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HISTORY OF THE BWATIYE PEOPLE IN ADAMAWA STATE AND

THE BWALL PEOPLE IN PLATEAU STATE OF NIGERIA

JOSEPH, Deborah Chimeremeze (CWCNS/2022/0187)

MAY 23, 2023

DEPARTMENT OF NURSING SCIENCE
CENTRAL WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF NURSING SCIENCES, ENUGU.
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History of the bwatiye people from the 14th to 19th century.

The batta originally called “Bwata” (singular) or “Bwatiye” (plural) originated

from the middle East around Yemen. Migrating west-wards, they eventually

settled at Gobir between 14th and 15th centuries.

In the waves of their further dispersal from Gobir, they migrated east – ward

through Hausa land toward the chad Basing area to the Northeast. This

movement was partly dictated by the quest for available natural resources.

Before the south chad movement, the batta has established a kingdom in Gobir

area, with alkalawa as its base from where they waged wars of expansion on

their neighbours. There was another wave of further migration from chad

Basing area to south towards mandara and then down to the upper Benue

Region, around the 17th century in two major consecutive waves.

The first wave of this migration entered from Bazza/Uba axis in the north

sometimes in the 17th century. These are the non-riverian Batta who settled

mainly on plains to the north of Benue River.

Establishing settlements such as Bolki, Hodassom (Song), murke , Zumma ,

Holma, Kofa, Konkol, Malabu, Maiha, which mean (Nzai) , Belel Sarau etc.

The second wave of migration from south Chad was into the Upper Benue

Region. This was by far the largest group known as the Bazza group. They

moved down the Kebbi river and Benue rivers. Modern historians have accepted

this theory and suggested the end of the 17th or Early 18th century as the
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probable date of this migration. Unlike the earlier batta group, Bazza group was

riverain people who tended to settle along river valleys or near river

confluences. From their ancestral Base at Demsa-Pwa, which became the capital

of a powerful kingdom in the upper Benue region, the batta spread up and down

the valley of Benue and its tributaries, particularly the faro, establishing

settlements which acknowledged the authority of their king at Demsa-Pwa.

Such settlements are Goruwe, Kokumi, Tepe, Sokwaki etc.

At first the two waves of Batta migration occupied two district zones of the

same region. However, the two groups eventually intermixed through their

expansion.

By the mid-18th century, the batta were well established in the Upper Benue

valley and the northern plains with absolute hegemony over their neighbours.

Due to their preponderance and political dominance. Batta language survived

among the group they met in this area. Some of these groups either moved

further from Batta sphere of influence due to minor conflicts on resources by

vacating the Benue and lower faro valleys for the Batta, while others were

assimilated by the Batta. The stage was thus set for the unhindered expansions

of the Batta.

The early years of the 19th century witnessed an influx of nomadic herdsmen

into the Upper Benue and Faro valleys in search of pastures. They settled

among the Batta their neighbours acknowledging Batta lordship over them.
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This period marks a turning point in the history of the Batta in this region

because of the emergence of religious revival movement in the west African

region.

The heart land of Batta kingdom consequently became an arena of conflict

between a new religion and the existing traditional religion. This conflict led to

lost of political control over a greater portion of territory hitherto under the

tutelage of Hama Batta, resulting in further west-ward migration along the

Benue valley by the Royal Clan.

At Bawohome (ngurore), there was a split in the kingdom as a result of factional

dynastic conflict with part of the Royal Clan moving further West across the

Benue River under the leadership of the junior brother of the reigning king. The

By-effect of the dispute is the establishment of the Bachama kingdom with

headquarters at Bachama (lamurde).

The main faction under the reigning king also moved Westward establishing

basis at Baluwa, Gengle, Sugbeyin, Yoffo, Kikon, and finally settled at Demsa

mosu as the political and cultural symbol of the kingdom.

In early 1800, the kingdom witnessed an influx of the European traders using

the River Benue as highway- one of such traders was explorer Mr. Baikie who

came with the aim of making a treaty with Hama Batta but failed.

In 1896. The Royal Niger Company under sir George Taubman Goldie entered

into a trade agreement with Hama Batta for permission to trade within the

stretch of the River Benue that flowed through his territory.

