Northern Emirates Without Emirs

In some parts of northeastern Nigeria, the recent activities of the outlawed Boko Haram sect have suddenly turned most of the emirates ungovernable by their traditional emirs, some deserting their domain for fear of attacks by the insurgents, while the terrorists are crowning their kind as emirs. KAREEM HARUNA, Maiduguri, and MOHAMMED ISMAIL, Yola, write on the hollow state emirates in Borno and Adamawa states have been left

In Borno State, there are eight eminent kingdoms – all ruled by first-class chiefs. As a matter of fact, Borno stands out among all states of northern Nigeria where traditional institution is so much revered by both individuals and the government, hence the elevation of all emirs to the enviable position of first-class chieftaincy. What this means is that all the emirs from Borno State have the revered eminence to attend all meetings of first-class chiefs anytime the Sultan of Sokoto calls.

But sadly, half of these emirates no longer exist in their ancestral homes, as Boko Haram insurgents have at different times in the last five months displaced them and taken over their domains. Many more in Borno State and even part of Adamawa State are under serious threats, as the governments are considering relocating their emirs.

As at today in Borno State, the Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Garbai Alamin Elkanemi, plays host to four emirs. It would not be out of place to mention that presently, the Emir Bama, His Royal Highness Mai Kyari Elkanemi; the Emir of Dikwa, Alhaji Abba Tor Shehu Masta; the Emir of Gwoza, Alhaji Muhammadu Mustapha Timta, and the Emir of Uba, Alhaji Ali Ibn Ismaila Mamzam now have their palaces relocated temporarily to Maiduguri, the state capital.

While these emirs wait in exile at the state capital for the Nigerian security forces to help reclaim their seized domains, the Boko Haram warlords are in the most ridiculous manner being installed as the new monarchs under what they now called part of a new Islamic caliphate.

It has been reported, but not officially confirmed, that these Boko Haram-installed emirs have now taken over existing palaces of the original monarchs from where they preside over the affairs of the kingdoms with iron fists and bullets.

For example, it has been widely reported that the magnificent palace of the Shehu of Dikwa, built some five years ago after the regime of former Borno State governor Ali Sheriff had split the old Dikwa emirate and relocated its headquarters from Bama to Dikwa town is currently being occupied by a new Shehu called Bulama Yaga, a vicious Boko Haram kingpin.

Similarly in Bama town, the beautiful brick palace of the Emir of Bama that had suffered serious attacks earlier this year is now being occupied by one Mohammed Danjuma, who was recently crowned as the “emir” of Bama by Boko Haram leader, Imam Abubakar Shekau.

According to recorded history, when the old Kanem Borno empire was weakened and conquered by the incessant attacks led by the famous Shuwa Arab lord of terror, Rabeh Zubayribn Fadlillah in 1893, he established the capital of the empire in Dikwa. But he was later dethroned by French forces some seven years after he ruled with terror that has not been equalled by present-day Boko Haram terrorists. The emirate was later moved to Kukawa.

Historians have also explained that following the colonial treaty signed among the French, Germans and British, the old Borno empire became split into two, with part of it falling under the German colony of Cameroon. It was documented that the British asked Umar Abubakar Garbai to become ruler of the British portion in present-day Nigeria, and he had to gradually establish his headquarters, first in the year 1902 in Monguno town, then later in Yerwa (Maiduguri).

While on the German side, Abubakar’s brother, Shehu Sanda Mandara, was installed in his place in Dikwa. Upon his death in 1917, he was succeeded by Shehu Sanda Kyarimi, and Dikwa was transferred to the British in 1918. And after the defeat of the Germans during the World War I, Shehu Masta II Kyarimi was appointed Shehu of Dikwa in 1937, with his palace in Dikwa town. But for the purpose of administrative convenience, the Britons felt Dikwa was far in remote corners, so he was advised to move the palace to Bama in 1942.

In order to correct what his government felt was distortion of traditional history, the ex-governor of Borno State, Ali Sheriff, signed a law that recreated Dikwa emirate and returned its seat back to Dikwa under the rulership of new emir, Shehu Abba Tor Masta Elkanemi, in March, 2010, while a new Bama Emirate was to be retained in the old palace of the Emir of Dikwa in Bama.

LEADERSHIP Sunday has been able to trace the history of the development of present-day Gwoza, now in rubbles, to hundreds of years, back even before the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Nigeria in 1914.

