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InlernalioaaJ Quarterly ror Arrican Stlfdies Editor Edited by the European fnstirule [or Political, Economic and Sotial Questions in cooperation with IFO·lnstitute fer Economic Research, loN.C. ANIEBe In its $«ticn Chronik (Chronicle), this periodical offers a detailed report on the political. social. ecenomic and cultural developments in the states and regions of Africa. The essay section provides a forum for specialisls and experts on Africa from various schools of Ass1stant Edltors thought. Important African authors and African literature are introduced in a permanent NWANNA NZEWUNWA RAYMOND NNADOZIE OKAFcrR literary review. Internarional QUJlrterly fot African Studies is published quanerly Annua) sUbscription ~ Ow. excluding postage, Bus1ness Manager InbaltsallSZiige CHARLES E. NNOLIM AfribaI:5che Probleme l.8. - Afrika - Fur die M&ssenmedien nUf ein Krisenherd? - Wirtschaftsboykott gegen Sudafrika Ein Mittellur Oberwindung des Apartheids­ systems Ed1torlal Board - Afrika als Tell der Weltrohsloffwirts;chaft Die Rolle deT Streitkriifle in der afnkaniKhen Politik E.J. ALAGOA ROBIN HORTON - Die Organisati(m fiir Afrikanische Einheit - Selbsthilfef6rderung in der deuischen Entwicklungspolitik S.J.S. COOKEY OLA ROTIMI LladuM.klUe z.B. WILLFRIED FEUSER KAY WILLIAMSON - Algerien Vor dem neuen VierjahrespJan Elfenbeinkuste Stausee in Kossou am Bandama~AuB Kenya ,Harambee' Selbstbilfe-EntwicklungsprQjekfe Marokko Der Panlbersprung von Agadir Advlsorl} Board Nigt!T LandnutzungsprobJetne nacb der Durre CLAUDE AKE GERALD MOORE Westsahara Die algerisch-marokkanischen Auseinandersetzungen , Zcntral'afr. Rep. Wirtschaflliche Entwicklung and Flanung ELECRI AMADI UCHE OKEKE BASSEY ANDAH J.O. SODIPO Weltforum Verlag J.P. CLARK THEO VINCENT

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1 KIAB1RA is published twice a year, in June (the RAINS issue) ana in December (the HARMATTAN issue), Volume 4, Number 2 Harmattan 1981 by the School of Humanities of'the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, . The.first issue appeared ih19.78. Subscription rates in Nigeria are N5.00 per year. Foreign subscriptions are 39.00 or £4.00 per year, with payments made KIABARA only by money orders or certified cheques. Rates for institutions and libraries are N7.00, 212.00 or £5.00 per year. Single copies are N3.00, 25.50 and £2.50. Focus History Editorial and business corrt/apondence should be addressed to The Editor, KIABARA, School of Human­ ities, University of Port Harcourt, P.M.B. 5323, l'orward 5 Rivers State, Nigeria. No .manuscript ~an be returned, nor query answered unless ac~ompanied by ALAGOA The BthnographiC Dimension of a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Contributions E.J. 7 in English, or in a Nigerian language with an Oral Tradition accompanying English translation, should be type­ ! 0 ERIM Field Techniques for ReC~rding written, double-spaced and conforming to the M.L.A. • • the History of Segmentary soc~eties 25 style sheet or LSA. They should treat matters of interest and relevance to studies in the Humanities ADE OBAYEMI cultural Dynamics and History of the African world and the Black Dia$pora, and of the -Benue confluence Area 41 should not be more than 10,000 words ip length. before 1900 KIABARl is the Khana name for the Kingfisher whose BABAYEMI The Ideological Base ~f uniqueness among birds, pervades in diverse forms, s.o. of the Alaafin of Oyo and of h~s 51 the oral traditions of riverine peoples. ClIiefs Camera-ready advertisement copy in the Journal will N.C. EJITUWU The Problem of Feedback in be accepted at the following rates: Oral Tradition: The Obolo (Andoni) 67 Full page )l50.00 Example Half page )l30.00 OWEN J.M. KALINGA Oral Tradition and the Inside cover N60.00 Reconstruction of the pre-colonial History of HalaOi, A Reassessment 81 Copyright (C.) by the University of Port Harcourt. International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) 0331-8168. ADILL PATON Jr. Oral Tradition in the Reconstruction of Ningi History 105 ca. 1880 - 1908

3 2 GLORIA THOMAS EMEAGWALI .Alternative Perspectives on the Reconstruction of the African Past; The,case of Walter Rodney 127 ADELL PATON Jr.

