Muhammadu Gabbo: Kano family with many teachers

The family of the late Muhammadu Gabbo is famous in Gwarzo town, Gwarzo Local Government Area of Kano State. It has about 3,000 members largely spread across the northern region and the neighbouring Niger Republic.

Sunday last week, the family held a reunion meeting in Gwarzo town, with a target of 700 people in attendance. But at the end of the meeting, over 1,000 members of the family attended the colourful event.

According to an oral tradition, there are three accounts regarding the history of this family. All the three accounts, Daily Trust Saturday observed, are similar as there are no much contradictions.

Interestingly, all the three accounts have it that Gabbo’s family was from a Fulani clan called ‘Ba’en’ (Ba’awa).

Members of this family can be found in many places in Kano State. For instance, there are many Ba’awa Fulani in Dawakin Kudu in Kano city. They are referred to as Yolawa. In Dawakin Tofa, they are predominantly in Tattarawa village. Their slogan is: “Tattarawa, a village of Ba’awa.’’

Another thing common among the three accounts is that this family was originally from Adamawa State because the Ba’awa clan comes from there.

Also, all the accounts have the name of the ancestor of the family as Muhammadu. The only contradiction is that some said he was Muhammadu Gabdo while others said he was Muhammadu Gabbo, and both accounts have their reasons. But ‘Gabbo’ appears more authentic as names like that are still found in Adamawa, even among the traditional rulers.

According to the first account, Muhammadu Gabbo was a wealthy man in Adamawa, who had numerous cattle. He was told that anyone with such wealth could not go to paradise after his death, and that terrified him. As a result of that fear, he decided to travel to Sokoto to meet Sheikh Usman bin Fodiyo to clarify the issue.

He first camped at Dange village before going to Sokoto to meet Shehu. He met Shehu and informed him that he would sacrifice all his wealth to him so that he would pray to God to admit him into paradise.

This account also has it that Gabbo went to Sokoto with his daughter, Hauwa’u, also known as Magajiya, and his son, Sulaimanu.

According to Alhaji Bello Basiru Gwarzo, a member of the family, some people were of the opinion that Hauwa’u was married to Sultan Muhammadu Bello, while others said it was his son who married her.

However, Gwarzo said they did not have anything to back this claim, but all they know is that Hawa’u later got married to Sarkin Giwa in the present Kaduna State.

Concerning Sulaimanu, according to this account, the Sultan decided to send Gabbo to Kano, and he came along with Sulaimanu, either during the reign of Emir Usman or Emir Dabo. He was said to have been sent with a letter to the then Emir of Kano and that the letter was said to be kept with the Sallama Kano.

Gabbo chose to settle around Gwarzo, precisely in Gude village, largely because of the water there. At that time, Sulaiman was said to have already memorised the Qur’an; hence he lived a decent life among his mates.

Sulaiman was later made the village head of Riji, but for some reasons, he was deposed. There were two accounts as to when he was deposed. One of such accounts stated that it was during the reign of Emir of Kano, Bello, while the other suggested that it was the reign of Emir Abbas. But it was said that he was deposed because he could not meet his tax target.

The account which has it that it was during the reign of Emir Bello, indicates that some hidden motives led to his ouster. It was caused by another prominent family in Gwarzo town who had a good relationship with the emir when he was the Turakin Kano, before he became the emir.

But the account that it was during the time of Abbas has it that there was a time Sulaiman and his children, Jalalu and Mustafa, went to Kano and Jalalu impressed the emir.

According to Bello Gwarzo, at that time, Danrimi Nuhu, who had a misunderstanding with Sulaimanu, started insulting him, and Jalalu, who was hot tempered, could not contain that, so he slapped Nuhu. That caused a serious squabble. They eventually cursed each other, which had negative consequences on them.

When Sulaimanu was deposed as Riji, he moved to Gude village but left his four children in Gwarzo. Jalalu later became Galadima, Dalhatu who was Madaki, later became Dan Gwarzo. Bello was said to be a Galadima, then Mustafa, who was the lastborn.

On how the Gabbo family maintained the title of Dan Gwarzo, an account has it that when the colonial masters came, some of the village heads fled. The colonial masters ordered that if there were remnants of the children of the fleeing village heads, they should be turbaned as village heads. But if there were none, the people should select the ones they liked to be turbaned.

So the family of Muhammadu Gabbo was not the first Dan Gwarzo. There were the families of Dan Gwarzo Garo and Dan Gwarzo Fama respectively. However, from Gabbo’s family, Dalhatu was the first to be appointed as Dan Gwarzo. Jalalu could have been appointed first, but for his hot temper, people were scared of him.

