A History of Native Authority System in Abaji, 1900-1960

Abstraction

Abaji has been a society with its own socio-economic and political control before the advent of the British. With the British conquest of the region, a new system of administration was put in place. This does away with the existing traditional institutional setup. Thus this saw the establishment of the Native Authority system as the instrument of administration in Abaji. Throughout the colonial era, there were series of new development in Abaji in general. This can be seen in the social, economic and political activities in the region. The idea of taxation was also induced in the region for revenue collection to basically finance the administration of the region.

Toward the end of the 1950’s the Native Authority witnessed several development in relation to the independence of the region in 1960. Representation in the Native Authority was gradually increased during this time. Generally the impact of British colonial administration can be seen during these years in Abaji in its socio-economic settings.

Introduction

From the early days of British administration the Emirates were developed into units of local government based on emirs and chiefs and, by the end of the Second World War, had evolved into powerful political forces. A. N. A. as the unit of local government, was supported by a bureaucratic organization known as the National Administration.

Since the N. A. was constituted under a chief, the legal authority for local government in the emirates during British rule was vested in the office of Emir, and the Emirs thus became recognized as the authorities responsible for local government. However, continuous interaction between the NAs and other “modern” political organizations (political parties, state bureaucracy) resulted in them being very much part of the total political system. But just as there is disagreement regarding the role of traditionalism in the process of political transformation, so also is there controversy regarding the N. A. ’s role in this process in Northern Nigeria.

Different views on the N. A. are reflected in existing studies on the basis of which two distinctive views clearly emerged. First there are those, perhaps best exemplified by the chief proponents of indirect rule, Whitaker regards N. A. s as necessary participants in the transformation process. He further argued that the political transformation of Northern Nigeria since the end of the Second World War, does not validate the theory of modernization which asserted that process was a unilinear progression from traditional to modern.

The thrust of his argument is that the modernization process did not entail the total rejection of traditional for new values consistent with modernization, and he found the significant elements of traditional political system of the emirates proved to be compatible in practical terms with significant features of a modern state. From his studies of the Emirates of Northern Nigeria, he believed that societies in the process of modernization required a ‘stable symbiosis’ of traditional and modern elements. The second view point, shared by Dudley and Sklar, holds that the N. A. system had contributed towards the disruption of the political transformation process.

The main contention being that as a result of institutional engineering, and by virtue of the political resources they controlled, they had intervened at local level to support the party of government and, by the same means sought to repress political groups opposed to that party.

Although this view does not explicitly demand the exclusion of the N. A. from the political process, it does reject the idea that traditional societies with centralized political authorities were receptive and adaptable to change. In making this point Dudley draws attention to the structure of the N. A. in which power was concentrated in the Emir, and “which places him in a position to control all appointments in the state, the relations of clientage and vassalage … which places a premium on loyalty to other considerations, … all of these militate against and are dysfunctional of a bureaucratic system”.

These two interpretations of the role of the N. A. in the politics of Northern Nigeria draw attention to the sociological aspects of its political behaviour. In both cases the role of the N. A. is explained in terms of particular social conditions in Emirate society. Thus, it is stated that they were able to participate in the process of change because their traditional character ensures for them the support of the vast majority of the people, which enables them effectively to carry out their many duties.

Similarly, it has been argued that they have been able to influence the political process at the local level because of the high social status of emirs, district and village heads, and other functionaries in the emirates. It is in line with this argument that we shall look at the activities of the N. A. in our area of study.

Location and People

The land that used to be called IGA-BAZI (Now Abaji) is bounded in the south by rafin Kunama around Nyaba area, in the north by river fara and in the west by river guarara.

The eastern boundaries were brought to the present Kwara State north eastern most boundaries by the colonialist. Abaji was and still a land of many ethnic groups6. Abaji consists of several ethnic groups which includes the Bassa, the Ganagana, the Ibira-Koto and the Gbagi. Others include the Fulani, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, and other ethnic groups. While the Fulani, scattered in all villages and live as distinct clusters, the Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, and other groups who came in search of means of subsistence and business opportunities, live mostly in Narati and Abaji chiefdom.

Geologically, Abaji area is characterized by igneous and metamorphic rocks. The soil have been classified as being ferruginous having developed from crystalline acid rocks, which range from heavy brown to heavy dark loams in most places, except in the river valleys where there are lighter sandy soils. Towards the south-west of the area however, there exist sand ridges with outlines of sand stone coping.

Abaji is situated on the Northern guinea Savanna Belt of Nigeria. The area is made up mostly of open and fertile plateau land, it has valuable grazing land and rich in root corps. The area is well watered, which are the rivers that drain the area. These rivers and streams are used for fishing, washing and fetching water for human and animal consumption. and covered with trees such as Dum and oil palm, shear and butter, fig mahogany, silk cotton. The area is drained by the streams which flows from the river Niger and Benue to Panadagi, a colonial settlement.

From the above analysis, it could be summed up that the geographical location and climatic condition of Abaji made it a conducive settlement for the people of Abaji. For a proper grasp of nature of changes, existing state or circumstance, or situation must be understood. Abaji, just like any other pre-colonial African society, had its own identity or rather an indigenous life. This may not necessarily be the same with other societies but, it must have had its own history, political organization, traditional economy, and social life, all of which combine to give a summation of Abaji’s socio-political and cultural settings.

This chapter aims at analyzing the pre-colonial history of Abaji land so as to bring to fore a clear picture of its historical setting prior to British invasion and occupation of the area. It begins with various views concerning the origins of the people that today inhabit Abaji land, and also looks at the nature of political organization that was in place before colonialism.

Abaji is made up of four dialectical groups that is, the Bassa-Komo, the Ibira-Koto, Gana-Gana and the Gbagyi, which before the advent of colonialism have been together as one political entity. The histories of these said groups are associated with variety of traditions.

Traditions of Origin of the Bassa Komo

This group originally occupied the territory behind and eastwards of Rumasha in the Nasarawa Province. A small portion of the tribe is still in that part. When the Nupe raiders some years back entered Nasarawa (probably during the jihad of 1804) the greater portion of the Bassa Komo crossed the river Benue at Ogba and through the Akuba their king, sent to the Ata of Idah for permission to settle on the south Bank of the river.

This permission was given by the Ata Amocheji of Idah and the Bassa Komo occupied Oguma and the territory east and west of it for about 15 miles, owing to the large increase in their numbers from further detachments of refugees from Nupe raiders and also their agricultural instincts. They gradually spread beyond the limits granted them and became a menace to the Okpoto. Ata Amocheji eventually ordered the Onifi of Iga to drive them out of the area so occupied and if possible to force them back to the north bank of the Benue.

The Bassa Komos’ were thus placed between two foes, the Nupe on the north and the Okpoto on the south. The Akuba decided to fight the Okpoto on the south, by sending out all his men in detachments under various leaders, succeeded in driving the Okpoto out of much territory and many towns. This war was said to have lasted for nearly six months when the Okpoto retired leaving the Bassa Komo with the large strip of land extending from Amara to Mazum on the Benue and for about 15 miles inland.

During this war the Igbira who are a riverside people and belonged to the North bank had crossed over and established themselves on the south bank and have since been gradually moving inland amongst the Bassa Komo towns.The reigning chief at this period was Akuba who is a paramount chief, along with him were the Shamshama and the Arashamashe who both recognized the Akuba as their head but who have complete control over their relations or tribe. There are also the Anengi, Regeshi, and Kwakwa tribes who now recognize the Akuba.

On the north bank of the Benue, there is still an important Bassa Komo tribe called Tari, formally under the Akuba but who for forty years have not acknowledged him. We can summarize that it was as a result of wars of conquest which led to a large exodus of the Bassa Komo people to various parts of the Benue that led to their occupation of the present Abaji land as they are part of the dominant tribes of the area.

According to Temple: “Gbagyi are indigenous to Zamfara and districts stretching eastward to the South of Zaria … and their religion and customs may be compared with those of Bassa, Kamuku and Kambari, who are from the neghbourhood and also carry loads on their shoulders instead of on their backs, which is more usual custom in Northern Nigeria”.

Nobody could say when exactly this particular ethnic group migrated and settled at their various locations. Oral tradition has it that originally; the Gbagyi came from east and lived in Borno, by about 1600 AD. But they were forced to migrate as a result of wars by the Kanuri to Islamize them. Whatever was generally believed was that, before 180 Danfodio led jihad, the Fulani were penetrating into various Hausa states in the late 15th Before the coming of the Fulani to Hausa land, Hausa states were easily identified with seven Hausa states. They were Daura, Kano, Zaria, Gobir, Katsina, Rano, and Garun Gabas, while their neighbours were referred to as seven non-Hausa states, namely: Kebbi, Yauri, Zamfara, Yoruba (Ilorin), Nupe, Gbagyi and Kwararafa.