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Batta precolonial Central Government initially refused to accept the White man

until early 1900 when Batta opposition against the white man ended .

Subsequently, reionization of the area by the colonial government led to the

emergence of a federation of Paramount chiefs together with Bachama,

mbula,Lunguda, and Kanakuru.

The 1926 re-organization of the northern provinces saw the emergence of Batta

district as a sole Native Authority in recognition of her outstanding history in

the region.

A third class staff of office was given to the kingdom at the reign of Homun

Zaro kpanti. During the reign of Homun Zaro (jalo) , Batta kingdom was

accorded a seat in the Northern House of chiefs , Kaduna .

The kingdom was uplifted to Second-Class status in 1983 during the reign of

Homun Francis Dire (1966 to 1998) . And in the days Homun Saul Jeriel Swade

, CON, Batta Kingdom was elevated to the exalted position of a first Class

Status on 28th January 2006 By the then governor Boni Haruna (makaman

mubi) .

Below is the orderly roll of the 55 “Homye” that reigned.

1)Homun Matiyavune 6)Homun Pakida 11)Homun Ndaban

2) Homun Manogwale 7) Homun Mbutakto 12)Homun Dappo

3)Homun Homoduwe 8)Homun Wontombo 13)Homun Nzodappo

4)Homun Makrai 9)Homun Nzongakto 14)Homun Swade Ngakai

5)Homun Tunotunso 10)Homun Nzedazogumto 15)Homun Swade Rugunge

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16)Homun Peti Pwareno 38)Homun Sokarma

17)Homun Gbarkila 39)Homun Pude

18)Homun Bongebilla 40)Homun Gbamito

19)Homun Koya Rabo 41)Homun Kpalanghe 1815-1824 (Founder of present Demsa)

20)Homun Zaro Teficai 42)Homun Tulike 1824-1850

21)Homun Gamegaso 43)Homun Gwegwe 1850-1861

22)Homun Zaro 44)Homun Tarah 1861-1870

23)Homun Kadagon 45)Homun Dunoma 1870-1885

24)Homun Zaro Furume 46)Homun Samba 1885-1887

25) Homun Kalato 47)Homun Kauyau 1887-1895

26)Homun Kanbedime 48)Homun Kpanti 1895-1901

27)Homun Maturonze 49)Homun Nzomo Wodiye 1901-1921(pensioned)

28)Homun Bapeloduwe 50)Homun TENEKE 1921-1934 (deposed).

29)Homun Kombe 51)Homun Zaro Jalo 1934-1955.

30)Homun Dukzure 52)Homun Enoch Swade 1955-1966 (deposed).

31)Homun Lepito 53)Homun Francis Dire Aminzati 1966-1998

32)Homun Gufuto 54)Homun Saul Jeriel Swade 1998-2010

33)Homun Vorbwalto 55)Homun Alhamdu Gladstone Teneke 2010-Date.

34)Homun Bumorukute

35)Homun Sakenkenghe

36)Homun Hinglin

37)Homun Jito Majem

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Homun ALHAMDU Gladstone Teneke eventually became the first graduate

monarch in the Batta Kingdom, the 2nd Hama Batta to reign as a first class as

well as the 55th Hama Batta in the history of Batta Kingdom.

He was appointed on 8th February, 2010 and given staff of office on 16th April

2010 by His Excellency Murtala H Nyako, GCON (SARKI YAMMA

ADAMAWA) , The governor Adamawa state.

Batta chiefdom is well known for its peaceful co-existence and indeed, a good

example of unity in diversity due to its multi-ethnicity and multi-culturalism.

Speaks Bachama
(Bwatiye people)

MAP OF ADAMAWA STATE

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Another version of Bwatiye history and journey to where they are today.

Bwatiye people according to history and believes came to Nigeria from one of

the three ancient Nubian kingdoms located in present day areas of Aswan,

Egypt, and old Dongola (in what is later northern Sudan) where they originally

lived, the probable time of their exit from the region must have been 1000AD.

The period during which the last strong Nubian kingdom of Makuria was

suppressed by the Turks. Some of the tribes that make up the Nubian kingdoms

migrated rather than surrender to the area south of the Sahara Desert. The

bwatiye were probably part of this migration, thus bwatiye people can rightly be

said to be a fusion of several tribal elements from the Nubia region that

migrated, encountering, suppressing, and assimilating tribal elements during

their long migration (the bachama and batta people are subdivision of the same

tribe now called the bwatiye).