On August 5, 2014, the historic town of Gwoza in Borno State came under the conquests of Boko Haram terrorists, who did not only massacre soldiers and residents, but also hoisted their flags there as residents fled for their lives. The conquest of Gwoza came three weeks after the insurgents had hoisted their flags in Damboa town, where over 17,000 people were forced to flee for dear life.

Even before Boko Haram assumed territorial control of Gwoza and Damboa towns, the insurgents had literally sacked hundreds of villages and hamlets scattered around Konduga, Bama, Damboa, Kala-Balge and Gwoza local government areas of Borno State. The sacking and hoisting of flags in Damboa and Gwoza however were adjudged the biggest conquest by the terrorists in recent times.

Though the military had after two weeks of aborted attempts been able to “reclaim” some of the captured towns, even though at a costly effort that saw the deaths of many soldiers, Gwoza has continued to remain under the conquest of Boko Haram till date.

Before the Emir of Gwoza made his long trip to Maiduguri, it was reported that he was in deep grief over how years of toiling by his ancestors to build the present-day Gwoza town had been reduced to rubbles by the rampaging Boko Haram gunmen who visited every house, including his palace.

According to history, Gwoza town, just like Bama, Dikwa up to some parts of Maiduguri known as Customs Area, was part of the German Protectorate. Gwoza was part of the former English-speaking Northern Cameroon until the 1961 plebiscite that later brought the area under the federation called Nigeria.

Gwoza was under German Protectorate, before the United Nations organised a plebiscite in the Cameroon on February 11, 1961, which gave two options to the people, either to form a union with Nigeria then under the British Protectorate; or a union with Cameroun under the German protectorate. After the plebiscite, it was said that the Northern Cameroon, under which Gwoza was, “voted for union with Nigeria”, while Southern Cameroon went with the Cameroun.

During the decisive moment of the plebiscite, the large jurisdiction of Dikwa Emirate fell on both sides of the British and German protectorates. At that critical moment, the then Shehu of Dikwa was given the option of choosing where his kingdom would have its headquarters since the plebiscite would split his domain into two. And the Shehu opted to be where the old Kukawa, being the spiritual nucleus of the Kanem Borno, was. Kukawa was then in Nigeria. With that decision taken, the Shehu’s palace had to move to Yerwa (Maiduguri) even as he gave condition that his younger brother be made the Shehu of Dikwa still under the German Protectorate.

Gwoza used to be an ordinary chiefdom under Dikwa Emirate until later in the ‘80s that it became an emirate, which later grew to become a first-class emirate in Borno State.

Despite the plebiscite that brought a substantial part of Gwoza to the side of Nigeria, with the stretch of the mountains giving the two sides a natural boundary, there still exist two Gwozas; one on Cameroon side and the other on Nigerian side; all sharing common culture and traditions. As a matter of fact, because of the common ties that the people still share, some smart politicians during elections would manipulate their votes by getting their relatives or supporters from the Cameroonian border, like the Mandaras, the Gudus, etcetera, who are still Gwozas, to cast their ballots for them.

Besides that, Gwoza remains one of the most unique LGAs where there is an amalgam of about 15 distinct ethnic groups. In Gwoza, there are Marghis, Mandara, Agibua, Waha, Fulanis, Hausa and others who live and share common neighbourhoods.

Before the recent adoption of hereditary pattern of kingship, the people of Gwoza used to have a republican system of kingship that was brought in by the present Timta ruling household.

But today, despite all those years of struggle for growth and self actualisation as a unique agrarian community in Borno State, Gwoza, with an area that covers 2,883 km² and a population of 276,312 people (according to the 2006 census), now exists in rubbles of its past, as Boko Haram gunmen who sacked the town and its surrounding communities have turned it into wild graveyard where corpses littered its nooks and crannies unburied.

A female survivor, Binta Sani said, “We, the women, alone have buried well over 900 corpses, mostly old and young males, in shallow graves with our bare hands, and there are hundreds more that we could not bury because their corpses had already rotten and the smell could not allow us.”

To the people of Damboa, a town that is famed for being a food production hub of Borno State, only history would, for now, tell tales of their accomplishments over the past years, as Boko Haram has destroyed virtually every structure that landscaped the town and its surrounding communities.

Even though soldiers of the Nigerian army had announced the reclaim of the seized town of Damboa from the Boko Haram terrorists last week, some leaders of the ravaged community said the agrarian town would remain inhabitable for a long time, if government did not step in to rebuild the town and help the displaced to return home.

