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 left 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. In subsequent time several
immigrant groups arrived in Kano; one of them was led by a man called Bagauda
and overwhelmed the Abagiyawa and settled at Sheme in Kano. Probably among these immigrants were the men
of the Bayajida invasion and the legendary seven children of Bawo, one of whom
was called Kano. The name Kano was
ascripted to two different ancestors, this in a way describes the complete
assimilation and identification achieved between the newcomers and the earlier
inhabitants.
From
the Kano chronicle the city wall of Kano was built in the twelfth century and was inaugurated in the reign of Gijinmasu
(1095 – 1134). The walls were later
completed by his son and successor, Yisa Tsaraki (1136 – 94).
The
early forms of social and political organizations in Hausaland were centred
round the ‘birni’, the walled or stockaded town; as distinct from the ‘gari’ or
kauyi’, the village or hamlet. The
community in the birni was self-sufficient and was united by trade, industry
and engaged in agriculture. In the times
of wars or other conflicts, the ‘birni’ could support its inhabitants from
siege and neighbouring hamlets could take refuge within the walls. The gradual expansion of a birni into a Hausa
state took the form of absorption or subjugation of outlying territory,
population and power. The expanding
‘birni’ developed from a village to a city town and its head – the sarki,
changed from a village to a city chief with an elaborate court and official
hierarchy. The other neighbouring
‘birni’ became subordinate to it. The
earliest Hausa states were small in size and had limited sphere of influence
being within a radius of only a few days’ march from the capital.6
The
political and social order in Hausa states had underlying support from
religion, which closely integrated and regulated the societies with ritual
sanction and forms. In Kano, Barbushe
and other senior lineage heads exercised ritual jurisdiction and leadership
over the Abagiyawa. The priest – king,
town and royal deities, symbols and taboos were spiritual bonds which
reinforced political unity.
Islam and Its Impact In Kano
Kano
being at the centre of the trans-Saharan trade was influenced by the activities
of the traders from North Africa. Islam
came through these traders to Hausaland in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries. Islam became the religion of
the ruling classes in the fifteenth century and onwards and had the
consequences of altering the political and social institutions of the Hausa
people. The Sarki became more powerful
but these were generally checked and limited by his central council composed of
the chief ministers and territorial officials who were acting in advisory
capacity but were not to be ignored.
The
village or district head was in-charge of judicial affairs in his district in
the early times. The king sat in his
compound in the capital with the Sarkin Fada (chief official of the household)
and others to listen to grievances. But
if the matter was of great importance, and serious like in murder cases, the
councilors were consulted.9
With
Islam adopted in the Hausa states and Muslim system of justice gradually
adopted, separation between the executive and judiciary was evident. Though the king, as head of state and supreme
judge, he exercised judicial functions in some matters with the advice of the
chief Alkali and other legal experts.
Matters of major importance that concerned land and the king’s political
position, serious cases of murder and manslaughter were subject to the King’s
final revision.
The
Alkali carried out a sole judicial function by administering the Maliki
code. The administration of law in a
Muslim state required not merely a knowledge of local customs but on intimate
knowledge of the sharia. The Alkalis
were professional magistrates who were generally learned in the law and had
access to libraries containing the works of eminent jurists. Occasionally, there was also a traveling
judge which decisions were also subject to revision by the chief Alkali. In the smaller villages the judicial
authority was commonly the village head but minor offences could of course be
dealt with by the heads of wards and families.11
The
system of taxation and revenue collection developed from the ancient tribute in
grain and other local products with the adoption of Islam. These elaborate system of taxes and dues
included the ‘Zakat’, a tax on available income authorized by the Qu’ran for
cheritable purposes,’ ‘janguli’ paid on livestock, the ‘kharaji or land
tax. There were taxes on professions,
paid by craftsmen, butchers, dyers, prostitutes, dancing girls and others. Dues were paid on luxury crops, such as
tobacco, onions and sugar cane. Tolls
were paid by caravans and fees on markets.12
The
Muslim law sanctioned these taxes and dues but the taxation system was abused
by corrupt officials. The methods for
assessment of these taxes were done arbitrary which resulted in the extension
of people’s resources. These abuses of
the taxation system robbed it of its religious sanctions. And these abuses were part of the reasons the
leaders of the nineteenth century Jihads struck.