After many years of travel (16th-17th century). They moved westward across

Africa until they came to what is today north-western Nigeria (presently Sokoto,

Zamfara and Kebbi states of Nigeria). There the bwatiye founded the city of

Sokoto, while another group of the people went on to the gobir area. To the

present day the people of gobirawa in Kebbi state of Nigeria regard the bwatiye

as their neighbours, how long they lived in Sokoto is uncertain.

Bawa zangorsa, a well-known figure in Hausa history was the son of a king by a

slave wife, after the death of the king, he became the next king and ruled in
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Sokoto for forty years. Toward the end of bawa zangorsa’s reign, Islam first

entered Nigeria by way of a young, learned Fulani named Shehu dan fadio.

The bwatiye and Hausa were the first people to get in contact with Islam in

early 1800s. Bawa asked Shehu to become his son’s teacher. When bawa died,

his son Daniya became king. Since daniya was young, Shehu and his brothers

took advantage of him and planned to take the kingship from him.

Every year the bwatiye used to observe a hunting festival of several days.

During this expedition, Shehu and his brother felt that the time had come for

them to overthrow the bwatiye king and rule in Sokoto, but Ndwamwato, one of

the king’s counsellors, became suspicious, for he remembered the late king's

instructions that bwatiye should never make a treaty with the Fulani, because

they would overthrow the king and rule over them and make them slaves. So,

when the king and the rest of the hunters were gone over a period of several

days, Ndwamwato and Kpana stayed at home where they witnessed Shehu

being crowned as king (he took the title imam and later of sultan). Stealthily and

in haste, they took the bwatiye regalia, and the golden stool (with an ancient

hieroglyphs) which they had brought from southern Egypt and left the city.

When they came to the place where the king was, the people gathered together

in council and decided to leave the area, they left that area and moved westward

along the Benue River.

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The migratory route which they followed is a subject of dispute among

historians. However, while stevens (stevens 1973) suggested that it was for

Sokoto (yelwa and yowuri), on to the jebba river area to kakan yawuri to birnin

kebbi to kabaw; tozo, katami, yabo, tambuo, kori. Kirk (kirk-greene 1958)

simply puts it thus: gobir by way of zim and maifoni to the region of garua, to

dasin, dongire (yola) ngurore and mayo wono, than demsa mosu and numan.

However, the reform of the instituted by Shehu (dan fodio) led by modibbo

adama caught up with them, rather than submit to Islam, the bwatiye king at

demsa – pwa, humon taginaya chose to emigrate with his follower. At bawo-

home (between ngurore and namtari, the king died, shortly the rivalry between

his two twins zaro kpalame the elder brother and zaro dembune his younger

brother led to the split of the tribe, dembune moved across the Benue to

establish bachama kingdom at lamurde/numan.

The batta remained and sustained the fight against the Fulani jihadist for much

of the 1800s, but by 1870s they were significantly suppressed and much of their

territories west of Yola was colonised by the jihadist, the Fulani now set up

garrison and agricultural settlements there based on slave labour.

The bachama, on the other hand, fought with the Fulani for much of the 1850s

but were never defeated or Islamised. This status quo was maintained till 1901

when the British came, after conquering Yola, they found in the Fulani’s

instruments of indirect rule because they had not the manpower to oversee the
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entire region, hence the politics of the region changed. Tribes like the bachama

that were never conquered by the Fulani now found themselves subordinated to

them with the aid of Britain.

The headquarters of the colonial administration was then situated in Yola under

a resident officer of British descent. For effective administration the province

was divided into four divisions in the 1900s into numan, muri emirate, yola and

gashaka division. The numan division at the time consisted of bachama, batta,

mbula and shelleng. However, further re-organisation led to the formation of the

council of numan federation in 1936. In 1951 the native authority was establish

to replace the existing council. It consisted of seven members; the chief of

bachama, batta, mbula and kanakuru, also included were the village heads of

guyuk, kiri and longuda, the first were each made to spend a month in numan to

represent the native authority (kirk-greene 1954).