ADE ADEFUYE Recording ~he Oral History of the Palwo 139 JAM VANSINA Ethnography as History: The Oral Ttadition in the Reconstruction of Ningi Past of the peop)es in ~he Bquatorial History ca. 1880- 1908 Rainforest of Africa 157 E.J. ALAGOA Oral Data as Archives in Africa 193 NWANNA NZEWUNWA The Organisation of Pre-historic Research in Nigeria 203

Kings have prescribed destinies just Drawings like men, and seers who probe the future know it. They have knowledge CANDOMBLE DA BAHIA 66,126,156,192 of the future, whereas we griots are depositories of the knowledge of the Announcements past. But whoever knows the history of a country can read its future ••. Other people use writing to record SPECIAL ISSUES OF KIABARl 216 the past, but this invention has killed the faculty of memory among them. They do not feel the past any Contributors more, for writing lacks the warmth of the human voice (words of Balla CONTRIBUTOI1S 217 Fasseke, Sun-iata's griot, 1234-1255 A.D. D.T. Niane, Sundiata, An Epic of Old Mali) Ningi territory is located in the present-day State of northern Nigeria, about 115 miles from Kano City in a southeasterly direction, in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The territory is an extension of the Jos Plateau massif at the

Kiab~r~, Vol. 4,2, Harmattan 1981 105 pp. 105 - 225 Ii I The Ningi formation resulted from a series of northernmost end. The terrain is, therefore events that took place at the Islamic Centre of hilly and mountainous; and therefore, respon~ible Tsakuwa in Kano in ca. 1846. Here, believing per­ for the settlements there of numerous small scale haps that they deserved exemptions from taxation heterogeneous societies. In the 1950's the area (mahrams) ; ,some fourteen Mallamai (religious prac­ comprised 1,950 square miles and a population of titioners and teacher.) - led by Malam Hamza - re­ 40,911, based on the 1931 census; the population fused to pay Kurdin Kasa or the land tax, which has more than doubled in the present time with a got them into trouble with Kano officials within possible incorporation of the older territorial the Sokoto Caliphate. On the run, the Mallamai boundaries in the new . leapfrogged into the Ningi 'mountains' where people During the onset or colonial rule in 1902 had already been settled for centuries. the British attempted to govern Ringi under th~ Migration into the area had earlier led to the Emirate-model of Indirect rule, but the Ningi re­ formation of smallscale corporate lineages in the fused initially to be governed by this model. settlement process of Ningi as a refugee zone. Between 1902 to 1921, the British deposed and This area may have been the most desirable area for eXiled Ningi leaders over their refusal to discon­ settlement in remote times until the emergence of tinue raids for slaves and booty within Ringi and the city-state when the trade route nexus turned adjacent territory. Indirect rule was abandoned them into backwaters. According to the oral tra­ and a colonial official became for all intent and ditions, the Buta and the people were the purposes the 'paramount ruler' of Ningi. From most pristine of all the people there and hence the 1915 to 1922 an alien named Abdul, who was a mes­ 'original' immigrants; these groups were formed senger in the colonial service was even 'Chief' from the oldest and original pre-Hausa speaking of Ningij and informants remember his reign as population. Speculative, linguistic evidence sug­ Abdul nThe Messenger". The hiatus of direct rule gests that these people were present some 2,000 came in 1921 when colonial administration converted years ago and presumably even before that;' they' a~ain,to indirect rule with the appointment in 1922 were possibly the last remnants of the Aquatic a Ch1ef Zakari as the paramount chief over the 'civilizations'. Such cultural phenomena as Buta four Ningi districts, but he was deposed one year and Warji ~re not isolated to Ningi in northern la~er. In 1923 Chief Adamu was appointed and his Nigeria. Although culturally different, these I, relgn,en?ed through retirement in 1955. However, "conserving societies", a~ defined by Stuart the Nlngl'S gradual accommodation to the Emirate­ Piggott's classification, are found in enclaves 'I Model of Indirect rule did not make them popular in a region stretching from Senegal, through the with the British, and this factor may well explain Volta Basin, northern Togo and Benin, Adamawa­ in part the origin of the Ningi reputation as Cameroon, and the Wadai region, to Kordofan in the 'troublesome people' in the lore of Hausaland to­ Sudan. da~. But when it iS,understood that the Ningi Oral tradition further holds that the Chamawa Chlefdom was form~d 1n the pre-colonial era through and Basawa (Kudawa) found the Butawa and Warjawa, resistance to emplre then one can better under­ and the Sirawa in the Ningi area upon their arrival stand why the Ningi continued to resist the in the pre-1800's. (the awa suffix is the plural British. of 'people' in Hausa). The Pa'awa came and

