The uniqueness of installations of Shehu of Dikwa, Bama

You might wonder what is unique about the double installation ceremonies conducted in the Dikwa and Bama towns of Borno State last week. Certainly, it was not just the glamour, even though there was plenty of that. Occasions where state governors and personages from all over the country gather, are bound to be glamorous.  I say it was not just the display of a rich culture, for Borno was famous for that, and you can be assured there was a great deal that was put on show. Considering the rancour surrounding such events elsewhere in the country, what stood out of the installation ceremonies was the peace and harmony that pervaded the two occasions.

Bama Emirate was carved out of Dikwa Emirate in 2010 in circumstances that inflamed passions at various levels. The new Dikwa emirate took up the three local government areas of Kala Balge, Dikwa and Ngala, while the Bama emirate retained only the Bama local government area. Two Shehus of first-class rank emerged. Abba Tor Shehu Masta II, son of Shehu Masta II, was appointed the emir of the new Dikwa Emirate, while Mai Kyari Elkanemi, Emir of the old Dikwa, continued as the new Emir of Bama.

There were murmurings, here and there, on the lopsided distribution of local governments between the two new emirates, overwhelming three to Dikwa and only one to Bama. To rub salt into the injury, the new Emir of Dikwa was also made to supersede, in the order of precedence, the Emir of Bama, who had been there since the 1990s. And the fact that the state governor of the time, Ali Modu Sherriff, hailed from the emirate where his family held one of the influential titles did not quite help matters, too.

Nevertheless, sanity prevailed all around. In any case, there were no threats of court injunctions on the splitting of the Dikwa Emirate. Also, no bellicose influencers were haranguing us on the media on why the emirate should not be split. In the long run, the two Shehus, probably drawing from their common El-Kanemi heritage, papered over whatever differences observers might seem to have had and worked harmoniously thereafter. However, as fate would have it, in the following decade, the two Shehus died within months of each other.

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Their successors were immediately named, and preparations for their installations also began. Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum conducted the installations and presentation of staff of office to the Shehus, one after the other. The Shehu of Dikwa Abba Jato Shehu Umar was appointed in January 2021 to succeed his brother, Muhammad Ibn Masta El-Kanemi, who was the first to be appointed to that throne in over one hundred years.

On the other hand, the Shehu of Bama, Kyari Ibn Umar El Kanemi, was appointed earlier in May 2020 to succeed his father, Kyari Umar El-Kanemi, who had erstwhile been the Shehu of Dikwa.

Their official installation was delayed, I guess, to allow peace to stabilise in the two emirates. Both Dikwa and Bama were two of the most affected by the Boko Haram insurgency. In the heat of the insurgency, they were ransacked by the insurgents and were practically occupied by them until, after a bitter struggle, the Nigerian troops dislodged them.

Going down memory lane, Dikwa and Bama have always been scenes of turbulence in the last 150 years. That part of the northeast had been the scene of a struggle at the turn of the last century between the major colonial powers of the time: the French, British and Germans.

Some readers may recall that in the closing years of the 19th Century, the turbulence visited upon the Borno kingdom by the warlord Rabeh Al Zubeir had decimated it and caused lots of social havoc. Part of the havoc was the desecration of the capital, Kukawa, and the emergence of Dikwa as the new capital of Borno and the usurper, Rabeh, its sovereign.

When, eventually, in 1900, Rabeh was routed at Kousseri, now in the Cameroon Republic, and killed by the French, the old order was restored, and Shehu Umar Garbai was installed in 1902. In due course, Shehu Garbai was wooed by the British, and he found it expedient to move to their side for protection. He moved his palace to Monguno and finally to Maiduguri in 1907. When Shehu Garbai left Dikwa, the Germans, who were occupying Dikwa at that period, installed his brother Sanda Mandarama as Shehu. Dikwa was transferred to the British after the Germans were defeated in the First World War 1914-1918 as a Protectorate Territory. It was the British that moved the capital from Dikwa to Bama in 1942.

It seems to me that there are lessons to be learnt from the experiences of the Dikwa-Bama Emirate split and how harmony was engendered. I believe there must have been some serious soul-searching among the entire El-Kanemi lineage to keep this matter under wraps. Our traditional institutions have come a long way, and to survive in turbulent times, adjustments and accommodations have to be made. These are useful lessons for others to emulate.