Islam
with its long history in the Hausa states had become an integral part of the
people’s way of life. The institutions
in Kano and other Hausa states were influenced and patterned on Islamic modern
– the political, legal, judicial and the social life of the people. Islam transformed the Hausa states by giving
them advantages in that, Islam provided a written language; Arabic, a literate
and learned administrative class and a bond of union, a common ideology that
cut across other groups. Islam was a
powerful factor in nation-building in western Sudan states, like Kano.
The
revival of Islam in Kano and other Hausa states in the nineteenth century Jihads brought about new political and
cultural unities and new impetus in commercial activities linking western Sudan
with the south and gradually replaced the declining trans-Saharan trade.
The
greatest influence on the socio-political evolution and organization in Kano
was Islam. The introduction of the
Emirate system of government and the sharia legal system to Kano greatly
transformed the socio-political organization of Kano state.16
The Nature and Demography of Kano
State
Kano
developed into a cosmopolitan city even before colonialism. Colonialism only expanded its cosmopolitan
frontiers because it opened the city to migrants from southern Nigeria,
principally the Igbo and Yoruba. Prior
to colonialism, Kano was a large urban settlement which had an estimate of
75,000 in the sixteenth century and was organized into 74 quarters by 1851.
The
quarters were divided into areas which made up Kano city. One of the divides was the ‘birni’, the
walled city and traditionally called the holy city. This ‘birni’ has over the years being the
exclusive reserve for Kano indigenes and other Hausa. The other divide was the ‘waje’, the outside
city where non-indigenes lived in their quarters and groups. Nassarawa and Sabon Gari became parts of the
‘waje’ and quartered Europeans and southern Nigerians and other non-Islamic
migrants respectively. These territorial
divisions provide an insight into the structure of relations between Kano
peoples and other people or strangers, a structure which was maintained in the
colonial period. Kano being a major
commercial and Islamic centre, attracted a lot of foreigners and these
foreigners were quartered outside the walled city. The practice of quartering foreigners outside
the walled city has been from the beginning.
The practice was successfully implemented because of the fact that the
Emir was the only one who had authority to allocate land and quarters.
The
major reason for setting migrants outside the walled city was to prevent the
pollution of Islam by strangers and foreigners who were known as ‘kaffirs’
(unbelievers or infidel).18
The colonial authorities followed the line of this reasoning to continue
the policy of quarterization and this led to the establishment of Sabon Gari. Although,
Kano continued as a commercial and Islamic centre during the period of colonial
rule. Colonialism was to transform the
commercial and political orientation of northern Nigeria, of which Kano is a
part, away from the Trans-Saharan Trade to a trade which linked it to the
southern and coastal ports.
The
cosmopolitan outlook of present day Kano, took root during the mass movement of
Nigerians from other parts, especially the south into Kano after the
colonization of the country was completed.
Even, with the influx of migrants into Kano in the colonial period, and
the new laws introduced by the colonial authorities, quartering remained as a
policy which saw foreigners being quartered outside the walled city.
The
mass movements by southern Nigerians were made possible by the opening up of
upland towns like Kano through the development and expansion of transportation
systems, specially road and rail transport both affordable means of mass
transit. The Lagos – Kano railway line
was completed in 1911, while the Port-Harcourt – Kano line was completed in
1926.19 With the development of the ports in Lagos and Port-Harcourt,
these lines linked Kano to the commercial and administrative nerve centres of
the country. Rural – Urban and
urban-urban migrations were facilitated by these linkages. The development of infrastructure in the
1920s completed the integration of the national economy which resulted to the
mass migrations to the north.
Sabon Gari
The
south-north migrations under colonial rule led to the establishment of the
quarters of Sabon Gari, or strangers’ quarters in Kano. The emergency of Sabon Gari was as a result
of the continuation of the quartering policy.
The major difference between Sabon Gari and other strangers quarters was
that the colonial law regulated the settlement.
The relations between the settlers in Sabon Gari and those in the
‘birni’ were regulated to preserve the Islamic outlook of Kano and other
northern cities which was understood to be part of the pact which the colonial
authorities, represented by Lord Lugard had with the Emirs.20
Sabon Gari was created to prevent
missionary influence in the ‘holy city’.
This was to keep southern Nigerians who have been influenced by
Christianity apart from the indigenes.
