It was the British who first carved out an administrative unit and called it Wukari Federation. They did this in recognition of its multi ethnic and cosmopolitan outlook.
Prior to British conquest, Wukari was the headquarters of Kwararafa, a Kingdom established by the Jukun people. Their King–the Aku-Uka resided there and it also served as an important trading route connecting the south with such northern centers like Bauchi, Katsina, Kano and Borno. Large caravans were said to have brought goods transported from north of the Sahara in exchange for slaves, salt and ivory at Wukari.
The Jukuns themselves had in a period of extraordinary military activity conquered Zaria and broken through the formidable city walls of Kano to control the town. In fact, they were on their way to take another of the Hausa states – Katsina – before the military juggernaut lost its impetus. Kwararafa was already in decline and by 1804 when Othman Dan Fodio staged his Jihad, its days were numbered.
According to the Gazzette of Northern Nigerian Emirates, repeated attacks by forces of the Sokoto caliphate led by Buba Yero of Gombe, Abubakar Dogara and Buba Barkindo of Muri destroyed the power of Kwararafa. All these attacks took place between 1815 and 1860 during the reign of Aku Tsoukwa, the 12th king of Kororofa. The situation became more complex with the arrival in the Benue valley in the 1870s of a man of considerable notoriety, a Gobir of the old Hausa fighting stock who came with Bayero from Sokoto on slave riding expeditions. Dankaro was his real name but he rejoiced in the title of Serkin Yaki of Sokoto and was recruited by the Aku Uka to fight the Tiv.
He was a ruthless warrior and this reputation brought many soldiers of fortune to his side. This band of rouges took to stealing as a hobby while off the battle field. Their other activities also became a source of worry to the Aku Uka who had employed them.
But Dankaro, the freelance fighter without a cause and without a conscience was not bothered. Sometimes he fought for the Emir of Muri, at other times he joined forces with the Aku Ukas enemies at Jibu, Bantaje, Suntai and Donga to fight against the Aku Uka. In this style, he became a pest to the Jukun for many years.
His last grand military alliance was with the Tiv against whom he was employed by the Jukun to fight. With his new friends, he took on the Jukun around Akwana, took over the whole of that neighborhood and gleefully announced that this country was his own. Infact as the years went by, Dankaros contempt for the Jukun became so deep that he saw the Tiv as his permanent military partners.
In one of his raids against the Jukun, he captured and made an open bonfire of a powerful Jukun war fetish which was believed to be of such potency that it could demobilize the enemy’s war missile.
The Royal Niger Company had initially ignored his activities but when his frequent raids against innocent civilians threatened their commercial interests, the decision was taken to check Dankaro. A brilliant warrior and excellent tactician, he managed to escape many of the battles and ambushes mounted against him by trained European officers.
In the end, it was a kick from his horse that killed him. With his death, the Royal Niger Company was now in a position to save the Kwararafa Kingdom from the imminent annihilation it faced as a result of the activities of this same man they had employed.
The British incorporated Kwarafa kingdom with its headquarters in Wukari into the protectorate of Nigeria around 1900.
The Aku Uka was a powerful player in the indirect rule system, presiding over a multi-ethnic community, including Jukun, Tiv and Moslem Hausa Fulani and many others. The British delegated much authority to traditional rulers in the Northern Region.
In 1958, the Aku Uka of Wukari was one of the four such rulers serving as a minister without portfolio in the Executive Council of the region. Others were the Sultan of Sokoto, Emir of Katsina and Emir of Kano.
Compared with what has happened in Wukari since independence, the British certainly handled Wukari better than what independent Nigerian governments have done.
In the First Republic (1963–1966), the Jukun and Hausa supported the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), while the Tiv supported the rival United Middle Belt Congess (UMBC) often leading to violent conflict. This informed the decision of the military government, as it prepared for the second republic, to take Wukari Federation from Benue Province where it had always belonged since 1900 and merge it with Adamawa in the Sardauna and Muri Provinces to form Gongola. It was a terrible misjudgment. The government announced that it was by that action, going to separate the squabbling between Tiv and Jukun tribesmen.
But having lived togather for over 200 years, separating the two could not be such a neat surgical operation. In fact, during the Second Republic (1979–1983) both the Tiv and the Jukun supported the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). With the military take over of power in 1983, the belligerent tribesmen returned to their trenches. There were clashes in 1990 and 1992. In 2001 and 2002, there were again clashes between the Jukun, Tiv, Kuteb and Fulani.
In August 2010, there was further fighting, this time along religious rather than ethnic lines. Christians disputed the construction of a mosque at the Wukari Police divisional headquarters, and started rioting a few days before a planned visit of the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar 111. Since then, many more religious riots have taken place in Wukari.
The current situation has been further inflamed by Boko Haram who joined the fray in support of or at the behest of Fulani cattle grazers.
A new Dankaro has come to town in Wukari and things are not the same. The battle ground has become a more complex and intractable jinx. All these go to show the terrible mess we have made out of the independence we fought for. As Wukari Federation burns, so is the rest of the Federation called Nigeria