Interestingly, Jalalu, who was rejected by the people, was the one who went all the way to Giwa to call his brother, Dalhatu, to be turbaned as Dan Gwarzo. After Dalhatu, there were Dan Gwarzo Hannafi, Dan Gwarzo Bello, Dan Gwarzo Harisu, Dan Gwarzo Hayatu, Dan Gwarzo Halliru, and now, Muhammadu, the present Dan Gwarzo.

However, according to the second account, Muhammadu Gabbo was from Mubi in Adamawa State. He arrived in Sokoto during the reign of Sultan Atiku. It was also indicated in this account that he went to Sokoto with his children, and Hauwa was married off in Giwa on their way to Kano.

Sulaimanu went along with his father and they settled at Gude village. But Gabbo later decided to go back to Sokoto for a second time, but he lost his life on the way.

The third account of the history of this family has it that Gabbo was from Muri (Jalingo) in Taraba State. This account was written by the people of Garo, particularly the family of the late Alhaji Sule Garo. While documenting their history they included that of Muhammadu Gabbo because the ancestors of both families left Adamawa together.

In their account, they indicated that it was a friction in a royal family that made the ancestors of the two families leave Muri. While they settled at Gude, Muhammadu Gabbo proceeded to Sokoto. According to them, he returned and went back.

According to this account, the other man who came to Kano along with Gabbo was Muhammadu Ki-Gudu, who was the ancestor of the Sule Garo family. This is what brings about the existing relationship between the families because they were linked to Gude village.

Also, according to Bello Basiru Gwarzo, when Sulaimanu was deposed, he relocated to Gude village, where he spent the rest of his life. While there, he got married to one of the daughters of Muhammadu Ki-Gudu, and with her he got his fourth child, Mustapha.

Gwarzo said there were elements of truth in this account. “When you look at Muri, it is more like the relationship between Kano and Kazaure, Keffi and Zazzau, or Mubi and Yola. It was like a sub-emirate carved out from the parent emirate. Mubi was established by Hamma Ruwa while Gombe was established by Buba Yero. The two were together as cousins as indicated by the history on the account of Hamman Tukur, while some other accounts have it that they were friends who attended a Qur’anic school together.

“Hamma Ruwa took part in the jihad in Gombe and moved to Mubi, where he established his own emirate and was given the sultanate flag by Buba Yero, on the instruction of the Sultan of Sokoto. So Muri became like a sub-emirate of Gombe, but unfortunately, Muri was wealthier than Gombe in terms of farming and animal rearing, as well as some natural resources, such as salt and the rest. Buba Yero was jealous of that fortune and he wanted to make his son the Emir of Muri and that caused a serious enmity between them.

“So, if this account written by the Garo family is anything to go by, then we would perhaps say that the tussle they talked about actually made the two brothers to leave Muri for an exile in Sokoto,” he said.

He added that apart from Kano and Gwarzo, which have the largest chunk of members of this family, members of the Gabbo family could also be found in some other places like Jama’are, Bauchi, Funtua, Zaria, Giwa, Dagadau, up to Niger Republic.

Concerning the number of professionals the family has produced, Gwarzo said, “We are still trying to compile that. For the time being we don’t have that statistics, but we have committees that are trying to do that. All I can say is that we have a lot of educated people. I know of a doctor and probably some police officers, but I don’t think we have any high ranking military officer. However, we have a lot of teachers from the family; I don’t know whether that was by accident or design. In the past, there were a lot of civil servants like admin officers.”

He said that currently, none of their grandparents is alive, but added, “We have some of our parents like Baba Jafaru at Yan Maishinkafi, who was GaladimanTsafta; Baba Magaji, a retired agric officer who worked at Birnin Kudu. Then Baba Sani, who is another retired senior agric officer who worked in the Ministry of Agriculture. Also, we have Baba Tukur, who was more of a driver. Others are Baba Jinjiri, a retired soil officer; and Baba Sarki, a former commissioner in Kano. He is the acting chairman of the Gidan Muhammadu Gabbo, currently working with Dantata.

Gwarzo recalled that their first family meeting was held in either 1983 or 1985. He added that at that time, Alhaji Saidu Gwarzo coordinated the meeting and everyone was happy with the union. But it had taken a long time and people were yearning for the meeting again.

“So, our mission now is to know one another, document our history and see how we can take care of the royal house as established by the late Dalhatu. We want the family to redeem its honour.

Addressing the mammoth crowd during the meeting, the chairman of the occasion, Alhaji Dalhatu Muhammad Gwarzo, popularly called Baba Sarki, called for the establishment of Muhammadu Gabbo Foundation and a committee that would compile the history of the family.

Baba Sarki also suggested that the residence of Muhammadu Gabbo be renovated and all the historic rooms in the house revived for the younger ones to know more about them.

“I am suggesting that our ancestor’s house be made the venue of our family reunion meeting. Family members that are residing in Gwarzo should make it lively by conducting meetings regularly in the house as this will enhance unity among members of the family,” he concluded.