At first, the Gbagyi were listed among the seven Hausa states. This was contained in Infaq-Al-Maisuri, by the second Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Bello, who reigned from 1817 to 1837. It is said that, some scholars have found support for the fact that Gbagyi was in the first list because of the similarity between the Gobirawa (Daura) and Gbagyi facial marks. 9 Dr. Joseph Amali Shekwo in an attempt to identify the origin of “Gbagyi people” said, sharing the same distinctive tribal markings, with the Gbagyi are the regions bordering Kontagora, Sokoto, Katsina, and Kano.

Historical accounts indicate that there was a tradition of Gbagyi cultures in practice at the time of the arrival of the Hausa in these areas. Notable was the display of a peculiarly visible manifestation of the Gbagyi Magiro cult. As mentioned earlier, the Gbagyi traced their origin to Zaria, Oko the present Kuta town in Niger State. In 1895 when a town was conquered after a determined resistance by Sarkin Sudan-Birnin Gwari as we call it till date, was a tributary of Katsina for some time until during the reign of Chief Wali, followed by Korau, while Korau was followed by Umaru.

Umaru was captured by Bello, Sarkin Musulmi around 1810. Gwari Bai was installed as the ruler of Birnin Gwari still maintained some independence until its sack in 1895. The Gbagyi elements with the town itself right through had intermingled with Hausa elements so much that their language was spoken. The Gbagyi inhabitants of Wuse are not sure of the exact date of their exodus from Kano but they say it was in the 18th century around 1720.

The Chief of Bwari traced the origin of the Gbagyi to a hunter whom he said was in search of a game along with his family arrived at Kaima mountain and later moved to Wuyiku mountain after running short of games to kill, they finally moved to another mountain top that was to be later known as Bwari mountain and Wiyiku mountain the hunter settled. There were no people before their arrival. When they got to Bwari Mountain that was where the name Bwaya originated.

The tradition has it that the hunter’s wife was to undertake her first domestic chores: she was to pound millet as she prepared to cook, but could ot figure out where to position the mortar and she asked her husband who later figured out a place and asked her to “Buwaya” in Gbagyi language meaning “pound here”. The position she pounded her millet is still visible on the mountain. Bwaya from then on was first adopted as the name for the settlement which is still in use today. The hunter had four sons; Gbagyi tradition not only in Bwari has it that the fourth number is always a lucky number. The four boys went down the mountain on swimming competition and decided among themselves that each one sank to the bed of the river and bring out what they found.

So one after the other, they sank to the bed of the river and brought what they found. The first son brought out sand, the second came out with rotten leaves, the third son came out with a small stone, and the fourth son came out with something made of iron. When they went back to (Bwayape) Bwari Mountain, they took the piece of iron along with them and tendered it before their father the hunter, which he observed that it was a sword. This sword became a source of prosperity, as it became useful in hunting and other economic activities.

Due to the prosperous nature of this iron, there came a need for appreciation to the god of the Gbagyi Stone (Kuta) so Baba the boy that found the iron requested for the brewing of local wine (Eje) for ceremonial appreciation. In the course of the ceremony as related by Adamu Samu, the eldest brother to Baba by name Tayebebe request to be in possession of the sword and was granted. 15 At this point it must be noted that at the time or period Baba gave the sword to Tayebebe, it was not only the hunter’s family that inhabited (Bwayepe) Bwari Mountain.

They were also Gbagyi migrants from Kano inhabiting the Bwari Mountain. According to the monthly Gbagyi magazine “African Heritage” these Gbagyi migrants from Kano also spread to Abaji, Gwagwalada and other areas of Abuja in search of game, fertile land for agriculture and other economic activities.  It could be said that the tradition of origin of the Gbagyi is one, of a two sided coin. One account traces their origin to the first hunter and his wife who came to the Kaima Mountain in search of game. They later migrated to Wuyiku Mountain when there was scarcity of game in the former.

Ohimi Ozage, one of the Agyes numerous sons claimed to be his father’s successor. His claim however being disputed, his followers were not strong enough to enforce it and not being content to remain at Idah, except with the title of the chief of his tribe, Ohimi Ozage left Ida with his followers and travelled North in quest of a favourable site to settle.

After crossing the Benue, a spot was selected near to Ogba and a settlement was made. This was known as Anyanka. Ohimi and his people did not however make a prolonged stay near the Benue as sickness broke out and they decided to move to a healthier area. From Anyanka they proceeded to Kongo. Within two or three years Ohimi and his people left Kongo and settled in Bwaka. The remains of the walls of Bwaka may still be seen to the south of Kima, Shidem area, and go to prove that the settlement was of considerable size.

With the death of Ohimi Ozage, the first acknowledged chief of the Ibira group now resident in our area of study and Koton-Kaifi area was Adariko, the eldest son of Ohimi Ozage. He was called upon to succeed his father, but feeling himself unequal to do so owing to ill health, put forward his son Hetenye.

A dispute however arose concerning the succession, Yanka a woman of considerable influence leading the opposition, however, although had a strong party behind her, was looked upon as a stranger by the majority of the wandering Ibira group, as she was not of their ethnic group by birth nor had any of her relations held any position before. Yanka eventually finding herself and her followers not strong enough decided to leave Bwaka and with her adherents proceeded to Umaisha in Nassarawa. Hetenye was then left as the undisputed chief in Bwaka.

A continued state of warfare existed between the Bassa and the Ibira people at that time, the aggressive being always on the part of the Bassa, who made constant raids from the hills upon the Ibira. The fact that Bwaka was situated on a plain affording them no protection from the increasing attacks of the Bassa seems to have been the reason why they decided to look for a new site for settlement. This was found and they left Bwaka proceeding westwards to Gerinya, on the banks of the Gurara. Here they built their town and surrounded it with a strong wall.

Hetenye, while at Gerinya, married a woman from Akpaka near the present town of Koton-Kaifi, with whom he had a son whom he called Ohemi Dunia. It is said that this son after a visit to his uncle at Akpaka, suggested to his father the present site of Koton-Karifi as a favourable place to settle. Soon after, Hetenye and his people left Gerinya and built the town of Egu, afterwards called Koton-Karifi. At Egu two unguwoyi (plural towns, singular unguwa) were sub-divided later into four zaures each and the selection of the chiefs of Koton-Kaufi was made from the two unguwoyi in rotation.

Despite the large settlements of the Ibira in this area, some of them still migrated to our area of study (Abaji) in the course of trade and search for arable land for agriculture and other economic activities.

Tradition of Origin of the Gana-Gana

The Gana-Gana are said to be of two sections who are racially the same, but with a slight difference in language. The name Gana-Gana is, so to speak, Onomatopoeic, and was given them by the Nupe owing to their inability to understand the strange language. They are not Nupe. We have this group of eople in Agaie and the Dibo Gana-Gana in Lapai. A group of the Gana Gana in Agaie migrated to Abaji. This group traced their origin to the Kwararafa Kingdom. Their period of migration to our area of study is not known. But oral sources affirmed that they were the ones who faced the jihadist from the Sokoto Caliphate when they came to conquer the area.

The pre-colonial political organisation of the peoples of Abaji was decentralized. In other words, there was no single political unit around which all power was centred amongst them.

The general basis of government was customs and traditions handed down for generations, which were subject to the authority of the ancestors. The interpreters of such customs were the elders and government was basically geroncratic. The elders were mostly members of the families that were represented in community councils. Hence any understanding of the nature of the political organisation of the people in area must take into account the social organisation of the family and clan. The family was the basic unit of production, who lived together and traced descent from a remote common ancestors.

Amongst the Gana-gana, for example, the hill settlement was divided into cluster of compounds, strung out along the crest of the hills. Such settlements were composed of extended family groups, each headed by a patriarch or andakpo. In turn, members of each extended family resided in scattered households consisting of five to a dozen huts connected by walls around a small courtyard. The general population of the hill settle was estimated in the early phase of British rule as nearly 36,000 dispersed fairly uniformly with slightly higher aggregations near the more open and level upland areas.

The family consisted of the father, who was the head of the household and his wife or wives and children. Each member of the household dominated the affairs of the family. It should be noted, however, that the dominance of the head did not necessarily mean that he was the only contributor to the economic status of the family, although the head of the household directed production, the labour of both the wives and young children was important. The clan was a federation of groups of close blood relatives tracing their descent from a common ancestor.

The role of the clan was important in village administration. Each family was represented by its head at the village council and gradually, the authority which was represented by the head of the household was transferred to the clan or village council. Therefore, the council exercised certain powers on behalf of families or clans. It should be noted that the council performed more religious than political functions. One colonial official in 1913 described the social organization of the Abaji villages in the following words: The community is organised in the usual way. There is no one big headman.

There are what I call towns, which consist of a varying number of unguwas (streets). Each ungwa has its own headman … he is not I think in a position to give orders, but he is primus inter pares, and of course his influence will depend greatly upon his personality. Amongst the Gana-Gana for example, the clan was made up of the Igu (patrilineal lineage group). At the head of each clan was the and’ashim or head of the ashim cult, which was basically a form of ancestor worship. Entry into the cult was strictly based on age but some clans also considered mature heads of households with good judgement.