However, the two kingdoms (bachama and batta) realising they were the same

people decided to re-unify under the designation of bwatiye, this was approved

by the government of the defunct gongola state of Nigeria on the request of the

two monarchs. It was approved on 6th September 1979 and gazette was

published on 17th December 1987 (gongola state of Nigeria gazette no. Vol 12).

The bwatiye today are found in the following local government in Adamawa

state of Nigeria, fufore, girei, demsa, numan, yola (north and south) lamurde

and garoua in cameroon.

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Language

Bwatiye people speak Bachama Language.

Festivals

Bachama Kwete annual cultural festival. It is a seven days spiritual-cultural

festival that is done to honour their vegetarian god (Homonpwa ka Puledan) for

the bounty of agricultural produces.

Njuwa Fishing Festival of Bwatiye people

It is a two days fishing festival that attracts many fishermen around the country

to display their fishing skills. It has no specific date, but it mostly come up in

the month of April.

Vunon Festival

It is popularly known as Farai-Farai. It is a four-days festival that tends to unite

Demsa, Mbula, Numan and Lamurde in worshipping their common deities and

to also declare farming activities open. It is one of the biggest festivals of the

Bwatiye people that involved singing, dancing and displaying of numerous

ornaments.

Traditional Governance

The Bwatiye people used monarchy system of government and the title given to

their ruler is Hama Bachama.

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The current Hama Bachama, Daniel Shaga Ismaila.

Bwall History

BRIEF HISTORY OF BWALL ORIGIN

Bwall which has its original name as Bwol or Mbwel has a land mass of an area

25 square miles with the population of 2,277 as of 1930s but at present it is

about 25,000 people.

Bwall which according to oral history has two version of meanings.

1. The name Bwall is derive from Grasshopper “Dabwall” which were said to

have flew from its settlement at Moera-Nadang between Namu and Lafia close

to Mankwar in Nassarawa state as a result of being captured by slave masters of

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Bari-Bari the Hausa Jihadist in Lafia and settle in Teram a village close to the

present settlement before reaching the final destination in the present place

Bwall.

2. The second version was that the Bwall were the descendant of Dajan which

founded Jepjan (Namu) whom is the elderly twin of Dajin who founded

“Dimmuk” or Doemak, the other descendance of Dajan founded Tarem

Dungba’an, Njak.

According to the history, Bwall vacated Namu (Jepjan) when the Hausawa

Jihadist captured Namu and a large pit was dug which half of the Bwall tribe

were thrown into the pit and roasted alive, while the rest fled to Teram and from

there to the valley of the hill in ther, present place Bwall which was then

Bwol (meaning deep valley or deep hole).

The two version traced its origin to have come from the same place but different

routes.

The first group traced its routes from Kwararafa to Jukun Kingdom and the

Arago group in Adogi Nassarawa state whom were the last group of Jukun

Kingdom to dispersed to other places with the Goemai, Arago, etc.

While the second group moved out of the Kwararafa or Jukun Kingdom with

the Angas, Mwaghavul etc. To first settle in Garam in Panshin from there to

“pes” under Mangu LGA where they moved to Kofiyar where the Dajan and the

Dajin set out for their Sojourn to founded Namu and Doemak respectively and

Bwall are the descendance of Dajan who founded Namu.

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Bwall is one of the districts in Qua’an-pan LGA which shares boundary with

Nassarawa in the southwest, Namu district in north-east and Chakfem in Mangu

LGA in the north-North.

Bwall as a district has three sections which comprises of nine villages;

1. BWALL PROPER

This comprises of the Bwall-yim headed by Long Bwall which is situated at the

foot hill of Bwol valley. GOEPIL Is the hamlet of Bwall headed by the Goebau

(madaki). NKUM Is another hamlet of Bwall section headed by Nuwling Nkum

(Galadima) when the Bwall migrated from Teram the Nkum moved and settle at

river li. DAYEN Hamlet is situated at the south-west of Bwall on the “Deep”

river was founded by a son of a Doemak woman who married a Goepil man and

fled back to Doemak during the Bwall and Doemak tribal war and on return

settle at river “Deep”.