In 1912, a new law was enacted which formally prohibited non-Muslims
from dwelling in the holy city, while another law which forbade marriages
between Muslims and non-Muslims was enforced.21 These laws and their
enforcement served the dual purpose of preserving Islam in the ‘birni’ and to
prevent southerners nationalistic tendencies from spreading such ideas to the
inhabitants of the ‘birni’ or walled city and could result to the overthrow of
colonial apparatus. This explains why,
in 1914 non-Hausa northerners were resettled from Sabon Gari to Tudun Wada.22
Sabon Gari emerged in Kano in 1911 as
the first of the strangers’ quarters established by colonial rule in
Nigeria. Population pressure has been
the major problem that faced Sabon Gari from the beginning and even till
today. The pressure on the land has been
as a result of more migrants in excess of the capacity which the land can
bear. The quarter developed as an
overcrowded and haphazard urban ‘slum’.
From inception, Sabon Gari has been
largely inhabited by southern Nigerians, principally the Yoruba and Igbo. Initially, the Yoruba dominated, by 1921 of
2000 inhabitants, 1,478 were Yoruba. But
after the second world war the mass movement that followed resulted to large
numbers of Igbos and soon overtook the Yoruba as the dominant group.23 The Yorubas differ from the Igbos settlers in
Kano in that the Yorubas were easily assimilated into the culture and
traditions of the Hausas. They were
assimilated either through marriage or Islam and resulted to residence
relocation.
There are other settlers in Sabon
Gari, outside the Igbos and Yorubas, these include Edo, Urhobo, Efik, Ijaw,
Itsekiri, Sabon. Gari remains a predominantly Christian community.
As Sabon Gari developed, it has not
ceased to be a focus of major national crises which involved north-south and
Muslim -Christian divisions.
Today, because of population pressure
and high rent those with lesser means have been forced to areas like Brigade,
Maitara, Rigele Mera and even locations outside the city. The affluent non-Muslims who consider Sabon
Gari too much of a slum reside in low density areas like Bompai, Nassarawa, Naibawa.24
The population of Kano State has shown
a progressive increase right from creation of the state till today. The population of Kano, according to the 1963
census was 5,774,840.25 And
2006 population census was 9,401,288 with 4,947,952 males and 4,453,336
females. The census of 2006 puts Kano
state as the most populous state in Nigeria.26
The Background History and
Demography of Kaduna State
According to the Zaria Chronicle,
Zaria Town was founded by Sarkin Bakwa Turonku, the twenty-second ruler, who
was perhaps a woman. Turunko is still a
town with extensive ruins situated seventeenth miles south of Zaria city. The discomfort and smallness of Turunku as a
capital and water supply being precarious made Bakwa transfer to Zaria.
Zaria
is the most southern of the Hausa states.
This area was known as Zazzau until the sixteenth century which it
became known as Zaria after the famous queen, Queen Zaria. Strategically Zaria is positioned in a
location that facilitated trade between the northern and southern states of
Nigeria. It is also a fertile state,
especially in the valley of the river Kaduna.
According
to the Zaria Chronicle there were at least sixty rulers of Zaria before it was
conquered by the Fulani in the early nineteenth century. The first ruler is said to have been Gunguma,
a grandson of the famous Bayajidda.
The
famous Queen Aminatu succeeded Bakwa and was known to had extended the
frontiers of Zaria to as far as Kwararafa and Nupe. Her great military exploits brought tributes
to her. The Sarkin Nupe sent 40 eunuchs
and 10,000 kolanuts to her. In Hausaland
she built walled camps whenever she halted on her travels, and as a result
throughout Hausaland ancient town walls are called Ganwar Amina – Amina’s
walls.
Zaria
declined in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries after Queen Aminatu reign
and was subject to the dominion of Borno.
Zaria paid tribute to Borno and many of the top positions in the kingdom
were occupied by people from Borno. The
Mai of Borno also had a representative of the court of the king of Zaria. In the eighteenth century the capital was
moved from Jufena to its present site, the modern city of Zaria.
Islam
was probably introduced to Zaria in the early sixteenth century but with still
the existence traditional religions, such as the ‘bari’ cult. Zaria was not a strongly Muslim state and
this was one of the reasons that accounted for Zaria to had been a source of
slaves for neighbouring Muslim states.
What
is presently known as Kaduna state came into being when the Federal Military
Government created it in 1976. It
encompasses the area of the old Zaria (Zazzau) emirate – cum province. Two broad cultural segments have been
identified in this emirate province. The
first of the segment is the Hausa-Fulani group, this group constitutes about 60
percent of the emirate population, occupies mainly the northern part of the
province and dominates the structure of the emirate system of government.
The
second ethno-cultural group of the Zazzau kingdom who are located in the
southern and western half of the territory constitute the minority, which made
up of some thirty tribes. Even in this
half of the territory Hausa in enclaves, walled towns or open villages which
are the foci of economic, political and administrative life are found.