The and’ashim was responsible for both the temporal and spiritual needs of his clan. The authority of the and’ashim was central in religion, as he was the custodian of the cult. The emblem of the cult was the buffalo horn known as an eku. The and’ashim in council with the mo’dako ashim (elders) was responsible for the running of the clans. However, this does not suggest that the council arbitrarily exercised authority, as well as meetings were held in public and all adult males had the right to attendance and the right of speech. Therefore, the voice of authority reflected public opinion.

The and’ashim however, was the acknowledged religious head of the clan. He was responsible for the maintenance of law and order and also the settling of disputes. The decision to go to war rested on the and’ashim, in concert with the elders. War was declared by the blow of the Eku (buffalo horn) after a quick mobilisation of able-bodied men to fight29. Weapons used for fighting by the Gana-Gana were bows and arrows, swords and stabbing knives. They used pointed wooded arrows, smeared in poison, which were effective when fired at a close range. These weapons were gotten from indigenous craft industry.

Religion

A people’s world view is usually defined as “the complex of beliefs, and attitudes which they have concerning the origin, nature, structures, organisation and interaction of being in the universe with particular reference to man. This seeks to answer key questions about the place of man in the universe and does not consist only of the multiplicity of supernatural beings, concepts, beliefs and attitudes, but is also the underlying logic which holds the society together.

In the world view of the peoples of Abaji there was a close connection between the materials and the spiritual world and the aim of the interaction of human begins and the supernatural was intended to preserve balance and harmony in society. Their world view was man-centred, so man attempts to manipulate nature and the supernatural for his continuous survival. Therefore, indigenous religion provided a coherent belief system which explained the great life crises of illness and death, and which gave man the feeling that he was in charge and could manipulate his environment, both natural and supernatural, to his advantage.

Although the term “traditional” is used in this discussion to describe indigenous religious or belief systems, it should be noted that the concept of “traditional religion” is a cultural construction. Shaw located its origin in the use of Judaeo-Christian terminology and theology by missionaries when they “translated” elements of the belief systems of the people they were trying to convert. Parinder was the first to use the concept of African traditional religion in his book, which was later adopted by leading African theologians like John Mbiti.

African theologians used it in the period of cultural and religious decolonisation and Africanisation, which made “African Traditional Religion” into the dominant paradigm in the study of the indigenous religions. According to Westerlad: African Traditional Religion was constructed as the single, Pan-African belief system comparable to Christianity, a megahomology in comparison to the much more limited delineation of equivalence in missionary cultural translations. Although the people of Abaji believed in a supreme being, the direct relationship with God was rarely explicit and he did not intervene in the day-to-day affairs of life.

These were governed by other invisible forces (good or evil) from whom it was possible to win favours through rituals and spirits of the ancestors. The people of Abaji believe in the existence of one God called ahugbren, who was approached in rituals through sacrifices. Formal religious ceremonies were conducted through the ashim cult, which is headed by its leader and’ashim36. The ashim cult was a form of ancestral worship and the tendency therefore was every household to also have its own to whom he prays.

The head of the household becomes the and’ashim of his own family and prayers were offered at the backyard of the house called anvaashim37. Membership to the ashim cult was through initiation, age being the sole criterion. Every village had its own adan ashim and they were answerable to the ada ubin (father of the land) on whose instructions and on whose behalf they were performing and duties. The Gana-Gana believed in ancestral spirits who asserted their authority through the elders in the community.

The spirits (abili) of the ancestors were represented in the communal activities by the masquerades, which was under the custodian of the ashim cult. The masquerades were regarded as the physical manifestation to the ancestral spirits and their presence symbolised the intervention of the metaphysical world into human affairs. The good spirits were those of the ancestors, who were vested with mystical powers and authority. They retained a functional role in the world of the living, specifically in the life of their living descendants.

The elders were the representatives of the ancestors and the mediators between them and the descendants.

Marriage

Marriage agreement is based on kinship. Due to the multi-lingua nature of Abaji, different marriage systems are being practised. But the most dominant is the Ibira-kwoto. When marriage is contracted among the Ibira-kwoto, the father of the girl receives a present varying from 400 cowries and a calabash for the girl. The intended husband then has to work on his future father-in-law’s farm for a period of three years.

He called his friends to help him three times during every year viz when the farm requires clearing, hoeing, and weeding. He also assists him (father-in-law) in the thatching and repairing of his house. When the girl is ready for marriage the man takes ten cowries to her relations, the father receives a mat, three chickens, two large pots and thirteen cowries. This is the sadaki. The bride is escorted to the bridegroom’s house by a boy and a girl, the girl often staying with the newly married couple for a month or so and receiving a present from the husband when she returns to her home. A feast is held after the marriage, lasting for two nights if the husband has not been married before and for one if otherwise. It is not usual for the parents-in-law to attend but food and drink is sent to them at their own house by their son-in-law.

After two or three days of married life it is customary for the newly married bride to go to the river and thence to her relations: not being accustomed to her abode, she is suppose to have forgotten the way from the river back to her husband house, and her husband knowing her where about, must bring money varying from two cowries to induce her return. While the Gbagyi in our area of study make the marriage engagement for their daughter at about the age of three or four years, from that period, till it is consummated some nine years later, the suitor, together with his young friends, comes and works on his father-in-law’s farm for several days during each month of the sowing and harvesting seasons, and gives his future mother-in-law a calabash of acha, another of dawa, and 400 cowries every year.

At the time of marriage he gives the bride’s mother 1,000 cowries and her ather a pot of gia (local beer), after which the girl is stained with red dye from the majigi tree (cannwood), and becomes his wife without further ceremony. They eat their first meal out of the same calabash. The husband and wife habitually eat together when they are first married if no strangers are present, but as their children grow up the boys eat with their father and the girls with their mother.

Abaji society has its traditional mode of education. Education was to be seen in the way children were compelled to obey communal norms and values. They were also to learn the art and science of farming, pottery and weaving. The women and the ladies were largely engaged in pot making and other local utensils of daily use. When the girls begin to approach a puberty stage, they are being incorporated into the pottery industry to learn the processes of pottery making. While the men engaged in farming activities, they take male children along with them to learn how to make ridges and also to be acquainted with the various crops being planted in every farming season.

Social Justice

In Abaji society, before the advent of colonialism, there was nothing like court system. What really existed was council of elders whose responsibility was to treat cases and penalize offenders. 48 Theft and other forms of social vices, both criminal and civil cases were to be taken to the council of elders for decision taking after which the offender could be discharged or subjected to penalty.

Agriculture was the dominant productive activity in pre-colonial Abaji and the peoples of the area showed a very high degree of mastery of their contrasting environments. Different methods of cultivation were practised, varying from terracing on the hill slopes to shifting cultivation and bush fallowing in the plains. The Gana-Gana, Bassa-Komo and most of the groups that settled in the plains had two types of farms, namely, compound and bush farms. The former relates to a piece of land behind the house, intensively cultivated with its fertility maintained by the application of animal manure, compost (leaves plucked for use as sleeping mats and after thrown into the farm), household refuse and ashes.

Bush farms, on the other hand, were far away from home and their fertility was maintained by the compost of rotten leaves of shrubs cut down on the farms during the clearing period. These farms were often fallowed as long as there were other portions to cultivate. According to an informant, a piece of land will be farmed for three to five years, and when it shows sign of declining productivity it will be rested for two or more years, and when it had regained some of its fertility, it will be brought back into cultivation.

The people of Abaji also raised domestic animals like goats, sheep, and chickens but did not keep cattle and horses. Most families kept these animals and the numbers varied according to wealth of a household. The domestic animals were stored wealth and mere mostly used for religious ritual, payments for medicinal healing and marriages. Occasionally, such as when a family had a guest, a chicken or goat was slaughtered. The dung of these animals was used to maintain the fertility of the compound farms.

Apart from using compost and household refuse, the people relied greatly on animal manure as a source of fertilizer for intensive agriculture. They attach great importance to their livestock, which were only killed or sold in extreme cases. However, there were limits to the number of livestock they could efficiently maintain. For example, penned goats had to be fed year round and this involved long treks to the plains during the dry season for fodder. Taking the goats to graze was to spread dung and urine on another man’s field or bush.

Oil palm, dawa, geiro and tuber crops flourished in our area of study. Oil palm flourished among bassa-komo and the Gana-Gana. The Bassa-Komo planted palm trees at the edge of fields, which helped anchor the terraces, shaded the crops, break the force of wind and rain, and supplied not only oil but more important palm kernels. Palm kernel was is one of the major diets of the “hungry season”, the period before the crops were harvested. The Gbagyi excel in hunting, but they are principally an agricultural people. They grow dawa or gero, followed by cotton, ground-nuts or tamba.

They store their grains in sheaves and sprinkled with ashes to preserve it from insects and kept in rumbus from seven to eight feet high. And a considerable quantity of it is used for brewing native beer. They also make pottery for local use and the men make mats and boys of woven palm leaves. They also grow, dye and weave a little cotton. 54 Another important economic activity in the area was hunting. This was a part time economic activity that was exclusively male oriented and carried out during the dry season as a supplement to agriculture.

