THE FULANI EMPIRE.....

HADEJIA A YAU. 

<sup>With place names, though there is a growing measure of standard- ization, a number of variations still have currency. Some of them, such as Garin Gabas and Kalembina, are incorrect and should be discarded. With others, however, where the best spelling is still an open question, a choice can legitimately be exercised. Hence Hadeija rather than Hadejia and, among proper names, Fodiyo and Jaidu rather than Fodio and Jedo.

At that time there were a number of small principalities Auyo, Bedde, Shira, and Tashena lying between Bornu and Hausa land. They were under the jurisdiction of the Galadima and it was there that the reformers now rose against the authority of Bornu. First of all a pastoral Fulani called Abdure, or Abduwa, threw off his allegiance and declared for Shehu. Although he himself died very soon afterwards, his two sons, Umaru and Sambo, obtained a flag and a commission to subdue the principality of Auyo.

This they very soon did. Next they took possession of the town of Hadejia, which they enlarged and strengthened, and from there they proceeded to extend their authority over the intervening and surrounding towns and villages. One of these, incidentally, was Garun Gabas, the only one of the original Hausa Bakwai which had failed to develop into even a principality. This territory became the nucleus of the Emirate of Hadejia.

Meanwhile, another Fulani, Ardo Lareima, had also joined the Jihad. He lived near Nguru and, before the war, had been the agent appointed by the Galadima to collect tax and tribute from the pastoral Fulani in the district. Although the Galadima had given him a daughter in marriage he declared for Shehu and urged the Fulani to rise. In the first clash Lareima was defeated, but later, when he had been reinforced by Sambo of Hadejia and Ibrahim Zaki of Shira, whom we shall meet again later, he was completely victorious.</sup>

Bornu forces were defeated, Nguru sacked, and the Galadima killed. The destruction of Nguru and the consolidation of Hadejia meant that in the northern sector of Bornu’s western frontier the reformers had been completely successful.

After the destruction of Nguru and the capture of Hadejia, the Fulani made their next move against Shira, which Ibrahim Zaki, whose adopted country it was, invaded and occupied in 1807. The three leaders then met near Damaturu and agreed upon a concerted plan of campaign. While Ibrahim Zaki attacked Tashena.

Although the Fulani had failed to crush Bornu, as before the emergence of El-Kanemi had seemed likely, they had nevertheless made substantial gains at Bornu’s expense. In the north-west Sambo Digimsa had established the new Emirate of Hadejia. In the west Ibrahim Zaki had welded Shira and Tashena together to form the new Emirate of Katagum. In the south Buba Yero had carved the new Emirate of Gombe out of pagan lands over which Bornu had previously held sway.

All these leaders had received flags from Shehu during the fighting and were now recognized by him as the rulers of the territory which they controlled.

By the year 1810 the first phase in the creation of the Fulani Empire was complete. The former States of Gobir, Zamfara, and Kebbi had been merged into one and had become the metropolitan Sultanate. In Kano, Katsina, and Zazzau, as we have seen, the Hausa Chiefs had been driven out and supplanted by Fulani Emirs. In western Bornu the new Emirates of Hadejia and Katagum had been created. Similarly, in the south-east the Emirates of Gombe, Adamawa, and Bauchi had been forged out of formerly pagan lands and were still in the process of enlarging their territory and influence.

the fulani empire of sokoto
by h. a. s. johnston
Publication date 1967.