106 107 l s~ttled sometime after the firs~ quarter of the nl.'.leteenth century. ; Most of ·t-hese societies paid trl.bute to Bauchl and Kano emirates and unlike the December 1973 in the northern region of Nigeria. Until this time researcb Oil. tbeNing~ or a his\;o­ majority cultures on the low-land u~ban plains of rical nature was minimal. The methodology used in ~au~al~n~, the Ningi people were without myths of the reconstruction of Ning1 history (ca. 1800­ l.nvl.ncl.bl.lity. And the Hausa mallamai of Kano 1908) a pragmatic course. Particular attention Emirate - bringing Hausa culture and language with was paid to oral historical data and their mode of them - were, therefore, the last immigrants of transmission. Variants of traditions were re­ enduring importance to settle there as one re­ corded both in Ningi and the neighbouring areas. calls in ca. 1846. Thus, a series ~f internal The introduction of Islam and the imposition of absorptions occurred, and Hausa culture developed colonial rule influenced the extant traditions. around them with Kano as its centre. The area The oral traditions contributed to the establish­ became an ethnic and linguistic museum - Benue­ ment of two basic facts in Ningi history. First, Cong? and Chadic classificajions - that preserved earll.er cultures (see map). the Hausa mallamai refused to pay the tax of Kurdin Kasa, hot the .ak~a at Tsakuwa of Kano ca. But the mallamai changed the 'stateless' cha­ 1846. Second, the Hausa founders of the Ningi racter of the non-Muslims of Ningi by organizing Chiefdom and Isawa believers in the Second Coming them into rebellion against Sokoto. Millennial of Isa (Jesus) we~e not advocates of Christian overtones surfaced before the actual rebellion doctrines but Muslims who adhered to Sufism and took place in ca. 1847. In spite of numerous millennialism in the context of Islam. Mahdism uncertainties, the Chiefdom had become an entity was ubiquitous in Hausaland before and during the by 1849, and had ~eveloped a territorial conscious­ nineteenth century. ness by the 1870's. In essence Ningi became a In a broad perspective, the historian of Hausa chiefdom. Its heterogeneous character made Africa is confronted with a number of problems in it more skin to Abuja than to the Fulani emirates attempting to reconstructe the history of plateau­ and in political thought closer to the pre-jihad ' 'mountain' societies. While for the most part Ha~sa states; for example, the criteria for leader­ lowland-urban societies have experienced frequent shl.p among the Hausa malamai were less rigid than and often documented change in the world, 'Moun­ the hereditary emirate system. To become a leader tain' societies' change was often gradual and one had to be Hausa, but merit in war determined unwritten. And scholarly neglect of the Ningi can who led Ningi. And Ningi's resistance to incur­ also be attributed to their society's lack of sions by Caliphate forces was successful and they writing, save by the mallamai ,in the ninete.enth suffered no permanent defeat in the nineteenth century. But Ningi has one advantage. In contrast cent~ry. But the British.defeated Ningi in 4 1902, to the Kofyar and possibly the Idoma, where paucity and l.mposed taxation on the people by 1908. of documentation exists because of the .past isola­ tion and infrequent contacts.with Hausa Kingdoms, Methodology In The Jos Plateau Ningi's p.roximity and character provided numerous contacts with adjacent emirates. Moreover, the The fieldwork for reconstruction of Nipgi realization came early that the existence of a history was undertaken from August 1972 to single "Ningi" was a mere abstraction and that in order to create "Ningi", many heterogeneous people 108 L 109 bad been grouped together. This factor must not 1 pre-colonial period, Tsafi were ver¥ powerful. be over-loo~ed by