Hunting was organized on an individual or communal basis, using both simple and complex tools like sticks, bows and arrows, trees and nets. Individual hunts could be carried out either during the day or night, using dogs. The game usually caught in individual hunts includes haves, squirrels, rats and rabbits. This game was either consumed by the individual or brought back home to be consumed with the family. Communal hunts involved the whole lineage or village and sometimes neighbouring villages.

They were usually organised by a person who announced the date and location for the hunt and were launched by starting bush fires in the area designated for the hunt. Communal hunting was both an important economic and social activity amongst the various groups in Abaji. For example, communal hunting among the Bassa-Komo was organised to commemorate the death of an elderly person and the game caught was given to the organiser.

The people from within and outside the village were invited to participate in the hunt, which was followed by the glukyu (death/funeral dance) that lasted five days for a man and four for a woman. The hunt organiser usually provided food for his guests and this was followed by the consumption of local beer. Although women do not participate in communal hunting, they were responsible for the preparation of the snacks eaten in the bush and the food and beer consumed during the ceremony that follows the hunt. In addition to hunting, there were craftsmen, principally mat-makers, weavers and blacksmith. Crafts supplemented agriculture, rather than serving as an alternative. Such goods and services were exchanged for food, fodder, fertilizer and labour.

There was considerable exchange amongst the communities of Abaji with recognised markets and attended by Hausa traders who brought in salt and iron in exchange for foodstuff, mats and pottery. Blacksmithing was an exclusively male activity. Iron smelting was a long process starting with the collection of iron is dug out from underground. The ore was heated in the furnace using charcoal as fuel. The melted ore is removed from the furnace and taken to the blacksmith who transforms it into hoes, axes, knives and arrows.

Most of the smelting was done during the dry season and involves most of the members of the household in one way or another. Amongst the Bassa-Komo, women collect firewood, make it into charcoal and then transport it to the furnace where the smelting takes place. The Bassa-Komo do not appear to have smelt their own or but relied upon iron supplies from elsewhere, generally in form of discuss-shaped ingots. These ingots served as money in the hills and were used by local blacksmiths to manufacture hoes and other implements.

The organisation of labour in the process of production was based on an individual or a group of individual working in co-operation. The individual labour used was mostly in part time activities (especially craft production). The use of group labour was dominant in agricultural activity. The household was the unit of residence, consumption and reproduction, but it was not synonymous with the unit of labour and production. Many labour intensive tasks, such as planting harvesting and terrace maintenance, were undertaken by communal labour groups called burdi, based on the extended family group and directed by the andakpo.

Moreover, the andakpo not only exercised considerable control over the labour of constituent households within the extended family unit, but through claims to ritual authority and the redistribution of considerable produce of that labour. A young man was obliged to labour for his father and father-in-law. In return, a father was responsible for arranging and paying the bride price for his son’s first wife. Only through marriage was a young man transformed into an adult, with the right to erect his own household and granary.

Marriage, however, bound a young man into further obligations to elder men at a time when he was about o move out of his father’s household to establish his own home. This is because the obligations and ritual demands upon younger men were such that wealth and status only comes with age and paternity, when men are in position to exploit the labour of dependents. There were other sources of labour, including voluntary work. This generally took place on the farms of people that were indisposed or ill.

Also, people who needed grains or domestic animals like goats or sheep for marriage payments or rituals could supply labour to anyone who has surplus of these items. Labour was also provided by either a suitor or son-in-law (using corporate labour group) to parents of his betrothed or wife. 62 This was meant for the suitor to show his ability to provide food for his wife. Division of labour was generally based on age and sex. The men cleared and cultivated the bush farms, hunted, built and thatched the huts and performed all domestic chores. The aged looks after homes and if any household had sheep, they herded these with the young boys whose duty was to cut grass for the animals, while the young girls wash the pots and calabash and fetch water for domestic use.

All these production activities show that while some required only individual labour, some required complex co-operation.

Conclusion

From the above analysis it can be summed up that the Gbagyi, the Bassa-Komo, Gana-Gana and the Ibira-Koto lived in our area of study for a very long period, although of varying origin, they lived peacefully and had no cultural and affiliations. And the political system amongst the basa-kwomu, gbagyi and Gana-Gana was decentralized and based on clanship, which was strictly adhered to. Sources available could only avail us with socio-politcal and cultural settings of the above mentioned groups.

Although resistance was ultimately ineffective in the face of the Maxim gun and the power of the colonial state. It was not until the 1920s that the people were finally subdued.  In 1900, after Lugard declared Northern Nigeria as a British protectorate, Mr. Burdon was appointed for Lokoja province and he immediately commenced the exploration of the area. The headquarter of the province was also in lokoja. In 1899, some Ibira killed the crew of a British canoe and also attacked a telegraph construction company in Koton-Karifi, which affected the Koton-Karifi to Abaji line.

A punitive expedition was set in July 1900 to “subdue the Ibira who had been hindering the passage of caravan to and from Lokoja and Koton-Karifi” and also “as a reprisal for the destruction of the telegraph line1 A punitive expedition was set in July 1900 to “subdue the Ibira who had been hindering the passage of caravan to and from Lokoja and koton-karifi” and also “as a reprisal for the destruction of the telegraph line”.

In 1901, another expedition was carried out against the Ibira who were accused of harassing the Hausa traders and European shipping on the river3. After the occupation of the area of study in 1902, the British began to set up administrative structures by appointing political officers to manage and run the affairs of the region. In October 1904, Mr. Stanley, an Assistant Resident was posted to Koton-Karifi. While Mr. Gill was put in charge of Abaji in January 19054. At the early stage of British rule in lokoja province, the government was occupied with problems in the emirates and therefore ignored the conquest of decentralized societies of 5 Abaji. Before the First World War, British colonial administration in the area between lokoja and Abaji was slight.

However, military expeditions were carried out in order to keep trade routes open. For instance, in 1903, the Resident of Lokoja Mr. Grand Ville reported to Lugard that the Ibira people were disturbing trade activities in the area6. He requested for troops to be sent in order to undertake a campaign against them. A semblance of colonial administrative structures in Lokoja province only began to emerge by 1905. However, the jurisdiction of the chief of Koton-karifi extended to the people of Abaji when Lugard visited Lokoja in 1905, even before the region was brought under British rule.

The subsequent naming of the districts in Lokoja was associated with the nature of the British penetration into the area.  Attempt to impose direct administrative control over our area of study was regarded by the local people as an extension of the Hausa domination, which they had been resisting for about a century. The British presence at this early stage was almost nonexistence, although there were repeated demands by junior colonial officers to their superiors for troops to be sent for operations against the people of Abaji.

The refusal by their superiors to provide adequate troops for the task- west African Frontier Force(WAFF) being engaged on more pressing punitive patrol elsewhere was a constant cause of complaint. British penetration into the area took place from Koton-Karifi, Pandagi route. The Hausa invaders allied themselves with the British and were employed as soldiers, using the same routes of access into Abaji as the slave raiders took in the 19th century.

After the Koton-Karifi and pandagi, the Hausa realized the advantages to be gained from cooperating with the British, therefore gave the little intelligence they had about the warlike nature of the peoples of Abaji and their settlements, which became vital in the British penetration of the area. The major reasons for the use of Hausa soldiers in the conquest of the area were the assumption that they were the best fighting men in West Africa. By the late 19th century, their fame had spread across the continent.

The word “Hausa” subsequently came to mean soldier in different parts of Nigeria and West Africa and they were described as “short structured looking men and excellent marchers. Although British colonial administration had begun in Abaji by 1911, a series of patrols was necessary. This culminated in the police patrol in 1925 which finally succeeded in bringing the area into total control. Most of the patrols were in connection with the collection of taxes. This was seen as a token of submission by the conquered people and importantly, the revenue generated was to be used in financing the newly created administrative structures.

Before the introduction of British currency in Abaji in the 1920s, tax was paid in kind. Most of the items taken included livestock, grains, farm implements and other valuable items which were sold on the spot to Hausa traders who followed the tax collectors. The payment of tax with these items became problem as local people were unwilling to part with their surpluses and this meant that the conquest and the imposition of taxes was resisted In 1907, a British military patrol visited some Abaji villages and a tax of 94. 0s 6d pounds was imposed on them.

The objective or motive of the patrol, according to Mr. Campbell an Assistant Resident, was to enable him to reassure friendly villagers and at the same time, open up any country that was disposed to be friendly. The patrol lasted 32 days and during this time 7 villages were visited. 16 Such patrol was characterized by excessive killings, looting involving the confiscation of their goats, chickens, food and other valuable. The imposition of taxes after the destruction and looting of their means of livelihood left the people in a desperate situation and resentful of British rule.

