BEING THE SPEECH OF THE CHAIRMAN OF OPENING CEREMONY OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GOBIR KINGDOM, PAST AND PRESENT: TRANSFORMATION AND CHANGE, ENGINEER, SENATOR, IBRAHIM ABDULLAHI GOBIR, Ph.D, HOLDING AT THE USMANU DANFODIYO UNIVERSITY AUDITORIUM, FROM 9TH – 13TH JULY, 2018.
Gobir Kingdom: Past, Present and the Road Ahead
Engr., Senator, Ibrahim Abdullahi Gobir, PhD.
Your Excellencies,
The Governors of
Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states
The Governors of
Maradi,Tawa and Doso all in the republic of Niger.
His Eminance the
sultan of Sokoto, His Roya higness the sultans of Gobir, Doso and Agades and
other traditional rulers from republic in Niger,Your Royal Hignessess the emirs
and chiefs.
Distinguished
audience, assalamu alaikum wa
rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu
This occasion
presents to me a rare privilege to participate in a conference that is the
first of its kind. It, therefore, gives
me great pleasure to welcome you to this unique congregation. The congregation is unique in many ways. First of all, it is so far the first
conference convened to deliberate on the Gobir Kingdom in a space of over two
hundred years. Secondly, Gobir Kingdom
represents one of the greatest ancient Hausa states, along with Daura, Katsina,
Kano, Zazzau, Zamfara and Kabi. Thirdly, Gobir Kingdom and her sons and
daughters are part and parcel of the social, economic and political development
of this great country – Nigeria. We will
explain these issues in due course.
It is worthy to
begin this discussion with thanks and gratitude to the Faculty of Arts and
Islamic Studies, the Dean, Deputy Dean and the Faculty Professors, Senior
lecturers and all those who deemed it worthy to remember us, the Gobir people. I understand that the Faculty started way
back to about three years by holding a conference on issues of National
importance – national integration, security etc. Then that was followed by another conference
on Kabi Kingdom, last year. This year,
the Gobir Kingdom was slated for the conference. Next year it will be another Hausa state, and
I think it goes on and on till, probably we get to another round of conference
on Gobir. Let me clearly state, without
any fear or doubt that we will continue to welcome any conference convened to
deliberate about our lives, history and legacies, as a people. The Gobir people cherish their heritages and
History. That is why we highly welcome
the present conference.
I hope, by my
estimation that the present conference will leave no stone unturned regarding
the history and rich political cultural, economic and social legacies of this
great kingdom. We, therefore, expect to
hear useful contributions and deliberations on the following fundamental areas:
1.
On
the Origin of the Gobirawa
I believe quite a
number of experts have been invited, including from the Republic of Niger. For example, Professor Hamman and Professor
Ila Maikasuwa. I believe Maikasuwa had even
before now, done extensive research on the origins of the Gobirawa. From their Yemenite locality of Gubur across
the vast Saharan Desert down to Central Sudan, finally settling in the rich
area of the Rima Basin. It was while
they were here that developments unfolded – ranging from their political
organization, to agriculture and other pursuits as well as warfare and
intergroup relations. I am sure, too,
that this theme will receive scholarly attention during the conference.
2. Culture,
Language and Traditions
This is another
area that we expect to hear the findings of scholars. One will like to speculate that many Hausa
words from the Gobir Kingdom seem to
have historical connections and meanings.
For example, Kananan? (are you there?) seem to replicate the name of
distance ancestors the Gobir people associate themselves with – that is, Canaan
or Kan-ana. Or even Naawa seem to rhyme
with Noah – the Prophet of Islam, whom according to a version of the Gobir
tradition of origin, was their source of line of descent. We hope scholars will go beyond speculations
and supply us with proofs to validate our state of knowledge.
3. The Sarakunan Gobir or the Gobir Sarauta System
Here, scholars
will do well to dig deep and bring out useful issues and lessons we could learn
from, in the contemporary period. Researchers should be able to tell us that
there were repressive regimes in the past due to taxes, corruption in
government, etc. And that whatever
happened to befall the bad leaders of the past, may likely befall bad leaders
of today. However, we should not lose
sight of the fact that there were a number of good sultans in the hierarchy of
Gobir sarauta. Even Bawa Jan Gwarzo
appears by my understanding, to be a tolerant and accommodating king. He also cherished dialogue and
concessions. He was a listening
sultan. We will stand to benefit if such
useful information are unearthed by the conferees.
4. Migration,
settlement and Gobir in Diaspora
This sub-theme is
central among the legacies in the history of the Gobirawa. There had certainly been tremendous
transformations and changes in the long history of the Gobirawa. Beginning as an Arab stock, the factor of
migration and settlement saw the Gobir people moving south ward from the North
African Coast, to the Atlantic Coast of Lagos.
Along the way they intermingled,
intermarried, and settled among various peoples and cultures, including - the Barbers and Tuaregs, the Fulbe and the
Zabarma, other Hausa stocks and today, as can be attested to by the progenies
of Sarkin Gobir – Balogun Salihu Masallachi of Ilorin, the Yoruba. Thus we now have Gobir chief right in the
Palace of Ilorin, Kwara state. Scholars
and researchers should help us come up
with well documented history of our people anywhere they may be. I believe,
that migration will have carried the Gobirawa not only down to Lagos, but also
Ghana, Burkina Faso, Senegal and
Mali. Findings will depend on
future research.
5. Impact
of Social, Religious and Cultural Changes
I also hope that
the conferees will be able to deliberate and inform us useful information on the
social, and cultural impact of the Gobir people and the Gobir Kingdom. We know
of the spread of Islam among the Hausa states.