anyone-1nte~sted in doing Eacb chief bad a specific area of operation. research on the Jos Plaieau. Within this territory people came for consultation ,Tradition~ were grouped under two headings. .nd decision making; and occasionally appeals were The core trad~tions' consisted of those recorded made beyond an individual's territory to a more in Ningi Division proper. Efforts were made ini­ powerful Tsafi some distance away. The signifi,.. t~allY in the non-Hausa areas to record the tradi­ cant centre of power became evident from the dis­ t~ons in the original languae of transmission but tributional maps of areas and distances to a Tsafi this proved difficult and was abandoned. The in­ whose religious and judicial judgements people formants had problems in speaking their own lan­ came to hear. These centres were mentioned from gua~es becaus~ of the rapid spread of Hausa. In time to time in the oral tradition which tends to add~tion, pra~se songs about the .leaders of Ningi suggest diffused authority. A similar methodolo­ by the palace musicians of Ningi were recorded' as gical approach for the location of power might be oral historical sources dating back to the 1870's applicable to other 'stateless' heterogeneous they often reveal insights into the character of societies in the Jos Plateau. e~ch leader. The frontier raiding character of Regrettably, specialized oral historians were N~ngi.m~de the collection of oral variants outside few because of the character of the pre-colonial the d~v~sion necessary. These recordings were political system and because very few individuals grouped as 'peripheral traditions'. In short, were still alive who had lived in the pre-colonial t~ere is no problem in finding valuable oral tra­ period. That slave raiding caused demographic d~~ion s in Ningi. The diverse cultural and lin­ depletions must not be forgotten. When slave gu~stic make-up of the Ningi area provided nume­ raids took males to work on plantations in the rous sources of oral traditions useful for variants Caliphat~, intergenerational mobility may have either favourable or opposed to the "official" allowed for their assimilation with b~ader Hausa view of ~he Hausa hierarchy. One will find short culture. Hence, the age structure of the Ningi gene~log~cal depths among nineteenth-century non­ society was greatly affected by these raids: either " Musl~ms bec~use of their poorly developed material the society was left with too many young children !I c~lture: S~nce material possessions were few and or with only the very old men and women. Even if s~nce l~ttle was handed down there was little Ningi raids increased the population from time to need for long memories. ' time, the warrior factor of conspicuous poverty Location of sources of power in Ningi for the was not lasting because of the quick turnover in ~re-~ol?nial period was a problem. The difficulty raiding commodities. Further, Ningi's pre­ ~n N~ng~ was primarily because of the· egalitarian colonial boundaries were reduced in size under ch~racter of the social structure and· to the absOr­ colonial rule, causing additional demographic ~t~on of these.societies into the new order of decrease. In spite of these factors, over thirty­ coloni~l admin~stration. The social change five persons were involved in the process of both result~ng from both the impact of colonial rule narration and clarification. The background of and Islam upon. these societies must not be over­ each informant was taken into account as was the looked. Colon~al rule marked the decline of the mode of transmission. non-Muslim chiefs called Tsar!. In the Finally, Malam Yahaya is Ningi's equivalent 110 1 111 tJ:I.s. slaYe. frQlll this man, a.w;l he a COli:! A.g .gain to take them away again; the best thing to of Balla Fass&ke ~f ~ali as an oral hi$torian. 40 is·. to sell tbe .slavest" S