Despite their defeat, local people continued to frustrate the colonial administration by refusing to pay taxes or by deserting their villages during period of tax assessment and collection. The patrol did not limit its mission to the area of study, but proceeded to other areas like agyana. The composition of the patrol was further strengthened by the arrival of sergeant Watts who joined it at nunku on 17th December and the patrol marched to Naharati and Omoko on 26th December 1907. The village of Agyana was visited first and sections of the people opposed it by firing several arrows.

The patrol responded by killing eight of the villagers. The fiercest resistance was met at Ebagi, where over 25 people were killed in the fighting. Knowledge of this killings spread to neighboring villages and on reaching Aseni and Nyaba on 6th January 1908, the patrol discovered that the villagers were better prepared to engage them in a fight. In the confrontation that ensued, the two villages were destroyed and ten people were killed. The destruction of lives and property as a result of the military expedition created more hatred for the British.

They started on a wrong footing by enforcing their authority with the use of force “instead of conference, they used conflict”. 22 As observed by Morel, the consequence of any punitive expedition, no matter what the motive were “is ninety times out of every hundred, reactionary, sterile, and morally destructive.

Although Morel and other liberals argued that British control of Northern Nigeria could have been achieved through diplomacy rather than by the use of force, Lugard wanted to free the government from treaties with the local people. Colonial confrontation with Abaji was established and sustained by force.

The major decider in the military contest is the maxim gun. The unified nature and warlike attitude of the people of Abaji, who resisted the Hausa depredations, was extended to the British. However, what marked the difference between the conquest of the people of Abaji and some other communities in central Nigeria was that the British followed the use of force to the latter in Abaji while adopting peaceful penetration in other areas. For example, the British abandoned the use of force in the conquest of the Ibira people and penetrated into the area by peaceful means.

The Ibira were one of the large Muslim groups that resisted British conquest in central Nigeria. As already mentioned, there were clashes between the West African Frontier Force(WAFF) and the Ibira, but after 1906, there was a change in British tactics. The colonial administration resorted to peaceful penetration into Ibira land and Captain Gordon Resident of Muri province who was responsible for the bringing the Tiv people under British rule was also responsible for that of the Ibira without engaging in military confrontation.

There was no opposition to the British once Gordon had succeeded in convincing the compound heads that British had come with message of peace and were interested in trade. Only after he had convinced the patriarchs that he meant no harm and had secured his consent did Gordon move ahead. Therefore, the British after 1907 established its rule amongst the Ibira by peaceful means while at the same time started a war of conquest in Abaji. We shall proceed to discuss how the people of Abaji responded to the British conquest.

Despite the superiority of the European intruders and the brutality with which the invasion was carried out in some areas, the people in their various ways rejected the alien domination out rightly, or allied with the invaders and later rose against them. With the intrusion of colonial powers, Africans were faced with a choice of how to respond. Many African communities opposed the imposition of colonial rule from the inception. However, whenever this opposition gained momentum, the superiority of European military technology prevented any long time success.

Local resistance movements had some advantages in these conflicts, including strategic value of fighting on their own soil and mastering of the terrain, but they could not ultimately overcome the Maxim gun. Against the background to the military strength during the period of colonial subjugation, local people were left to decide whether to engage the colonial invaders in deciding whether to resist or accommodate them. The resistance of colonial rule in Northern Nigeria was more pronounced among the communities in central Nigeria who had no previous experience of external rule.

After British occupation of most part of central Nigeria, resistance was muted, but the demand for tax and labour led to local revolts. However, these lacked enough organization to threaten the group of the British. Colonial conquests were mostly small wars because the availability of equipment and manpower were usually limited. In a hand book published the British war ministry, colonial wars of conquest were regarded as an expedition “against savages of and semi-civilized races by disciplined soldiers”. Therefore wars of conquest were considered to be wars to spread civilization to a people than western values.

The fire power unleashed on the local people was considered legitimate in the face of an enemy who did not seem to understand the cultural code of a civilized method of warfare.  Resistance to colonial rule by African societies has generated a heated debate as to the role of the local people in accommodating or projecting alien domination. A pioneering work by Terence Ranger on resistance to colonial rule in East and Central Africa, explored the connection between resistance to the imposition of colonial rule “primary resistance and modern nationalist movements “secondary resistance”.

Thus, the concept of resistance became the historical dimension of African nationalism. Although the early resistance movement in parts of Africa was a source of inspiration to some of the liberation struggles taking place in the 1960s and 1970s Ranger raised a doubt whether this connection represented more than a “continuity of resistance”. For example, he argued that the Shona struggle for independence did not represent a “return to the values of the society engaged in the 1896 rising” and that the current struggle could not be informed by the continuing Shona or Ndebele cultural forms.

Ranger wondered whether the debate about continuity or discontinuity of manifestations of resistance should not be transcended by periodization of African history involving a series of qualitative transformations. The colonial subjugation of the peoples of Abaji was resisted from the start. The question that need to be answered include: was resistance general or exceptional among the local people of the area? Why did the resistance last until 1925? The resistance was most intensive among the people of our area of study.

The people of this area had had a long tradition of resistance against the slave raiders from Zaria and the sub-emirates of Keffi, Lafia and Jama’a who were kept at bay. The British, with superior weaponry and resources were able to impose their control over the people. Despite the use of these sophisticated weapons, the British found it difficult to establish effectively their rule until after the 1917 patrol, by which for the first time in their history Abaji people were really subdued.

However, after those defeats, the local people continued to frustrate the colonial administration and, in 1925, during the Agyana patrol, Arden- Clerk wrote: “I shall go on walloping until they surrender”. The resistance resulted in the meting out of brutal treatment by the colonial forces. It is worthy of note at this point that after 1912 and 1917 patrols, the area became a political hot spot in parliamentary debates at Westminster and the colonial administrative were closely watched. Arden-Clerk in a letter to his parent commented:

The powers that be are so frightened to questions in parliament when some idiot gets up and says he has heard of brutal treatment meted out to some poor helpless natives with sheaves of poisoned arrows and bristling with swords and spears, spending his energy in getting his fellow “helpless natives” to drive out the white man. Another reason for the long resistance to British rule by the people of Abaji was the fact that attention was focused on more “profitable” bigger and organized polities rather than an area with small resource base.

In other words, the British conquered major areas first and later gave attention to smaller communities like Abaji. The British had local collaborators who were later utilized in administration of newly acquired territories. The penetration of the British into Abaji as noted earlier was carried out from three canters and the people of the sub-emirates allied themselves with the British. They gave out information about the people of Abaji and they were also used as soldiers and guides during the conquest of the area.

They therefore became the allies of the British in their war of conquest and they were rewarded for such. For example Bashayi the first chief of Agyana was originally an Ibira from Koton-Karifi. Also within the communities of Abaji, the British had to rely on their local collaborators to achieve their aims. One of the advantages of collaboration for the British was that it minimized their own administrative responsibilities in the early stages of colonial rule. The collaborators enjoyed certain privileges from the colonial administration.

They were given leadership positions and, during military operations, their houses and families were spared. The conditions of those that were friendly towards the British and those that were not has been summarized by Arden-Clerk: We settled and smashed to pieces all the compounds in the villages except for those people I know to be really friendly and doing theirbest to help me. As far as I am concerned there is no such thing as neutrality, a man is either an active friend of the administration or he is an enemy, his compound is leveled to the ground and the grass roof burnt.

The severity of the punishment meted out to those that were not sympathetic to the colonial administration were carried out in order to instill fear in them and also to demonstrate to them that, if they abandoned any form of resistance, their security would be guaranteed. Within the colonial circle, some officials expressed reservations about the extreme measures taken during military patrols. According to Arden-Clerk, “it is rather a piteous sight watching a village being knocked to pieces and I wish there was some other way but unfortunately there isn’t”.

It is untrue to suggest, as Arden-Clerk did, that there was no other option open to the colonial government in the method of handling such rebellions. The colonial government refused to acknowledge the root cause of the peoples’ grievances. They assumed that by terrorizing the people, they would have a change of heart. The fiercely independent attitudes of the people of Abaji, who had long fought off incursions by Hausa raiders and state-builders in the nineteenth century, were extended to the British when they arrived in the region at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Resistance against the British conquest was seen as a continuation of the nineteenth century struggles to preserve sovereignty of the Sokoto Caliphate. Apart from a few European officers the bulk of the soldiers used for the conquest were Hausa. Colonial forces followed the same routes used by the slave raiders. Despite the resistance, the superiority of European arms decided the war in favour of the British. However after the subjugation of our area of study, the British were faced with the problem of controlling and administering the people. The British had to establish a structure that was necessary for its supervision. .

The administrative re-organization was to simplify Abajis’ administration with less staff, less cost, and effective tax collection. Instead they sought to employ a smaller number of people and by so doing reduce the amount of taxes embezzled. Abaji after its occupation was placed under lokoja province with a third class resident at Koton-Karifi and responsible to a Senior Resident at Lokoja. In 1907, the Assistant Resident Richard Palmer, at his arrival carried out administrative changes. He brought scattered fiefs into six contiguous districts each under a District Head.