These
minority tribes were traditionally the legitimate target for slave-raiding, and
tribute being paid to the dominant Hausa-Fulani. This minority tribes were vulnerable to
Hausa-Fulani hegemony because of their relatively inferior technology, smaller
settlements and decentralized modes of political organization.33
The degree of resistance to the
Hausa-Fulani power differed from tribe to tribe in the south. The Kagoro, Jaba, moroe populations of
southern Zaria had enjoyed some degrees of independence from the emirate
system. The integrity and autonomy of
those three groups as independent chiefdoms had been maintained over the years
since the colonial era.34
The incorporated minority tribes are
closer geographically to the Hausa settlements and enclaves than the
independent pagan groups. The
incorporated tribes are more vulnerable to cultural, economic and political
domination by the Hausa-Fulani power group.
The independent minority populations are ruled by their own chiefs, the
incorporated groups are administered by emirate-appointed district head who
were mostly Hausa-Fulani group.
The hostile historical political
relationship between the Hausa-Fulani group and the various minority tribes in
the south has been worsened by religion differences. Islam is the religion of majority of the
emirate people, the Hausa-Fulani. Islam
has provided the doctrinal or ideological foundation for the emirate system. On the other hand different forms of
traditional worship predominated the minority populations. The Muslims saw them as infidel and imposed
their judicial and legal system on them.
However, the receptiveness of the minority populations to Christian
teaching and education had resulted to conversion of these pagan southern
Zaria. The leadership of the minority
populations has been dominated by the mission-educated elites. Today, these elites are found in important
positions in the Christian Association of Nigerian (CAN) who had criticized the
Hausa-Fulani hegemony in the north.35
Historically, the violent agitations
and confrontations between the Hausa-Fulani and minority tribes in Zaria had
been as a result of contest over traditional political control, culture,
religion and resource distribution.36
Kaduna State is a cosmopolitan state which
had a population of 6,113,503 with 3,090,438 males and 3,023,065 females in
2006.37
COLONIAL RULE IN NORTHERN NIGERIA
The British rule in northern Nigeria
took cognizance of the already existing traditional system – the emirate system
by retaining the administrative system and its judicial structure of the Sharia
at the local or grass root levels. This
system of British rule that preserved the traditional administrative structure
in northern Nigeria was known as the indirect rule system.38
The British official argued that the
reason for the introduction of indirect rule in northern Nigeria was to protect
the existing traditional system, so that there would be little disruption in
the development of the societies.
Although, it had been argued that the introduction of indirect rule in
northern Nigeria was based on economic reason.
This was to save cost of administration in personnel and materials. The indirect rule system was therefore
introduced to meet the needs of the European administrators who arrived in
Nigeria after the conquest of the country.39
In order to have stability and peace
the native courts proclamation was declared in 1900. the proclamation provided for courts handled
by the emirs and districts heads to administer non-European laws and
practices. The Native Revenue Proclamation was also passed by the British,
this gave responsibility to the emirs to collect taxes on behalf of the British
government, but also allowed them to keep part of the taxes collected. The Native Authority (Enforcement)
Proclamation was passed in 1907. The
Proclamation established agencies to maintain law and order and confirmed
officers in the new structure of government who had been approved by the
British colonial administration.40
Education in pre-colonial northern
Nigeria was basically that of Koranic schooling system, where Koranic schools
were situated in every community and hamlet.
In these Koranic schools young people were educated under learned
teachers ‘Ulama’ on how to recite the Koran by heart and instruction on how to
read and write in Arabic and elementary mathematics was given. Islamic scholarships in philosophy, religion
and science were the most advanced form of knowledge attainable in these pre-colonial
northern Nigeria societies.41
Colonialism was to introduce western
education to northern Nigeria after the initial suspicion and opposition by the
Emirs and Islamic scholars in the north who viewed western education as a
threat to their Islamic faith. The
activities of the European missionaries were restricted by the Emirs and
Islamic scholars with the support of the British colonial administration.42
In 1909 the hostility towards the
missionaries was relaxed with the founding of the first primary school, the
Nassarawa Primary School, Kano, by Hans Vischer, a former Christian Mission
Society (C.M.S.) Missionary worker. The
Primary school was to train the sons of Emirs and their chiefs and the
curriculum was secularized by the exclusion of Christian religion instructions
and prayers.43
The late introduction of western
education in northern Nigeria had caused disparities in education between the
north and south and had mediated against integration inspite of the 1914
amalgamation of the northern and southern of Nigerian.44