114 115 The emir called on the malam, and said: 'I hear that you are gOing to rebel? course of his journey .he stopped in Borno during They are telling me that you have got a an unstable political period. People in the thou­ sword and a spear? The malam replied: sands flocked to him, and while continuing the 'No, how can I rebel against you? This journey Sharif aI-Din was killed by a non-Muslim sword and the spear you see is the faith people in southern Baghirmi. Some survivors of of Islam - it is the saying of God.' this ambush continued their journey eastward. The emir replied further that: 'I am Similarly Malam Yamusa arrived in district told that you have a thron (gadonsa­ at Kano in about 1878. He told the multitudes rauta). (The inference here is that that it was time for the hijra to Mecca to search Ibrahim seeks to overthrow the emir).' for the Mahdi. ~long the eastward march, people The malam answered: 'Yes, I do have joined him; they abandoned their homes and pro­ one but it is not a throne (gado); it is perty. The emirates of Katagum, Hadejia, and a bed (gado also means bed) for my Misau were concerned about the depopulation of Ou'ran. You can go and take it and their territories. They countered by arresting ~ompare it with yours; and if it looks Yamusa and taking him to Sokoto. The Amir al­ like yours, you can kill me ••• ' Muminin later deported Yamusa to Bauchi. When it was brought before the emir, M.A. Alhaji illustrates Sokoto's concern about they saw that it was a S~~ll bed with a movements of expectations in a letter of Maryam, skin mat attached to it. the daughter of Uthman Dan Fodio, to Emir 11uhammad Bello of Kano (1882-93). Muhammad Bello was con­ Ibrahim again stated that his throne was not as cerned about the trans-emirate movements of people spacious as the Emir's and that having such a bed which obviously affected the tax base of the shou~d not make him liable to any criminal offense. Caliphate. He, therefore, consulted Sokoto. M.A. ~~parently, Ibrahim refused to present a case Alhaji says that Maryam's letter is a summation of showin~ his innocence and left it up to the Emir the Mahdist traditions in the Sokoto Caliphate to det~de what to do with him. Ibrahim was sen­ during the second half of the nineteenth century. tenced to die and taken to the Kurmi market in ~ince millennial hopes of Ringi were also part of Kano. this movement, I take the liberty to quote his The millennial diaspora to Ningi in the 1870's translation of this letter in its entirety. was related to a much broader problem carefully Maryam's letter reads: watched by the Sokoto Caliphate in the 1880'.s. Sokoto's concern began with the Mahdist hopes of In the name of God the Merciful the Ibrahim Shari aI-Din, better known as Abu Sha'r or Compassionate, and the blessing of God Malam Dubaba, and Malam Yamusa. Ibrahim Sharif be upon the noble Prophet. From the aI-Din came through Hausaland from the West in mother (al-umm) Maryam, the daughter 1~55 en route to the East. He proclaimed that the of the shaykh who is the great refor­ t~me for the advent of the Mahdi was near and mer and the luminous light of the age, called upon people to follow him to Meccai at to her blessed, pious, learned and Mecca the Mahdi was expected to appear. In the agreeable son; abundant greetings and adequate salutations. Next:

116 r --,

We have seen y¢ur noble letter and of two days we shall reach the Nile. understand your generouScand munifi­ cent words, of respect f3r us; m~y God He did not specify the time of the bless you; amen. As for the question migration (hijra) but when it comes it about. which you have sought our opi­ will be like the fire on top of a moun­ nion, namely that the people of Hausa­ tain and will not be hidden from any­ land pass by your place from all direc­ one. One of the signs of the advent of tions and claim; among other things, that time is lack of rain which shall that the time for the evacuation of cause a serious drought, so much so Hausaland has- come, the answer is as that one may dig a well in the river follOWS: ',such pepple are utterly mis­ bed and will not get any water. Ano­ guided and co~pletely ignorant of ther sign is the eruption of upheavals their religious and worldly affairs. among the communities of the west who What they claim is nothing but false­ will leave their homes and move towards hood and calumny. In fact, contrary the east, but when they arrive here to what they all say, there is still they will find that we have left before some good among us and here we shall them. These two signs are the princi­ remain against their wish, for some pal signs, in our opinion, which have time by the will of God. come down to us from the two shghks, my father and his son Muhammad Bello, may Indeen,the shaykh, my father, did God the Exalted be pleased with them. mention that we shall immigrate from Hausaland but he. did not specify the As for what you see at present, namely time. He, may G~d bless him, described drought, famine, wars between us and for us the route of the hljra as fol­ the unbelievers, lack of prosperity lows; the beginning of the route is and closed routes, these things are Bughu, thence to Mushkam Fush, thence nothing, and they are not among the to Sara, thence to Sarwa, thence to things that frighten us. God the Andam, thence to Kughum, thence to the Exalted and High, out of hi-s omnipo­ hill called Kigha, thence to the hill tence, shall dispel all these things calle~ Zuziyat, thence to the hill and shall conquer through us all the called Abut Tafan, thence to the hill lands until none of the obstinate Abu Zarafa, thence to Rugha, thence to unbelievers remains. ~ The red signs, Daygh, ,thence to Kaja, thence to however, are the absence of rain and Kutulu, thence to Nuba hill, tnence to the outbreak of upheavals among the Thughula, the region of gold mines communities of the west and their Which contains ninety-nine hills, migration from the west to the east. the name of each starts with 'fa', but This is what has come down to us, and I know only three of thenr. Fazughulu, God knows best. Fakul and Fandukal then. after a journey

118 119 r Further, I beseech thee, as parents beseech their son, to fear God Isawa mallamai. Kargi was a pre-jihad centre, secretly and openly; verily there is loc~ted east of Zaria, where some of the Isawa no substitute for the fear of God and settled after fleeing from Dan Yaya; here, the no refuge other than God. You must settlers' mode of worship was practised in follow the path of our shagkh, the secrecy because they did not pray according to: great reformer and the luminous light of the eye. You must not allow your­ "the Qadiriyya, i.e. facing towards self to doubt the righteousness of the East, but would just bend down and whatsoever he has renewed; verily h~s worship to any direction because God path is the real guidance that you was everywhere. Secretly, they did it. must hold to by ~he heart and the They feared of being killed in that hand. Further, you m~st submit to they were worshipping differently from the general will and avoid absolutism other Muslims. And probably Malam in your conduct of public affairs. Ibrabim in Kano worshipped in this I manner. 12 I Finally, I thank you for what you have sent to me; verily you a,~ a noble son, This mode of localized ritual in Islam was still may God bless you, amen. being practised in 1910. As a small boy, Malam I Audu observed farmers at Kankanki that worshipped Maryam's letter indicates how alarming the Mahdist any time of the day and facing in any direction. migration had become by the 1880's to the rulers There may have been more followers of dle and millennial expectations compounded the pro- ' Isawa movement than is generally known. The com­ I blem. In Islamic ideology, the era of Sokoto was ing of Europeans and the secret worship prevented about the end and a new period was to begin - the the Isawa movement from flourishing and increased advent of the last Mujaddid as the Expected Mahdi the likelihood for the first Christian conversions The situation may be compared to the development • about 1913 at G1mi, located on. the Gilma River of Christianity where the idea of Expectancy died just southward of Ungwan Katsalle. Rev. Miller f out in the early Christian community because the translated into Hausa the New Testament and por­ i Church organization grew; there was little point tions of the Old Testament of the Bible, and Rev. in waiting for the return of the Expected One W.A. Thompson, a Jamaican, was the first pastor. i because the Church represented the high level of But an epidemic of sleeping sickness (Trypanoso­ ! . the coming. Sokoto administrators felt the same miasis) caused the evacuation of Gimi a short time way, which explains their efforts toward suppres­ later, and reduced the number of converts. Many sion but the millennial movements of Mallamai followers reverted back to the Muslim faith and Hamza, Ibrahim, and others threatened the existence perhaps to additional religious aberrations, after of Islamic organization. . the epidemic outbreak was attributed to either the More recently, in 1973 Malam Steven Audu of Christian presence or to a curse by evil spirits. Wusasa - a descendant of the Isawa - gave the Fieldwork for the reconstruction of Ningi impression that Sufism predominated among the history in Nigerian Hausaland began in August 1972 and ended in December 1973. The collection of