These includes: Dan sidi, Anuka, Adawobi, Akporgu,Odile, and Atumaka. The names of these districts went by the titles of the District Heads. A District Head was appointed over these Districts and was compelled to reside at the capital of his District. The districts were again divided into sub-districts and village units. These sub-districts were placed under the control of the sub-district heads. Several sub-fiefs were transformed into sub-districts. In areas where there were no sub-fiefs, small villages were grouped and became sub-districts. The sub-district head were answerable to their District Heads.

Below these Sub-Districts were the villages which were administered by village Heads. 40The towns of awechica, adugua, aguye, were added to Koton-karifi District. Subsequent re-organization was carried out as a result of embezzlement by the Districts or Village Heads. Dangana village was split into two units in 1920 as a result of embezzlement of jangali tax by the village head. The village area consisted of Aluchi, Awae, and Danbanwae. Tax embezzlement was rampant throughout the colonial era and in each case the population of the unit was reduced in size.

This reduced the number of village units from 23 to 18 in the 1920s. the number was further reduced to 12 in the 1930s and 8 by the 1940s. On the whole, the re-organization of our area of study served as a clearing ground for the passing down colonial agriculture from the colonial official in charge of Abaji to the Ona (king) and from him to the Districts, village Heads. The role of the village Head was most crucial in this administrative hierarchy since it was he who was responsible for translating these colonial administrative policies into positive action.He was also closest to the people and the leading figure in the society.

After the military subjugation of the people of Nigeria, the main problem faced by the British was how to make colonial rule function in areas with and without central authority. The system of indirect rule was introduced in part to alleviate the shortage of European staff in Northern Nigeria. Local chiefs were therefore allowed to rule under the supervision of the British.

Areas without chiefs had district heads as earlier mentioned in the administrative re-organization was arbitrarily appointed for them. The Native Administration formed the basis of the state apparatus that was used for the recruitment of labour, collection of taxes and maintaining law and order. Lugard saw the native administration as the people’s contribution towards their own development. With the development of indirect rule, Lugard tried to draw together different ideas into a comprehensive theory of colonial policy that could be applied to the African colonies.

In describing the system of colonial administration in Northern Nigeria, he argued that the “British role here is to bring to the country all the gains of civilization by applied science (whether in the development of material resources, or the eradication of disease, etc) with as little interference as possible with the native customs and mode of thought. Indirect rule was originally intended by Lugard to be a flexible and adaptable approach for local government, with central, colonial administration of British officials for general government.

Preserving traditional authorities according to him, would provide continuity with the past and into the future. This was due to the fact that European officials will come and go, but indigenous officials would remain. Furthermore, the system of indirect rule was designed to demonstrate the degree of British non-involvement in the pre-existing political organization. Cooperation of the indigenous rulers was sought after (in places where they existed) and in areas where they were lacking, chiefs were appointed and given powers which had no traditional basis.

The argument advanced by Lugard for the introduction of indirect rule should not be taken at face value. There was more to it than the superficial assumption that the people were allowed to rule themselves. Firstly, the size of Northern Nigeria, coupled with the difficulties of communication and means of transportation made direct British rule practically impossible. The expedition necessary to maintain such a huge amount of personnel would have been considered by the British government as quite disproportionate to the prospect that the region held, which was contrary to the idea of colonies being self-sustaining.

The experience of the Royal Niger Company (RNC) has shown that despite the company’s limited administrative influence in Northern Nigeria, its expenditure on the region was supplemented from the profits accrued from the palm oil trade in the Niger Delta. Secondly, direct British administration would have been impossible because it was difficult to attract British people of the right type and education in large number for services in Nigeria.

Until the 1930’s, the majority of the colonial officials recruited to work in Nigeria had no any formal qualification so Lugard had to look locally for the manpower that was necessary to administer the new conquered territories. In administering British rule in Northern Nigeria, Lugard clearly spelt out how the region should be organized. He divided the region into provinces and divisions and defines the role of the colonial officials involved in the operation of the indirect rule system. Northern Nigeria as a whole was under a single governor, while each province was an individual entity under the control of a resident.

The duty of the resident according to Lugard, was “to carry out loyalty, the policy of the Governor and not to inaugurate policies of his own”.  The resident was the senior government official in the province and represented the Governor in all administrative matters. In accordance with the new Lugardian system, local rulers were sworn into office by appointment and were graded with a variable salary. This according to him, would undermine the autocratic and exploitative nature of the ruling class.

In his words, “the ruling class are no longer either demi-gods or parasites preying on the community, they must work for the stipend and position they enjoy”. The basis for the appointment of the local rulers was loyalty to the new colonial state, and their recognition by the government was based on dictated terms and conditions given to them. In Abaji, the communities had evolved a ruling class (like those of the Northern Emirates) to which the British could give colonial authority. This unified nature of the area meant that the British will have to maintain the status quo as applied in other Northern Provinces.

Thus, by 1913, indirect rule became functional in Abaji. In the spirit of indirect rule system, the village heads were supposed to be local people rather than outsiders. However, Bashayi who was a Fulani from Keffi, was appointed as the village Head of Agyana. The colonial administration hoped that his appointment would bring some experience in the native administration to Abaji: The ostensible reason d’etre for the appointment of this alien village head Bashayi, was that being a man of superior intellect, accustomed to British administration and cognizant of its aims, he would inculcate this knowledge among the villagers. Bashayi began to settle into his new office by encouraging Hausa people to settle in Abaji, especially at his early rule.

In 1922 there were 185 Hausa people in Abaji towns and was also a number of others in Awae. Those that settled Awae were mostly labourers employed in the construction of dispensaries, prisons and courts. At the arrival of Donald Camara, a progressive colonial administrator who served as Clifford’s chief secretary became a new Governor General of Nigeria with a different idea of indirect rule. He was to apply his experience in reforming native administration in Tangayinka.

Camara refuted what he considered to be unhallowed policy insidiously introduced during the latter half of the last decade of thinking of the Muslim emirates in terms of the Indian states. Indirect rule according to him, was a system of local government that rested in the ability of colonial authorities within and amongst the Nigerian communities. In order to identify the basis of the “traditional tribal authority”, he ordered research to be done into the structure of the pre-colonial political organization and institutions of all the communities in Nigeria.

This was used as a basis for the new strategy. Cameron saw native administration in a tribal frame work, and sought to replace the territorial basis of authority, which was implicit in the emirate model. Guidelines were given to colonial officials involved in conducting the enquiries. According to Cameron: The proper way to search out that authority is from the bottom. Build from the do not attempt, as I found in Nigeria when I returned in 1931, to make as it were, a crown or king at the top then try to find something underneath on which it might (perhaps) appropriately placed.

Begin with the people in the lower course of the structure, the family first, the extended family, whatever it maybe, that they all acknowledge as the authority that has regulated the society of the unit according to their own law and custom. The result of these enquiries became the basis for the reorganization of the local administration that began under Cameron, which was rooted in pre-colonial sources of political authority and the Native Authority systems. The first group that began to receive attention in Northern Nigeria was the Tiv, because the appointment of District Heads amongst them had created tension.

This drew the attention of the local colonial officers to the need for a more thorough investigation of Tiv society. As a result of these investigations, Tiv administration was built on the basis of three-tier councils, within a newly consolidated Tiv Division. The impact of Cameron reform reached Abaji in the 1933, when he was able to appoint Mr. Browne as his chief commissioner. Cameron also appointed Arden-Clerk, who served in Abaji in the 1920s, as the chief adviser on native administration.

Armed with people of vast experience of the centralized societies. Cameron began his changes of Native Administration in Nigeria. Thus, in line with his belief that political authority had to be made on each ethnographic surveys of the 1920s were aimed at discovering underlying unities among the decentralized groups, on the basis of which they might be organized from above under paramount chiefs, the intelligence reports were intended to provide organization from below, on the basis of local acceptance and recognition of legitimate authority.

In place of the uniform model, Cameron’s instructions laid out four possible types of native administration: tribal chiefs, federation of chiefs, tribal council (with rotating chairman or a district officer as chairman) and clan or village councils. As a result, the N. A and divisional structure of Lokoja province was substantially redesigned. The Ganagana intelligence report for example, apart from giving a detailed historical background of the people, recommended the formation of three federal units and the appointment of several constituent Native Authorities. However, at the end of 1934, Cameron left Nigeria.

And by 1936, the administrative revolution was ended. According to the secretary of the Northern provinces: The basic reason of a re-organization is to remedy discontent and mal-administration. If the people are content with their present form of government, then by all means leave them alone. There is no point making changes in which appear to be theoretically correct though they are in fact really needed. The doctrine of indirect rule system fashioned by Lugard, Clifford, Palmer, and Cameron, except on the question of emphasis in limit of the authority of the chiefs, agreed on the essential concept.

In a series of instruction, they defined and redefined the basic principles of indirect (Lugard in his memoranda, Clifford in his minutes, and Cameron in his own memoranda). This however created a disjointed policy of Native Administration amongst the “tribal” societies and when Lord Hailey made a survey of Native Administration throughout Nigeria in 1940, he found a variety of systems in operation in the “pagan” areas of the North. In Kabba province, the Native Administration relied on nominal clan heads, while lokoja province had a varied assortment of tribal councils, village group council and chiefs-in-council.

