Martin Z. Njeuma

Fulani Hegemony in Yola (Old Adamawa) 1809-1902 Martin Z. Njeuma

Following the launching of jihad against Sarkin Gobir and other Hausa chiefs by Uthman dan Fodio, a renowned Muslim reformer, Yola became one of the focal points for Uthman's Movement south of the Lake Chad region. The leader was Modibbo Adama (1809-1847) and the emirate he formed was called Adamawa. The study analyses the factors which came into play in the creation and maintenance of the emirate out of a vast array of segmented units of authority. By the middle of the 19th century, Europeans started visiting the region in a general drive to abolish slave trade from its sources and substitute it with legitimate trade. Not contented with mere trade, European expeditions competed with one another to colonize the region for their respective governments. Lamido Zubeiru (1890-1901) refused to submit, but the British, French and Germans through European diplomatic channels partitioned the emirate in 1893 and 1894. The threat of Mahdism and the consolidation of Rabeh's power over Bornu and neighbouring kingdoms provided the Europeans additional reasons for waging war against the emirate and to overthrow almost a century of Fulani hegemony. The principal sources are oral tradition preserved in local chronicles and contemporary reports of European travellers, soldiers, administrators and Royal Niger Company officials.