SECTARIAN CRISES IN NORTHERN NIGERIA: THE CASE STUDY OF KANO AND KADUNA STATES

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

The Background and Demography of the Study

The city of Kano has been famed to be one of the most advanced cities in pre-colonial Northern Nigeria, being probably the largest urban centre in Sudanic West Africa in the nineteenth century (jihad), oral traditions of its origins suggest that it was founded between A.D. 1000 and 1200 during which period centralized political authority evolved. The oral tradition is based on the legendary Bayagida.2 According to the Bayajida legend of the traditions of origin of the Hausa states, one Bayajida fled from Baghdad to Kanem-Bornu, a state in the Chad basin. The Mai of Bornu gave Bayajida his daughter in marriage but deprived him of his follower. Bayojida in a cautious move fled from the Mai for fear of the Mai’s intentions towards him. Bayojida traveled westward but le his wife at Biran-ta Gabbas to bear him a son before stopping at Gaya near Kano. At Gaya, Bayajida met some blacksmiths who made a knife for him to his specifications. With this knife Bayajida delivered a people that had been oppressed and deprived of water from a well by a sacred snake called “Sarki”, by killing the snake. Daura the queen of the place married him for his bravery and also gave him a Gwari concubine. By Daura, Bayajida had a son called Bawo. One of the traditions had it that Bawo had seven children who became founders of the Hausa States Hausa Bakwai. These were Biram and Daura, the oldest; Katsina and Zaria, twins; Kano and Rano, twins; and Gabir, the youngest. Whether these were names of persons or places is not certain, however in almost all Hausa traditions Biram and Daura are considered to be the earliest settlement of the Hausa people in their present location. These states were independent of each other but were bound by language and culture

According to traditions the earliest inhabitants of Kano were the Abagiyawa, borne by few Kano blacksmiths. The Abagiyawa have it that one of their ancestors, a smith called Kano came from Gaya in search of iron stone and charcoal and settled at Dala hill. The Abagiyawa also practiced the arts of medicine, beer-brewing, archery, drumming and dancing including smithing. They were organized in local patrilinear groups each with its own head and distinguished by some special trait or skill. Among the Abagiyawa was a man called Barbushe, the hunter priest of a local deity. Barbushe had influence and power among the people of Kano of his day