The application of indirect rule system as a theory and administrative practice throughout Nigeria was criticized by Lord Hailey. Indirect rule, he argued, “has not only its unresolved problems, but some noticeable points of weakness”. He further argued that the system has passed through three stages, first of a useful administrative device, then that of a political doctrine, and finally that of religious dogma. According to him, “we must not act as if the system have come to us graven on a tablet of brass”. Similarly, Crocker, a colonial officer in Central Nigeria, argued that indirect rule became “a hieratic and as dead of creative development as an outworn theology”.

He stressed: Indirect rule generated firstly into a systematic glorification of a number of able but unscrupulous careerists, secondly into the practice of preserving at all costs the status and power of families of the hereditary emirs and chiefs, and thirdly into undue pre-occupation with Islam and the emirates to the neglect of the pagan peoples62 The colonial officers who failed to be “indirect” enough were punished by not getting promotion.

Therefore, the system inhibited change and progress. Crocker gave an example, When cadet and quite junior A. D. Os asked, how are you going to develop these Emirates? which you have turned into medieval monarchies, into modern states, or communities? Or how can most tribal societies by developing along their own lines growing into a society equal to modern life? Such men were quickly marked down as temperamentally unsuited for life in Nigeria. No more damning remark could be made in the annual secret report on an officer than that he was “direct” or not sufficiently imbued with the spirit of indirect rule63.

Other colonial officers like Kenneth Bradley compared indirect rule with the way public schools were managed. The values inculcated in the public schools includes leadership, firmness and fairness were qualities according to him, needed in dealing with the “natives”. However, as john Hobson has observed, the values of the public school encouraged “imperialism masquerading as patriotism, militarism, chauvinism, arrogance and over-weaning self confidence.

Generally, the indirect rule transformed the political landscape of our area of study and its environs. The major change was the creation of the offices of District Heads, who subsequently became chiefs in their respective communities. Thus, the pre-colonial authority of elders began to wane and the new British appointed District Head was given power and status that had no traditional basis.

With the advent of colonial administration, European type currency was introduced. There is no doubt, therefore, that this attempt was to enable them control the economies of the colonies effectively. Such was the case everywhere, particularly in the area under sturdy. Agriculture moved from subsistence to cash crop farming. The introduction of some form of forced labour came with the people being persuaded to work. As will be shortly discussed, economy in the area under study was the same with that of the entire northern province. Colonial economy was based on taxation, and Abaji was not an exception. The people of Abaji were made pay tax to enable the administration which was under the Native Authority (N. A), this tax was known as haraji.

On the question of the category(s) of tax payer which is referred to as quoted above, one wonders who were the “rich” and the employees. As already mentioned above, during the period of British colonization in Abaji, agricultural production was shifted from subsistence farming to cash crop farming. Why was this so? It can be presumed that such a shift must have been motivated partly to raise capital for colonial purposes. In 1940, R. G Warner district officer of Lokoja Province had declared that: “It is hoped that sarkin Abaji’s son will return from Kabba this year and be able to start an telemetry school at Agyana.

It will be popular and the entire village Heads are ready to send their children to it. ”In the same year, elementary school was established and Musa, the son of Adawodi Ona(King) of Abaji became the pioneer teacher. By 1942, pupils numbered 36. This school was opened by the N. A, with one at Pandagi which was later opened in 1945. However, if the last sentence in the above statement is anything to go by, it would mean that only children of the village heads not children of the common man were eligible for such schools at that time.

By the end of the 1940s, schools had spread to most parts of Abaji. But apart from the first two opened by the N. A, the rest were opened by missionaries, the Sudan Interior Mission (SIM) and Catholic Missions (RCM). In 1951, a request to open a dispensary at Acheni was put by the District Officer. Following that, a dispensary was opened. After the opening of the dispensary, it was evident that it (the dispensary) received little or no attention as it is clearly stated by the District Officer of Koton-Karifi while relating the challenges the various Districts were going through.

Since the dispensary was opened at acheni last year; there has been great difficulty in obtaining drugs for it. Request have been made both by the D. O and by the touring A. D. O through normal N. A channels but these do not seem to bear much fruit. The above quotation clearly shows the amount of compliancy exhibited towards the “health centre” by the N. A. He further went on to say that: Records at the dispensary indicate that drugs were prepared for the dispensary on 22/1/1954, 8/2/1954, and 24/5/1954. Of this last batch, out of 29 items, 20 were been sent for over five months.

At present the dispensary is almost at a standstill due to lack of stores. 77 If taxes were being collected for the welfare of the people, there would not have been the problem of lack of anything like stores in a dispensary built by a “government”. This is nonchalant!

The Police and Court

The British colonial government established Native and Provincial courts for the purpose of maintenance of law and order and to compel obedience to British ordinances in relation to export crops production policies and other obnoxious policies.

The legal backing for the establishment of these courts came as early as 1900 through the Native court proclamation. In all N. As, the police was to enforce law and order. In Abaji District, their task was the same. The police yandoka played the role of the British agents or errand boys who saw to the compliance of the people to colonial will or agenda. They prosecuted offenders, criminals and suspects, or saboteurs. They made sure all things went in accordance with the N. As instructions. The police and the Native Court worked hand in hand to achieve the goals of the Native Authorities.

The police with the help of the palace servants (dogaria) with a combination of officials collected taxes. Any refusal by the tax payer attracted a serious punishment the effect of which could lead to loss of property or imprisonment with fine attached. After the conquest and establishment of colonial rule in Abaji district, a Native Court was established to deal with cases as already listed above. This development occurred when Abaji was still under Kabba province.

In a letter to the chief secretary to the Northern protectorate administration, the Resident of Kabba province stated: In continuation of my No. 873/1915 of instant, I have the honor to forward here with duplicate warrants for the establishment of a judicial council for the District of Abaji 80 The upgrading of Native Court was motivated by the good revenue the court generates from fines and other form of charges

Prison

The colonial government established prisons in Koton-Karifi and Lokoja side by side with the native courts and native authority police yandoka. The trio worked hand in hand to guarantee absolute obedience and orderliness in the xploitation and plunder of the human and natural resources in our area of study.

The need for the establishment of native prison arose in 1904 when the colonial government noticed that offenders ran away whenever they were allowed to return to their homes. The prisons were, therefore, built to keep the accused in custody pending restitution. The prison was locally referred to as lock-up cell kurukuku, offenders were kept in the lock-up for a maximum period of seven days. After this period, the offenders were tried in the Alkali’s court.

If found guilty, they were given a prison sentence. The first prison was built in 1904 and accommodated eleven prisoners. By 1926 there were about seventy prisoners parked in the lock-up. The prisoners were mainly engaged in work of conservation in the station, town and repair of native authority buildings, roads and bridges. The prisoners were fed from the accounts of the native authority. Each prisoner’s daily cost of food was bought weekly in the market on a scale of nearly 21. 1bs of threshed grains per man per day.

In 1927 a portion of the prison yard was walled off to form a woman’s enclosure and a wardress was appointed to take charge of the female inmates. A separate lock-up was built for persons awaiting trial and another for lunatics. The latter was specifically meant for criminal and violent lunatics and lunatics whose relations were unable to support them. The prison was centre where people who pose as threat to lives and property and especially the conduct of colonial commerce in the society were incarcerated and punished.

Our area of study runs similar administrative system with the zazzau emirate. Sources revealed that Abaji is made up of three ruling clans: The Ogade ruling clan The Anaku ruling clan The Adagima ruling clan These ruling clans rule in successive order. And of these three clans, Adagima is made up of five sub-clans which are: Okaku,Oheima,Asanya,Anitu, and Tukura. It is worthy of note that Okaku sub-clan of Adegima clan is the senior of all other sub-clans.

Its origin is traced to their great grandfather who was renowned for his greatness in leadership and warfare. Abaji like any other society operating a centralized system, had procedures of succession to the throne of ONA (chief). This process of succession was strictly adhered to. Whenever the stool of ONA is declared vacant, the practice is that the most senior member of the next ruling clan will be enthroned. But provision was made for, should in case he is not ready or willing to ascend the throne, he has the right to nominate a prince in his clan to be turbaned in his place. In every centralized system of government, the king/emir has always been in position to appoint his madaki.

Abaji is not an exception, as the Ondaki-Ogbani (madaki) which is a vital position is usually occupied by any person chosen by the ONA. He is usually chosen among the off-spring of any princess of the three ruling clans. Customarily, the reigning ONA can change an existing Ondaki-Ogbani (madaki) when the need arise. Aside the appointments of the madaki, the other offices are occupied by members of the other two clans.

