Mubi – Mandara Kingdom, To A ‘Trust Territory’, Province, 2 Emirates And 2 Chiefdoms

Mubi – Mandara Kingdom, To A ‘Trust Territory,’ Province, 2 Emirates And 2 Chiefdoms – 1

Many of us may not know the legendary Mandara Kingdom, in which the present Mubi Emirate, which is made up of Mubi North, Mubi South, Madagali, Michika, and Maiha local government areas, is now located. This kingdom, which came under the Fombina (Adamawa) Emirate as a result of the Jihad, included present-day Gwoza in Borno state, which was part of Adamawa Province (Yola) and later Sardauna Province (Mubi) until 1976 when Gwoza was moved to Borno state.

The Mandara Kingdom, otherwise known as the Medra Kingdom or Wandala Kingdom, as it was also called, is a grassland and a mountainous area that has historically been a land in transit. The land went through a process of change that saw the inhabitants of the area from Gwoza to Lassa in the Sambisa forest down to Maiha and Belel in the southeast and across the mountains in northern Cameroon use the mountains as a refuge for resisting conquest and enslavement by their neighbours living in the surrounding plains.

A century of wars with neighbouring Kanuri of Kanem Borno and wars with the indigenous Fulbhe, long settled with the aboriginal population of the Mandara kingdom, had put the area in constant conflict.

However, it was the Jihad wars led by Modibbo Adama from the Benue Valley in the south (Fombina) that finally subdued the Mandara in 1893 and put southern Chad, northern Cameroon, and parts of the Central African Republic under the Fombina Emirate of Adamawa with headquarters in Yola when Yola became the headquarters of the Fombina Emirate in 1841.

After the Jihad in 1804 that created the Sokoto Caliphate, a conference was held in 1884-1885 by European powers who agreed to regulate the European colonisation and trade in Africa and formalised the scramble for the continent that “carved up Africa” into colonialist possessions. With the British conquest of Yola in 1901, the areas brought under Fombina were shared between Britain, France, and Germany.

The Germans took Cameroon, Togo, Rwanda, Tanganyika (which became Tanzania after uniting with Zanzibar in 1964), and South West Africa (now Namibia). Nigeria was taken by Britain.

However, when Germany was defeated in the first world war (1914-1918), all German colonies listed above were seized and shared between Britain and France, who defeated Germany in the first world war.

However, the border between Cameroon and Nigeria was not clearly defined. This caused a stalemate between France and Britain when France came to take over Cameroon (a former German colony).

The disputed territory was the then-narrow strip from Bama, Dikwa, and Gwoza (now in Borno state); Madagali, Michika, Mubi, and Maiha (Adamawa North); Jada and Ganye (in Adamawa South); Gashaka and Mambila (now in Taraba state); and North West Cameroon, with headquarters at Bamenda, and South West Cameroon, headquartered at Victoria, now called Limbe.

To avoid a war between France and Britain over the disputed territory, the United Nations (UN), then called the League of Nations, took over the area as ‘UN Trust Territory.’

When the struggle for independence swept over Africa in the 1960s and Britain and France decided to give Cameroon and Nigeria independence in 1960, the strip of land from Gwoza, Madagali, Michika, Mubi, Maiha, Sorau, Belel, Jada, Ganye, Toungo, Gashaka, Mambila, North West, and South West Cameroon came under the UN trusteeship.

In 1959, the United Nations asked the territories to decide whether to join Nigeria, or, to join Cameroon, or to stay with the UN.

At the first vote was taken in 1959, the territory voted by referendum or plebiscite to remain under the UN Trusteeship and thus refused to join Nigeria or Cameroon. However, the UN did not have the resources to continue administering the territories. Consequently, it ordered the taking of a second ballot (plebiscite), this time with only two options: to either join Nigeria or Cameroon.

An intense electioneering campaign was mounted by both Nigeria and Cameroon to woo the peoples in the second ballot held in 1961; that is, after both Nigeria and Cameroon became independent in 1960. The Premier of the Northern region, Sir. Ahmadu Bello (Sardauna Sokoto), and his NPC party campaigned vigorously among the people. Sardauna promised them that if they voted to join Nigeria, he would give them a province of their own to stay out of Adamawa Province, under which they were since the Jihad.

Cameroon, on the other hand, promised to give the traditional rulers in the territory a 1st class status if they lead their people into Cameroon.

At the second vote (plebiscite) held in 1961, Gwoza, Madagali, Michika, Mubi, Maiha, Sorau, Belel, Jada, Ganye, Toungo, and Gashaka voted to join Nigeria, while the North West Cameroon (Bamenda) and South West Cameroon (Limbe) voted to join Cameroon.

After joining Nigeria in 1961, Mubi, Gwoza, Madagali, Michika Maiha, Jada, Ganye, Toungo, Gashaka, and Mambila had the promise made to them by the Premier fulfilled, and accordingly he gave them a province out of Adamawa Province.

At their first meeting after the plebiscite, the traditional chiefs that brought their people into Nigeria (Gwoza, Madagali, Michika, Mubi, Sorau, Belel, Jada, Ganye, Toungo, Gashaka, and Mambila) decided to thank the Sardauna by naming their new province Sarduna Province with headquarters in Mubi.

By this, Nigeria gained more land from the disputed territory and became larger while Adamawa Province became smaller, having lost Jada, Ganye, Toungo, Mambila, and Gashaka to Mubi Province.

The map of this province was kind of funny to me even though I was not born in 1961 when it was drawn. With this map, Gashaka, Mambila, Toungo, Ganye, and Jada would have to jump over Fufore LGA, which shares a common border with Jada in the south and Maiha in the north, to reach Mubi, their headquarters. Despite all entreaties, Fufore remained a territory with a common border with Cameroon but refused to join Sardauna Province that would have enabled the province to be contiguous.

(Edited by Vangawa Bolgent)