Damboa has suffered repeated attacks by Boko Haram members for more than six times in the last two years, with the worst being the July attack which led to the sack of both military and civilian residents. Concerned elders of Damboa felt the town and its over 15,000 would-be returnees need both local and international support to bounce back to life.

One of the leaders of the ravaged town, who spoke under the aegis of Damboa Forum, Alhaji Modu Shettima, said at least 95 per cent of the town was destroyed by the insurgents. “Our people, who are still sleeping in displaced people’s camps, deserve special intervention from the state, federal and international donors. Our dear town, Damboa, had been a thriving farming and fishing community for many years, which is now in ruins and its people in distress. Almost all the structures in the town were burnt down, and rebuilding them remains a big challenge for the displaced people who are yearning to go back home,” he said.

Historically, Damboa people are predominantly Marghis, but their close ties with the Kanem Borno Empire have made the people share certain cultures and traditions with the Kanuri. Till date, the people of Damboa’s major lingua-franca are Kanuri, even though they still speak their native Marghi language.

Till date, Damboa is one of the LGAs dominated with non-Kanuri speaking tribes of Borno State, still under the Borno Empire. Damboa’s district heads are still deployed from the Shehu’s palace in Maiduguri.

Even though the military has said Damboa town has been rid of Boko Haram terrorists, many residents do not want to rush back home, not because they would lack a place to live in, but because of the fear of Boko Haram terrorists who have vowed to chase them anywhere and get them decapitated for alleged cooperation with security operatives to hunt their members in the town.

Mubi Emirate Council which is located on the northern fringes of Adamawa State is the second largest emirate council in the state consisting of five local government areas namely Maiha, Mubi North, Mubi South, Michika and Madagali which make the emirate to be fondly called the Five Ms Emirate as the names of all the local government areas of the emirate start with the letter M.

The emirate council which is being superintended by a first class emir has been in existence since the Jihad of Usman Danfodio, a Fulani scholar, who established the emirate council as one of the dynasties in the Usmaniyya kingdom more than 200 years ago.

But the dynasty which has survived all these years has fallen into the hands of Boko Haram insurgents who stormed Mubi town, the headquarters of the emirate council where they seized and annexed the Palace of the Emir of Mubi, Alhaji Abubakar Isah Ahmadu, who was in far away Kingdom of Saudi Arabia superintending the affairs of Adamawa State pilgrims as the state government had earlier nominated him as the Amirul Hajj.

Sequel to the seizure of Mubi, two other local government areas in the emirate council, namely Madagali and Michika, had been annexed by the Boko Haram insurgents, who later consolidated their incursion into the emirate council by capturing Maiha local government area, and by so doing, they succeeded in having effective control of the emirate council.

So far, the Mubi Emirate Council is the only emirate council that has fallen into the hands of the Boko Haram insurgents in the state. Since his return from the Hajj pilgrimage, the emir who could not have access to his palace that has since been converted to the operational and spiritual base of Boko Haram sect has been holing up in the state capital, having been displaced from the reins of power on whose crest he has been calling the shots as the traditional ruler of the emirate council.

With the recent development, the insurgents have effectively taken over the palace of the emir, hoisted their flags and have already started administering the town as a new “Amir” leader was appointed in place of the displaced emir, while the name of the town was changed to Madinatul Islam, meaning “the city of Islam”.

The annexation of Mubi has not only affected traditional institution, but has crippled a lot of businesses in the town, said to be the commercial nerve centre of Adamawa State. Apart from the volume of international trade that took place between the border communities of Adamawa and Cameroon, mainly through the Belel axis, other sprawling businesses which made the town a gangling centre of commerce, like the Mubi International Cattle Market, the numerous bureau de change, banks and the foodstuff markets have been negated by the annexation of the town.

To buttress the importance of the town, there is ample presence of both federal and state institutions across the emirate, such as the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi; Adamawa State University, Mubi; College of Health Technology; Government Science Technical School, and Technical Training Centre.

Other infrastructure in the town include general hospital in Mubi, prison complex, military barracks, Immigration and customs formations and post office.

Investigation has shown that before the annexation of the area by Boko Haram insurgents, the Nigerian Customs area office in Mubi generated the highest revenue in the state due to the volume and frequency of trade and commercial activities that thrived in the area.

Before the upscale of violent activities of the insurgents, serious business and commercial activities were taking place, especially in areas of agro allied businesses, export and import of goods and services bet ween Nigeria and Cameroon, and many other viable business activities, especially the grains market which used to be the biggest in Adamawa State.

PHOTO SOURCE: www.lightstalkers.org

STORY SOURCE: leadership.ng