This article is not a history of Kano, it is just my personal study of the relationship and history between the City and why Boko Haram continues to kill, bomb the good people of Kano without any justification in the 21st Century, and my heart goes to the people of Kano City who lost their love ones and those who felt a Friday and Jumat should be celebrated, but instead, got killed or wounded by animals in the human flesh. I will dedicate this article to two people, Dr. Abdullah Dahiru and Nasiru Suleman Bantam both of them made it possible for all the books of the Oracle to be in Kano book stores. So let us go to work.
In 2006, the population of the City of Kano alone was placed at 2.8 million according to the Nigeria Census Board. However, the City of Kano by 7th Century was formerly called Dala because it was placed on the Dala Hills, the primitive language of the original owners of the place could be found between the languages of Congo/Niger meaning, the name Dala was never changed until 15th Century, Kano Chronicle identified Barbusher, a priest of Dala Hill Spirit, as the first settler of the City which in future would be called Kano.
The traditional oral history says, it was the beginning of the Bornoan source and the first settler could trace their origin to Chad river and South of lake Chad which today could be the people residing in North of Cameroon and South of Lake Chad with claims to SAO civilization which might have started from 6th Century BCE with special skills in bronze, copper, and Iron, till today, their archeological findings could still be around Lake Chad.
The First King of Dala in 999 BCE was called Baguada, the grandson of Bayajidda and was succeeded by Gijimasu 1095-1134 and followed by Tsaraki 1136-1194 , historically, Bayajidda was assumed to have migrated from Bagdad through the Sahara Desert until he got to Bornu Empire with many warriors and followers which made the local King uncomfortable, as a way to prevent a likely coup on the part of Bayajidda on his Kingdom, he offered him his daughter Magaram or Magira as a wife and just when Bayajidda was happy and felt everything was fine, the King attacked him and he left the City with his wife and followers until they got to the City of Garum Gabas in Hadeja Region, it was there, he dumped his new wife with his first son Biram, when he moved on until he settled in another City called Gaya near Dala now known as Kano because of the Hills and he later moved to Daura now in Katsina State.
In Daura, he became a legend, when he killed the Serpent called Sarki that had prevented the people from having access to the only functional well in the City and when he finally present the head of the Serpent to the Queen Daurama, he turned down the offer of half of the Kingdom, instead, he offered to marry the Queen herself, as against the custom of the people to have a married Queen, but out of everything the tradition was waved and somehow, the Queen offered him a concubine who gave birth to a son, she named the child “Karap da Gari “ meaning “he snatched the town’ and that name did not go down well with the Queen and when she sidetracked the system to give birth to a son for Bayajidda, she named her son Bawo” meaning “give it back”
In the same Biblical way Abraham became the father of those in Israel and Arab world, the children of Bayajidda and his descendant created what became Daura, Kobir, Katsina, Rano, and Zaria formerly called Zazzau they were the children from his women and Biram from his Magaram, they would in future be called the legitimate Hausa States.
In the 12th Century Ali yaji the King of Kano accepted Islam and was proclaimed Sultanate of the Kingdom, the new Empire was under strict Islamic rules and a controlled heritage of Bayajidda until 19th Century. In 1463, the history says, Mohammed Rumfa reigned as the Sultan of Kano, and due to pressure from Shonghai Empire, he married AUWA the daughter of the Shonghai who became his first female Madaki of Kano.
There was peace in all the land that had the footings of Bayajidda from his first entrance into what later became Nigeria from North and South of Lake Chad, to Garum Gabas, and the cities that had the creation of his children, however, there was a new Sheriff in town, Othman Dan Fodio came up with the idea of Jihad, after he was sent packing from Kobir by Yunfa for his teachings, what became the removal of all the traces of the families of the Empire and the movement which Bayajidda created for centuries, it was how the Fulani destroyed the legacy of Bayajidda.
In 1805 Sokoto Caliphate defeated the Sultan of Kano and the Kingdom was downgraded to Emirate under the control of the Sokoto Caliphate and powerful Emir of Gwandu until 1903 when the British defeated the Sokoto Caliphate, its control in the North of Nigeria was reduced to the apron of the British but the issue of who will upgrade Kano to what it was before the Sokoto Caliphate came was unresolved.
The British needed a City that could control the nerves of the North and it heart beats, it moved the control from Lokoja to the City of Kano and it regained its lost glory in the new dispensation and the Emir of Kano was consulted far more ahead of all issues than a defeated and far away Sokoto in the North West of modern Nigeria.
The glory of Kano continues to progress more than any city in the North of Nigeria, it became the heartbeat of the North itself whoever can lay claim to it will have the brain, the heart and even the soul of the North and Sokoto is no longer where the action is any more, and Sokoto and it destroyed Calpihate looked a forgoton history, it was looking like the Biblical Jericho in the Old testament.
However, in 1980 Mohammed Marwa who could be traced to the families of Bayajidda and North of Cameroon became the leader of what was known as Maitatsine, meaning “the one who dawns” he was noted for his ugly and dirty words and as time went on, he claimed to be the Prophet of Allah, he rejected hadith and Sunnah and other interpretations of the Quran other than simple understanding of the Holy book itself, which some of the verses of the Quran commanded Muslims to kill non-believers, he even spoke against the use of radio, the use of watches, and bicycles or cars (sounds like modern day ISIL which even banned Ice cream and the study of Math’s and other modern tools of civilization)
After rejecting Hadith Mohammed Marwa went further to denounce Prophet Mohammed and he went a step further to call himself the true Prophet or “Annabi” in his Hausa language. After his death his supporters moved to Yola, Bulumkuttu near Maiduguri and the North of Cameron to regroup and if possible to capture the land of Bayajidda from the Sokoto Caliphate.
Musa Makaniki a close disciple of Maitatsine emerged as the leader and a successor to the doctrines of Marwa and it became the foundation for the group now called Boko Haram, it started more like a peaceful organization with expanded base of followers among the porous illiterates and those with axe to grind with the system until their leader was executed in in jail in 2010
Boko Haram in addition to the doctrines of Marwa and was also founded on the principles of Sunni Islamic fundamentalists, sharia laws and to develop a nation purely on salafist –Jihad with special interest on the doctrines of Wahhabism or mission of ultra conservative and puritanical religion common in Qatar, UAC and Saudi Arabia.
The Oracle says the sect called Boko Haram would not stop until it can reclaim Kano from the Fulani or the Emirate and return it to what it was before Othman Dan Fodio took it from them, what Boko Haram wants from Kano is the same thing Putin got from Ukraine with the removal of Crimea or the Yoruba may in future be asking from the Fulani in Ilorin and the question will be if it will be possible or not, history will vindicate the just.
Can any President of Nigeria stop Boko Haram or the plan to recapture the land from what it was before 1805? It may be very easy to blame President Jonathan for his failure and it will foolish to think a leader without a deep understanding of the goals of the 1805 uproot of the Bayajidda movement can fix Nigeria problem, the Oracle says we are in for a very long fight.
Reference: Wikipedia several articles and books on African History.
Zents Sowunmi is a New York based writer and author of “The Vultures and Vulnerable: the Political history of Nigeria since 1945”
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