Conclusion

Although the government recognized the need to train people in order to participate in colonial administration, the intention was not to produce an intelligentsia who would later challenge the colonial status quo as experienced in India. In the emirates, the government was initially only interested in educating the sons of emirs with the hope of training them to be the future leaders of the region. In addition, missionary activities were restricted in the muslim areas which meant that the Talakawa (commoners) had no access to missionary education, which delayed their political awareness.

The highly stratified authoritarian political structure of the Hausa State was enhanced by certain interpretation of islam designed to inculcate habits and attitudes of subordination, which prevents any open challenge to the Native Administration before 1945. A. G. Smith observed: “Hausa regard obedience to their superiors and loyalty to their chiefs as one of the doctrines of islam- adininmu adinin biyayya ne. (our religion is a religion of obedience)… islam acts as another force of giving definition and stability to the social system”.

Political development in the Native Authority in Abaji has increased toward the late 1940’s. This was as a result of the need for political position in the Native Authority by the people. One of the important events during these years was the death of Umashi in 1948 who ruled in Abaji during the past years. Umashi was not from the traditional ruling house. Thus with his death, the people saw the need to refer the position of Umashi to the ruling house. This development also brought about a division among the people with those who are more conservative and those who are not.

It was in this context that toward the middle of the 1950’s there were series of crisis in regard to who will replace Umashi in the Native Authority. It is vital the British has to come to make the decision. Thus Mohammadu Umar was appointed by the British to replace Umashi. The appointment was such in a way that voting was organized in each village in regard to the three contestants who wanted to replace Umashi.

In another development, toward the end of the 1950’s there were more representation in the Native Authority. More people were given political position. This was as a result of the fact that the British realized that with their demise, the natives had to control the effective administration of the area. It was in this context that Umaru Bako was appointed to serve in the Native Authority. It is important to note that the candidate to replace Umashi was a greater concern to the people of Abaji and the British. All other position in the Native Authority was not of concern. For instance, even with the appointment of Umaru Bako and other candidates, there were no serious complains as with the case of the position of Umashi in the Native Authority.

Representation of each village in the village council was increased too in the late 1950’s. This in essence means that the nature of the Abaji Native Authority has expanded greatly by 1960 with large representation of the natives in the administration of the area. Thus by the end of the 1950’s the control of the Abaji Native Authority was largely in the hands of the people. Umashi was replaced by Mallam Mohammadu Umar by the British who ruled till the second decade of the post independence era in Abaji.

The most important political activity in the Native Authority in Abaji in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s was the question as to who will succeed Umashi as the chief of the people. However, both oral and written reports on the exercise for this appointment was conducted under rancorous and near pandemonium situation.

Contrary to the tradition of the natives, two ex-village heads and one civil servant attempted to take advantage of the gradual conflicting situation which the British had created around the chieftaincy stroll by signaling their intention to contest the position. They were not known to have come from the ruling house. However, when the people protested over this glaring violation of their tradition the British colonial officials called for a referendum to determine their eligibility or otherwise of these ex-chiefs and the civil servant.

The result of the referendum had shown that the claims of the three persons were spurious. After the selection exercise had been conducted, the British admitted to have their own candidate among the contestants. The crux of this matter therefore is that had the British not adulterated the mode of selection of the then existing traditional institutional setup, the question of conducting a referendum on the matter would not have been necessary. Thus with this development, the British resident had made it to tour all the villages in Abaji to take vote of the people. In order to avoid uprising and double voting the people were expressly forbidden to attend meetings and vote other than at their own village. Subsequently, the British recorded an overwhelming majority in favour of Mallam Mohammadu Umar.

Every village other than Agyana and Pandagi each of which voted for its own. Danburam one of the candidate was ruled out on the first day at Acheni. He was caught unaware and had no supporters. The British colonialist feel convinced that the people’s desire to have Mallam Mohammadu Umar as their new chief was quite genuine and sincere. Though apparently Mallam Mohammadu Umar would appear to have the drive and bluster of his opponents, yet the colonialist saw no reason to pre-suppose that he should not turn out with experience and initial guidance as a good and new chief.

Thus in view of this the chief was given a guiding hand in the early stages until he acquires the feel of the reign and also to prevent his being used by unscrupulous persons bent on furthering their trends in the Native Authority. In addition of the four members comprising the Abaji Native Authority in the previous years, two (Danjuma and Waikuo) are in their dotage and virtually ineffective toward the early 1950s. This was as a result of serious accident which occurs and this subsequently does not allow them to attend to the routine business.

This in turns throws an unfair additional burden on the other members who are pre-occupied to cope with the daily accumulating administrative and judicial business. It is only due to constant and relentless work that a minimum is achieved during the years. This was one of the factors in the Native Authority which makes the British to increase the number in the later years. In another development, the Abaji’s Native Authority was seen as political machine, it’s attitude to some individual would not seem to justify this popularity. Thus the people have been dependent on the Native Authority for any political issue.

This subsequently contributed to the struggle for position in the Native Authority especially when Umashi died in the late 1940’s. Representation in the Native Authority was still shared among the villages in Abaji. Thus the main contending factor in the Abaji Native Authority was on the issue of the succession of Umashi. Also, there were complains in the representation of each village in the Native Authority. This was in respect to the fact that with the increase in representation in the Native Authority in general, there was also the need for the expansion of the village council.

Thus the British in view of this, in the early years of the 1950’s especially around 1953 the representation in the village council was gradually increased. It has to be noted that each village head is ex-official chairman and most of the function of the village council was based on the British colonial report. 8 Thus in view of the recent political development in Abaji, local politics began to develop which are seen in electoral, competition, organized political action by certain groups other than political parties wishing to influence the Native Authority.

Policy was also an aspect of political processes in Abaji. In the earlier period when the British trained and encouraged the people in local politics, some protest was expressed by these people in relation to the activities in the Native Authority. By 1960, it was a basic that the traditional institution system in pre-colonial Abaji has little to do in the selection of the representation in the Native Authority. The instrument of modern administration as put in by the British was in sole control of such political developments which was enriched in the Native Authority. The activities of political parties seeking the control of the Native Authority can also be seen toward the end of the 1950’s. The Northern People’s Congress (NPC) in the North became the stronghold of the Abaji Native Authority by 1960.

The political development which began in the Native Authority in the 1950’s resulted in the establishment of indigenous controlled administrative system by 1960. Also by this period, Umashi’s long reign in Abaji came to an end with his death in 1948.

He was succeeded by Mallam Mohammadu Umar after series of confrontation between the British and the people of Abaji. 10 Also by 1960, the general nature of Abaji has changed looking at what was then in pre-colonial era. This saw the emergence of a modern system of administration. The general awareness of the people in politics, administration, economy and social life gradually improved. An important factor to note in this study is that by 1960, the traditional political system was replaced with British type. This was enriched in the Native Authority.

A fact also noted during this period is that the general geography of Abaji has change as a result of earlier British policies. There was also improvement in agricultural production and other economic activities in Abaji. The nature of Kaltungo by 1960 can be categorically equal to be a product of British colonial administration which has a lot of impact on the region. Finally, with the demise of the long era of British colonial administration and domination in Abaji, a new era is set in the history of the area with the independence of Abaji from foreign rule that now were left to administer themselves. .

This study establishes that by 1960, it mark a new era in the history of Abaji in which for the first time the natives were allowed to participate in the administration of the region after the long era of colonial rule. This development is fostered by the gradual awareness of the people of Abaji in political activity. It became paramount that during the last decade of colonial rule, the natives began to seek for one position or another in the Native Authority in which they were encouraged by the British.

The death of Umashi after his long rule in Abaji mark another turning point. The natives argued that any ruler that has to replace him must be from the traditional ruling house. This continues to be a problem to the British in the late 1940’s. It subsequently led to voting which was conducted by the British for the replacement of Umashi’s position. Also, this study emphasis that the general nature of the Abaji society have changed as a result of the policies made by the British. These changes can be seen in the political, and social aspect of the society.

Finally, with the independence of Abaji in 1960 from colonialism, the Native Authority became the sole instrument of administration which was administered largely by the natives. Thus one can argue that what became Abaji by 1960 was a product of the activities of the British which began in the early years of the 20th century.

Abaji has been a society with its own socio-economic and political control before the advent of the British who conquered the area. With the British conquest of the region, a new system of administration was put in place.

This does away with the existing traditional institutional setup. Thus this saw the establishment of the Native Authority system as the instrument of administration in Abaji. Throughout the colonial era, there were series of new development in Abaji in general. This can be seen in the social, economic and political activities in the region. The idea of taxation was also induced in the region for revenue collection to basically finance the administration of the region. Toward the end of the 1950’s the Native Authority witnessed several development in relation to the independence of the region in 1960.

Representation in the Native Authority was gradually increased during this time. Generally the impact of British colonial administration can be seen during these years in Abaji in its socio-economic settings.

Bibliography

1. A. Books Published Bradley, Once A District Officer, London 1966.
2. D. Cameron, The Principles of Native Administration and Their Application, Lagos, 1934.
3. E. D. Morel, Affairs of West Africa, London 1902.
4. F. Lugard, The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa (Third Edition) London.