Hadejia A yau! Hadejia, town and traditional emirate,eastern Jigawa state, northern Nigeria. It lies
on the northern bank of the Hadejia River (a
seasonal tributary of the Komadugu Yobe,
which flows into Lake Chad). The emirate’s
savanna area originally included Hadejia and
six other small Hausa kingdoms that paid
tribute to the kingdom of Bornu.
About 1805, Umaru, a Fulani leader who held the
title sarkin Fulanin Hadejia,
pledged allegiance to the Fulani jihad (holy
war) leader, Usman dan Fodio.
Umaru's brother and successor, Emir Sambo
(reign 1808–45), officially founded the Hadejia
emirate in 1808, moved his headquarters to
Hadejia town, established a market, and
began to consolidate Fulani rule over the
small neighbouring Hausa kingdoms.
Emir Buhari (reigned
1848–50, 1851–63) renounced Hadejia’s
allegiance to the Fulani sultanate centred at
Sokoto in 1851, raided the nearby emirates
of Kano, Katagum, Gumel, Bedde, and
Jama’are, and enlarged his own emirate.
Hadejia was brought back into the Fulani
empire after Buhari’s death, but wars with
neighbouring Gumel continued until 1872.
In 1906 the British installed an emir, Haruna, (Maikaramba)
and incorporated the emirate into Kano
province.
The emirate became part of newly
created Jigawa state in 1991.
The town is now a market centre handling
cotton, millet, sorghum, fish, and the rice
grown in the river valley. It serves as an
important collecting point for peanuts
(groundnuts), an export crop. Cattle, goats,
guinea fowl, sheep, and donkeys are kept by
the local Hausa and Fulani peoples.
Several
small lime industries exist in scattered parts
of the area. Hadejia town is located on the
secondary highway between Gumel and
Nguru, which links it to the main highway at
Kano and to the railway at Kano and Nguru.
Pop. (2006) local government area, 105,628.