SECTION 2 TANBAR:

This section is situated in the north of the Bwall proper in the mouth of the Jila

valley. The Tanba are said to have their ancestral members from Arago tribe of

Adogi in Lafia emirate the Tanbais meaning obscure, who were given

permission by the Bwall proper to settle and answerable to the Bwall proper

head (Long Bwall), they therefore adopted the name as Bwall Tanba. The

section does have sub-division of hamlets like Kopna’ankat(Lakwal),

Dangdat(Dayak), Koplong, Dapoe, Kongyer, etc.

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SECTION 3 NAKUM

They occupy the wide, deep valley stretching northwards into Doemak hills.

Their ancestors came from Chakfem in Mangu LGA but also contain two

hamlets which are said to have sprung from Lardang in Kofyer like Tanba they

too took permission from Bwall proper to stay but the Chakfem people said they

came before Tanba people, but no one feel strongly on the point they are

answerable to Bwall proper. This section has six hamlets which comprises.

Laghai (Nlayil)

Koplong

Ba’ap Kosdiel

Ba’ap Leksogot

Lar Tangmair

MAP OF PLATEAU STATE

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ANOTHER VERSION OF BWALL HISTORY

According to oral tradition, there are two different groups of Bwall that make up

the present Bwall land, each with its background of origin, the first group are

said to have migrated right from Jukun in Taraba state and settled in Adogi.

When the people settled there, they were made to understand that the area was

not suitable for them and so they left and settled in area called Moera-Nadang

the reason best known to the early settlers in the present Bwall land. This make

them to be the first settlers in Bwall land. The villages that originated from this

Moera-Nadang are Bwall-yim, Goeplil, Nkum and Tanba. In the same vein, the

people of Nakum traced their place of origin from Garram in Panshin but left

there and settle at Pess in the hilly country west of Chip-valley and north of

their present settlement. But when the people settled there, they discovered that

the area was not suitable for them to settle there permanently and so deserted

and settled in the present area called Nakum.

There Nakum, Koplong Nakum and Kongba’an Nakum Bwall district is

generally well known for its palm trees and that makes her to be the prettiest

parts of Pan chiefdom in Qua’an-Pan LGA.

Upon all the difference in origin as stated above, the people of Bwall remain as

one people, speaking the same language with the same culture and tradition.
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DANCE GROUPS FROM BWALL AREA ARE AS FOLLOWS

Tam Pagal

Tam Sha’a

Tam Belshep

Tam Bel Wan

Tam Nalee

Tam Goemat

Guomyang

Lekbal

TRADITIONAL INSTITUTIONS OF BWALL

Bwall is headed by Long-Bwall who is also the president of the Bwall

traditional council and has four paid village heads as follows:

1. MADAKI: Take care of Goepil and Nkum areas and he is the vice president

of Bwall traditional council.

2. GALADIMA: Takes care of Bwallyim and Kwalgallak areas, and he is the

chairman of the king makers.

3. LONG NAKUM: Takes care of Nakum and Kongba’an areas and he is a

member of king makers for the selection of long Bwall.

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REFERENCES

1. Carnochan, J. (1967). “The Coming of the Fulani: A Bachama Oral

Tradition”. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and african Studies,

University of London.30 (3): 622–633. JSTOR 612391

(https://www.jstor.org/stable/612391) .

2. “Hama Bachama: A paramount ruler’s many worries”

(https://thenationonlineng.net/hama-bachama-a-paramount-rulers-many-

worries/) . The Nation newspaper. 2021-01-03. Retrieved 2022-05-21.

3. Retrieved from

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?Title=Bwatiye_people&oldid=1154

286904

4. "Post Offices- with map of LGA"

(https://web.archive.org/web/20091007011423/

http://www.nipost.gov.ng/PostCode.aspx) . NIPOST. Archived from the

original (http://www.nipost.gov.ng/PostCode.a Referencesspx) on 7

October 2009. Retrieved 20 October 2009.

5. "QUA`ANPAN @ A GLANCE"

(https://qppfvoices.wordpress.com/about/) .

QUA`AN-PAN PROJECT FRONTIERS. 27 June 2017. Retrieved 18

August 2017.

6. Retrieved from
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https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Qua%27an_Pan&oldid=1136136829

7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bwatiye_people

8. https://dangdatray.wordpress.com/2016/09/12/bwall-history/