Read More Articles From This Author: Emmanuel Yawe

Between 2007 and 2008, I had the privilege of managing an Islamic center in Sheffield. It was an experience I would always cherish because it brought me closer to the community. The Muslim community in Sheffield is one of the best I have ever interacted with.
That experience taught me what it means to work for a community, and understand that for a society to succeed, people have to come together, identify their problems and work towards finding a lasting solution to them. Sheffield is a friendly city. Some people call it the village city, and the Muslim community comprises of different nationalities: Pakistanis, Yemenis, Somalis, Caribbean’s as well as the English.
One of the key problems we found at the time was the high rate of divorce among the community. Though the issue of divorce is common even among the host community, but certainly everyone should be concerned about the rate of divorce in any society because of its implication on the wider environment.  Delinquency, prostitution, depression, poverty are some of the common results of family breakdown. A child requires the two parents to taste the delicacy of parenthood.
So what was the way out?
Of course, the cases that come on daily basis require urgent solutions; from reconciliation to marriage counselling etc. The Center decided that the best way to confront this social problem was by arresting it from the root. That is ensuring that young people have enough training on issues related to marriage before tying the knot.
So a date was set for the training during a bank holiday (the name of public holidays in the UK), when most kids were at home. Gladly, the parents cooperated by bringing their children and even those who are married and registered for the training.
The workshop included a talk by a Muslim scholar who discussed the concept of marriage in Islam, the roles and responsibilities of the husband and the wife, and how Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) managed his household.
Other working sessions during the workshop included personality traits by asking the participants to identify the best traits for a potential wife or husband; how to communicate those traits to the potential spouse etc. Other issues included managing disputes, family upkeep, especially for those with little resources, and strategies to ensure that couples remain happy after the honey moon period is over. In fact, there was a session by a good friend who has been married for 20 years sharing his experience with the participants on how the journey lasted without a major marital crack.
Even in Nigeria, some communities are making efforts like this. Though it may not solve the problem of divorce completely, but at least, it will contribute in making the youth understand such important responsibility, and perhaps work hard to ensure that marriages survive.
I was motivated to write this piece after listening to a message that has gone viral on the social networking application, WhatsApp. Of course, the content was meant to entertain as with many messages like that on WhatsApp, but it also reveals the psyche among our youths.
The message was from a school teacher who just finished her lesson, and asked the pupils to listen to her prayers and respond with Amin. The teacher wanted a good husband, religious, handsome, rich, whose mother is dead, who will sponsor her for Hajj and Umra regularly, support her to travel abroad, love her excessively, someone who is patient like a donkey, reserved, and one she will control with ease.
Bachelors, I hope you are listening!
The teacher did not stop there. She is seeking refuge from marrying a poor person (talaka) who would make her travel by foot, or live in a mud-house, and whose relatives would not bother her etc.
The prayer was full of dreams that can only be found in a dream. Yes it was entertaining, but beyond the surface of the entertainment is a coded message on the mentality of our youth.
Both boys and girls are only thinking of the greener side of life as I explained in previous series on Kayan daki and Marital Stability in Hausaland.
No wonder marriages crash because neither of the parties can manage the expectation of the other party. It is time for Islamic organizations, especially in Northern Nigeria to take this issue seriously by preparing the youth for this important responsibility before it is too late.
No matter how little, such premarital training could contribute in reducing the number of
zaurawa (divorcees) in our society.

Read More Articles From This Author: Muhammad Jameel Yusha-u