120 121 oral data figured prominently in the reconstruc­ r Footnotes tion which covered the period from ca. 1800-1908. since Ningi lacked.writing. Oral traditions were 1. Research for this paper was funded by t~e grouped under two headings: 'core trad~tions' con­ Foreign Area Fellowship Programme. I w~sh sisted of those recorded in Ningi proper, and to thank Professors William A. Brown, 'peripheral traditions' were those oral variant Steven Feierman, and E.J. Alagoa for cri­ collected outside the division because of the tical comments beneficial to this essay. I Ningi raiding character. The heterogeneous compo­ express the usual disclaimer. sition of the-Ningi cultures - Butawa, Warjawa, Sirawa, Chamawa, Basawa, Pa' awa and Hausawa ­ 2. Stuart Piggott, Ancient Europe (Edinburgh: required that the study reflect the traditions of Edinburgh University Press, 1965), p. 17. all the people and not just the official history of the ruling elite. Moreover, the mode of trans­ 3. Map Source: Adell Patton, Jr.! "Th~ Name _ . mission of extant traditions received considerable Ningi and Developing Pre-Colon~al C~t~zensh~p. attention for purposes of authenticity. In regard A 'Non-~ribal' Perspective in Nineteenth Cen­ to revisions in the historiography of Hausaland, tury Hausaland,". Afrika Und Ubersee (Fall two basic fallacies can no longer stand. First, the praise songs in Ningi and colonial data show 1979). that the Hausa mallamai (religious practitioners 4. Adell Patton, Jr., Manuscript: Ningi: The and teachers) refused to pay the land _tax (Kurdin Rise and Fall of an African Frontier Chief­ KasaJ only and not the-Islamic tithe' (Zakka) at dom, ca. 1800-1908; henceforth, Patton, Ningi. Tsakuwa of Kano ca.1846; Zakka is required of all Muslims as a Pillar of the Faith. Hence, the 5. Patton, Ning1. mallamai were not disrespectful to Islam. Second, the belief that the Rausa founders of the Chiefdom 6. Patton, Ningi. and the Isawa believers in the Second Coming of Isa (Jesus) were adherents to Christian doctrines Patton, Ning!. received much credibility in some theological and 7. in some scholarly circles; to the contrary, our 8. Rev. Walter R.S. Miller, Reflections of a data show that the Muslims were imbued in the Pioneer (London, 1936), pp. 106-107; and by ideology of sufism and millennialism within the same author' see, An Autobiography (Zaria), context of Islam, for Mahdism nad its antecedents pp. 51-52; see also E.A. Ayandele, The in Hausaland during the eighteenth and nineteenth Missionary Impact on Modern Nigeria 1842.1914 centuries. And a special tribute is paid to Malam (London: Longman, 1966); pp. 149-150; and Yahaya (ca. 1878- ) who was the most brilliant Ian Linden, "The Isawa Mallams ca. 1850-1919: and indispensable indigenous oral historiar. in the Some Problems in the Religious History of reconstruction of Ningi history. Northern Nigeria" (Unpublished Paper, ABU, Samaru-Zaria, 1974).

122 123 1 9. Geoffrey Parrinder, Jesus in tbe Qt' 1:41,1 (London: Faber and Faber, 196~), p. 18. 10. Malaa Yahaya, Age 95, interviewed at Ningi Town 1973 (Tape No.1, Side A)i all tapes are on deposit at ABU, Samaru-Zaria. 11. Muhammad Ahmad Alhaji, "The Mahdist Tradition in Northern Nigeria," (Ph.D. ThesiS, Ahmadu Bello University, 1973), pp. 94-95. 12. Fieldnotes (November 17, 1973, Wusasa,Zarial.

