French Soudan). He served in the French Armed Forces from 1946-47, and taught in Niger until 1958. In 1959 he was elected to the consultative Nigerien National Assembly from Tessaoua from Hamani Diori

Hamani Diori

Hamani Diori was the first President of the Republic of Niger. He was appointed to that office in 1960, when Niger gained independence.- Youth :...

's PPN-RDA. He became Niger's first Minister of Agriculture from 1959-1961. From 1961-1963 he was Minister of Education, Minister of Rural Economy from 1963 - 1970, and Foreign Minister of Niger from July 1970 to 1972. Thereafter he served as Minister of Information until the 1974 Nigerien coup d'état

1974 Nigerien coup d'état

The 1974 Nigerien coup d'état was a largely bloodless military insurrection which overthrew the first postcolonial government of the West African nation of Niger...

. While a marginal figure in government decision making, Mamadou's very public roles owed much to his background in Hausa society in a government dominated by political leaders from the Zarma and Songhay of the west of Niger.

Following the Military seizure of power, Mamadou was arrested, charged—but never convicted—with the embezzlement of 7 million CFA francs and fraud involving some 18 million more. He remained under house arrest until 1976, when many former political leaders were released by the military with the stipulation that they refrained from political activity.