Brief History

BRIEF HISTORY OF ZURMI EMIRATE:

Zurmi Emirate is located in the Zurmi Local Government Area, one of the four Local Government Areas that constitute the Zamfara North Senatorial District. The Emirate is boarded to the North by Shinkafi and Moriki Emirate, to the south by B/Magaji and Katsina Emirates and part of Niger Republic and to the west by K Namoda and maradun Emirates. Most of the inhabitants of the Emirate are farmers, herdsmen, and some fishermen in Kuturu and Mashema districts. Most of the residents of the area are   Hausa and Fulani.

The leaders of the Emirate are Fulanis of the Albawa origin, who originated from Mali hundreds of years ago. They came into Nigeria through Niger Republic Via Katsina in a village called Runka (Babbar Ruga)In the present day Katsina Emirate.

 After a brief stay at Runka, the Emir of Katsina ordered their exit in his effort to control illegal emigration and the daily influx of strangers, which was a threat to their security and peaceful coexistence.

   They moved to a place called Ziyara, which was then under the leadership of Sarkin Gobir Bawa Jangwarzo. They visited Bawa Jangwarzo and gave him honorary gifts of cows and sheep; they also demanded his permission to reside in one of the areas under his administrative control (now called Zamfara).    

He granted them the permission and the leadership mandate of the area. He also gave them complementary gifts of the sword (work) and bell (Kuge ).

   The sword (traditionally known as ‘’wukar Yanka’’ was specially made with a silver cover and so sharp that it is often referred to as ‘’ Gayawa Jini na wuce’’, Meaning ‘’ tell blood that I have passed This sword serves as evidence of leadership, as a result, whenever a traditional leader is to be turbaned, it is 

Carried along, after the Turbaning, the Leader is given the sword as evidence of his official Turbaning. He will then raise it up, and the people around will all say the takbir ‘’ Allahu Akbar’’ in chorus. He will hang it on his neck, hold the bell (Kuge) in his left hand and continue to shake hands with the important dignitaries around, the sword will continue to hang on his neck throughout the journey from Sokoto to Zurmi.

   The bell (Kuge), on the other hand, is used to alert people of an imminent attack by enemies or to be ready to go out to lunch an attack. These days, kuge is used to summon people for celebration, such as Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, to inform people that the Emir is ready to go out to the id-praying ground. 

The sword and the bell are still with the sarkin zamfaran zurmi and are used whenever the need for their use is called for in accordance with the provisions of the traditional set –up.

  After their exit from Katsina, they settled in a village called  Tsakauna in the Birane District. Their Leader, Isau, died at the end of the 7th  century, and his funeral was conducted at Tsakauna. After the death of Isau, his brother,  Yabo left Tsakauna and moved to a place now called Yabo in Sokoto state and established his own clan and became its first leader, and the town was named after him. Some of them moved to Bungudu, a few kilometres away from Gusau, the Zamfara State capital. Others, under the leadership of Abu Hamid, moved to a village called Bunga about three (3) Km away from Zurmi. From Bunga, they migrated to Zurmi in the first seventeen years of the 7th century.

     At the beginning of the Jihad of Shehu Danfodiyo, Shehu requested their assistance in the jihad, and they agreed and gave total support to the process and the exclusion of the crusade.

  Namoda was chosen to lead the army because his ideas and understanding were in consonance with those of the Shehu.

  In an expedition the was known as the battle of Fafara, which took place within the first seventeen years of the  7th century, Fulani, under the leadership of Namoda, gained victory over the Azbinawa, Gobirawa and their group.As a result of that victory, Shehu presented flags to eighteen (y8) traditional homes from various parts of Nigeria for their enormous contribution.  These are called the Shehu Flag bearers. They are 

FLAG BERERS SOKOTO CALIPHATE

1.Muhammadu Moyijo      Kabbi

2.Abu  Humid  Zamfara     (Zurmi)

3. Ummarun  Dallaji     Katsina

4.Mallam Musa      Zazzau

5.Mallam Isiyaka     Daura

6.Mallam Suleiman     Kano

7.Buba Yaro             Gombe

8.Mallam Alimi     Ilorin

9.Mallam Dendo     Nupe

10.Mallam Yakubu      Bauchi

 11.Modibbo Adama     Adamawa

12.Mallam Zaki     Katagun 

13.Mallam Sambo               Hadeja

14.Mallam Dantunku          Kazaure 

15.Muhammadu Manli  Masau

16.Muhammadu Nabi Jama,are

17.Muhammadu Namoda         Kaura Namoda 

18.Sambo Dan  Ashaf         Yandoja

After the Jihad, in a peaceful atmosphere, Abu Hamid was Turbaned as Sarkin Zamfara. His Cousin, Namoda, and his brother, Mamud, decided to move out of Zurmi and establish their traditional headquarters about 45. Kilometres away from Zurmi in a place now called Kaura Namoda. 

‘’Kaura’’ is a term in Hausa Meaning migration. Thus, Kaura Namoda means the migration of Namoda from Zurmi. This took place in 1809. After the migration of  Namoda, another one of his brothers, named Danjeka, left and set up a traditional seat at Moriki about 54 Kilometres away from Kaura Namoda in 1850,

      During the period under review, both Zurmi Moriki and K/K/Namoda were under the Sarkin Zamfaran Zurmi. This was why in 1825, sarkin Kiyawa Mamuda became sarkin Zamfaran Zurmi, and his son Umaru Mamuda also became sarkin Zamfara Zurmi between 1878-1898. But from then on, the unified leadership in the three houses separated administratively but remained one traditionally. 

     From the turbaning of Abu Hamid in 1784, as Sarkin Zamfara, up to the end of his leadership, Zurmi and its Emirate have two hundred and forty one (241) years in existence. It had twenty (20) leaders out of which seventeen were district heads, while three (3) were Emirs. They are as follows:

TRADITIONAL LEADERS OF ZURMI

      Today Zurmi Emirate have one senior district head, eighteen  District heads and seventy-two village heads. It has three (3) historical headquarters, which are 

1. Tsakuna

2. Bunga 

3. Zurmi 

DISTRICTS IN ZURMI EMIRATE

AND THEIR TRADITIONAL TITTLES

CONCIL MEMBERS OF THE EMIRATE

GENERAL TRADITIONAL TITTLES

TITTLES FOR ROYAL FAMILY MEMBERS

TRADITIONAL TITTLES FOR FEMALES