.., "o <:

124 i r Contributors

I

ADE ADEFUYE teaches in the History Department, University of Lagos. His most recent publication is "Palwo Jogi Impact on Political History", in J.B. Webster Chronology in African History, Dalhou­ sie Press, 1979. He is now working on "Indirect Rule in Buganda and Bunyoro." E.J. ALAGOA is Professor of History at the University of Port Harcourt. Some of his most re­ cent publications include Eminent Nigerians of the Rivers state, Ibadan: Heinemann, 1981, edited with T.N. Tamunoj The Teaching of History in Nigerian Universities, Accra: Association of African Univer­ sities, 1980, and he is editing "The Prehistory of the Niger Delta," with F.N. Anozie, and "Ancestral Voices: Oral Historical Texts from Nembe, Niger Delta" with Kay Williamson. S.O. BABAYEMI is a Research Fellow in the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan. N.C. EJITUWU formerly a Lecturer in History, University of Port Harcourt, ~s now a Civil Service Commissioner in the Civil Service Commission of the Rivers State Government. His publications include "The Obolo-Andoni and the Europeans", in Ujama Maga­ zine and he is now working on "The Origin and Orien­ tation of the Nigerian Civil Service". GLORIA THOMAS EMEAGWALI teaches in the History Department at the Ahmadu Bello University. While working on "The Marxian Explanatory Model in History," she has published "The Caribbean in Historical Pers­ pec~ive", in Latin American Perspectives, U.S.A.,

217 ~nd "Explanation in African History" in History at A.B.U., Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. British West Africa: A Social History E.O. ERIM teaches in the Department of History, ca. 1800 - 1925." University of Calabar. A regular contributor to Oduma, he has also published in Kiabarh, Journal of JAN VANSINA is a Research Professor in the the Humanities, as well as other learned journals. Department of History, University of Wisconsin­ Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A. His numero\ls publica­ OWEN J.M. KALINGA is Head, Department of His­ tions include Children of Woot, A History of the tory, University of Mala~i. Among his publications Kuba Peoples, Madison: D.W. Press, (1978), "Memory are "The Karonga War: Commercial Rivalry and Politics and Oral Tradition", in The African Past Speaks, of Survival", Journal of African History, 21 (1980); "Trade, the Kyungus and the Emergence of the Ngonde Miller J.C. (ed), .Folkestone: (1980), and several Kingdom of Mala~i", International Journal of African articles in French and English. He is now working Historical Studies, XXII 1 (1979). He is currently on "History of the Peoples in the Rainforest (pre­ working on a book which will deal with the history colonial)", a multi-volume study covering the rain­ of four ethnic groups of northern MalaOi covering forest from Rio del Rey to the African g~eat lakes the period ca. 1500-1800. to lower Zaire and Upper vicinity of lake Tanganyika. NWANNA NZEWUNWA, an archaeologist, teaches History and Archaeology in the Department of History, UniversikY of Port Harcourt. Apart from being pre­ .sently engaged in an archaeological dig in Yola, he has published "Culture Resource Management in Nige­ ria", in New Directions in Archaeolog9, (ed) Cleere, (Cambridge) and is working on The Prehistory of Nigeria, and The Middle Niger Valley Before Islam. ADE OBAYEMI teaches in the Department of His­ tory at University of Ilorin. ADELL PATON Jr. is Associate Professor in the Department of History, Howard University, Washington D.C., U.S.A. Among his publications are "The Name Ningi and Developing Pre-colonial Citizenship. A Non-Tribal Perspective in 19th century Hausaland", Afrika Und Ubersee Vol. LXII:4 (March 1980) and "Notes on Ningi Raids and Slavery In 19th century Sokoto Caliphate", Slavery and Abolition. Journal of Comparative Studies Vol. 2:2. He is now working on "The African Physician and the Politics of Health in 218 219 SUBSCRIPTION REQUEST AaauI SalJseripdoa: For Institutions and Libraries _ N7 00' 512.()(); or {.S.OO. • • . . For individual, - NS.OO; or 5900' rA Smgle COPies of CIIlreI1t issue' ....) 00' 5S "" M" or ~.. · ' ...... ;IV' or _ SO .oo. Smgle copies of back issues: N4 00' 57'00.' r) ::... . , ..., or ~ -,JU. .IABARA A. ORDER JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES

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