Even when it came, Islam met the people of Gobir practicing Islam. But as it were, there was widespread cultural
beliefs and practices, some of which ran counter to basic Islamic tenets. Even then, there are still certain
cultural-cum-political practices and offices that are part and parcel of Gobir
heritage. For example while the office
of Inna of Gobir is associated with
Bori fetish, on the one hand, on the other hand, it is a political,
administrative and military office that effectively demonstrated the prowess
and powers of women in the traditional corridors of power. Today in the 21st century, the
world is clamouring for gender balance, female participation in politics,
democracy, elections, and governance while this had happened in Gobir Kingdom
about two hundred and fifty years ago!
6. Inter-Group
Relations
I also expect that
the conferees will thrash this very important sub-theme. Wherever one mentions migration and
settlement, one cannot help but bring the question of inter-group
relations. We have the Gobirawa in the
Diaspora beginning from the central
Nigerian area down to Lagos. In the
central Nigerian area, especially Niger
state, there are many Gobirawa villages or communities. Many of them settled there during the last
forty years. Researchers ought to find
out and inform us useful issues such as what made the Gobirawa to move into
these areas? Not only that, why and how
were they amicably accommodated without any rancor in this age of ethnic and
religious tensions and crises as well as mistrust? What peculiar traits do the Gobirawa possess? I personally believe that they have an
accommodating spirit. They also possess
the spirit of hardwork and self reliance.
I think that is why a Bagobiri will never be rejected by any group.
7. Economy,
Agriculture and Commerce
These are the
chief activities of the Gobir people from time immemorial. The Gobirawa are very enterprising and
hardworking. Conferees should be able to
tell us details about these very important economic activities.
8. Gobir
King and the 19th Century Sokoto Jihad
Of all the known
themes of the History of the Gobir people, the 19th century Jihad as
it affected the Kingdom and the people is the most controversial. Even among scholars, various opinions have
been expressed about the causes of the 19th century Sokoto
jihad. These include the European
perspectives that was championed by colonial officials like Lord Lugard. Simply put, Lugard’s perception is that the
takeover of the Caliphate was quite a normal conquest. So too, the Fulani takeover of the Gobir
Kingdom was just another normal conquest similar to wars of expansion and annexations
that happened so rampantly in Europe during the Middle Ages. Others saw the jihad as a revolt of the
masses against the aristocracy. Thus
injecting Marxist interpretation. Some
were realists that took into consideration physical environment, environmental
changes such as drought and such collective challenges as the causes. Some saw
it was a religious movement.
As Muslims –
practising Muslims for that matter, we
cannot dismiss the fact that at certain points in our collective journeys in
life, we may require one reform effort or another. Even if you look at
contemporary governance across board, certainly we need to reform some of our
lifestyles; for instance, we need to tackle corruption and corrupt practices;
we need to boost Education both in quality and quantity; we need to tackle
poverty level in the society, etc. But
again we can hardly dismiss the fact that the Jihad had political contents. There is no need to argue against this
because a whole set of Government was overthrown and replaced with
another. Agreed that elements of a new
society were noticed soon after the Jihad, but after several decades, this
spirit was lost. By the time the
Europeans came what they met was largely traditional. Only names of personalities and a few other
instances were Islamic. In any case, we
now rely on you the participants to provide us with concrete details. I hope so.
Legacies of Gobir in the Caliphate
This is another
area I envisage scholars would focus their search light. One of the most outstanding legacies is in
the political angle, in the sense that most of the Gobir political titles were
used by the caliphate. We need the
details from scholars as to: why did the caliphate fall short of suitable
titles from the beginning? How could the
use of such titles be justified? Such
questions are not easy to answer, but may be our scholars will try. Next, I expect that conferees will thrash
contemporary political and economic developments. We should be able to hear such issues as
colonial conquest, resistance, collaboration or compromise. Internal developments are also necessary
issues to be examined. Activities from
1960 to the present ought to be treated, not on their face values but based on
serious research. Likewise the
significance of the socio-economic activities of the Gobirawa - around Nigeria
have to be examined. Last but not the
least, there is one fundamental issue that escaped the thought of the
organizers of the conference. And this
is: Gobirawa and the Future in Nigeria;
or the Road Ahead.
It is
understandable why many political thinkers including historians tend to shy
away from scrutinizing and therefore daring to talk about the future. The future is very very uncertain; it is also
controversial because it is pregnant.
Will it give birth to a sound baby?
Or will it smack of a stillbirth?
In this respect, the present speaker does not think it is fair to keep
mute about the future aspirations of the average Gobir man. What are these aspirations? Ladies and Gentlemen, the aspirations of the
average Gobir man are as follows:
(i) Therefore, the
average Gobir man wishes to see all the physical and social developments occur in his location.
(ii)The average
Gobir man wants to see tertiary institutions in that place, brought closer to
him.
(iii)The average
Gobir man wants jobs and opportunities brought closer to him.
We are hopeful
that this country will listen to our cries and do something. These represent our demands, similar to the
demands of Shehu Usman Danfodiyo in the face of our ancestor, King Bawa Jan
Gwarzo.
Finally, I will
like this distinguished gathering to consider two important issues as we move
into the future. They will help to chart
the road ahead. First, we should form
the umbrella body of GOBIR DEVELOPMENT
FOUNDATION; if this acceptable to us, I pledge a seed money of…………………………….
to take off. Secondly – and more
immediate, GOBIR EDUCATION TRUST FUND, if this is accepted, I also wish to
donate a seed money of …………………………
Details on these can be laid down by two committees we can form; one for
each respectively.
On this note I
wish to declare this conference open, and to wish us peaceful and fruitful
deliberations. Once again, I warmly
welcome you to the occasion. May Allah
bless you all. Thank you.
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