NEWSROYALE Sifawa: A forgotten capital of Sokoto Caliphate
The history of the Fulani jihad that led to the revival of Shari’a law in most of the Hausa dominated areas in the North will not be complete without the mention of Sifawa town. It was said to be the first place where the 19 Century Islamic reformer, Sheikh Usmanu Danfodiyo, settled after the fall of Gobir and Kabawa dynasties.
Most of the commanders of the Jihad’s troops were said to have collected their flags in Sifawa from Shehu, before embarking on their holy war campaigns.
Sifawa is said to have been in existence even before the advent of Danfodiyo. According to Alhaji Yusuf Tambari Ahmad, Ubandoman Sifawa, the name Sifawa came from the first settler in the area; a hunter who came from a village called Sifawa in the present day Borno State. He said that the area was at that point in time under the Kebbi dynasty, during the reign of a leader called Gudurigan Sifawa.
He said that most of the rulers of Argungu at the time were appointed from Sifawa, and it remained so until after the fall of Kebbi sometime before 1810 AD, as a result of which the entire dynasty surrendered to the jihadists.
According to Ubandoma, Danfodiyo came to Sifawa during the reign of 73th Guduringan Sifawa and unlike in other parts of the Kebbi dynasty, Sifawa was taken over without any confrontation between the inhabitants, who were mostly Kabawa, Nupe, Gobirawa and Hausas and the Fulani jihadists.
According to the account of former President Shehu Shagari, Shehu had settled in the present day Gwandu Emirate before finally relocating to Sifawa.
When Alkalawa, the headquarters of Gobir dynasty was captured by the jihadists, many groups travelled to Gwandu to pledge their support to Danfodiyo, including the Sultan of Agadez in the present day Niger Republic. Gwandu was not big enough to house the people flooding in to greet the Shehu, because it was surrounded on three sides by rocks and lacked room for expansion.
It was also gathered that in 1807, an outbreak caused many deaths and struck down the Shehu, making him very ill. Its exact nature was recorded only as annoba, a generic term for epidemic.
It was said that an attempt was made to build defences and improve housing, but towards the end of 1809 the Shehu decided to leave the cramped valley for an open environment at a place called Sifawa, which was about 30 kilomiters from Gwandu.
He met leaders of the embassies coming to see him and gave out flags to those he trusted, telling them “when you return, tell them that this is what the Shehu gave you. Say also that I accept their greetings. Bid them place their hands in yours, whoever gives his hand to you, joins hand with me.
“Tell them I greet them. Make flags for them like this that I have given to you and give them the flags with the order I have laid upon you. You are the envoy: whatsoever they desire let them tell it to you, then you come and tell me.”
Shehu, it was reported, engaged more in writing and teaching in his five-year stay in Sifawa. It was there he wrote some of his famous poems in Fulfulde, like Sitraaj and Tabban Hakika. It was also in Sifawa that he lost his sister Maimuna, and there still exist her tomb, the remains of Shehu’s house, mosque and school, as well as houses of some of the flag bearers.
Similarly, it was in Sifawa that the calipate was divided into two, with Shehu’s son, Muhammad Bello, taking charge of Sokoto, which he personally established, and Shehu’s brother, Abdullahi, taking charge of the western part of the Calipahte, which include Gwandu.
It was said that Shehu had left Sifawa to rejoin his son, Bello, in Sokoto in the year 1815 AD and died two years later.
Sifawa, which is now a district under Bodinga Local Government also houses the tombs of two saints, who were identified by Shehu in some of his writings. They were Suleiman Autadu and Modibo Wamde Andal.
Sifawa has remained an important historical monument, visited by people from across Africa.
According to the custodian of the tomb of Maimunat, Malam Zurkarnaini, thousands of people come to visit the tombs during Hajj period, saying most of them come from Kano, Gombe, Sokoto and Zuru, among others.
He said the visitors come to pray at the tomb side and that they also give him money and grains as sadakat (alms).
The Ubandoman Sifawa said that among the visitors to the site were prominent emirs that are linked to the flag bearers.
He added that the mosque beside the tomb was constructed by the former Emir of Gwandu Haruna Rasheed, who was a descendant of Shehu’s brother Abdullahi and who also frequented the site and the mosque of Shehu in Sifawa. Rasheed, he said, disliked seeing people praying inside the site of the tombs because of the shari’ ah injunction forbidding such act.
He also said that the former Emir of Gwandu, Haruna Jokolo, also used to visit the site.
Sifawa is now dominated by a clan of Fulani who are mostly farmers and knowledge seekers, with the descendants of Malam Buhari, who was one of the sons of Shehu, serving as the District Head of the area with the title of Sarkin Kudun Sifawa.
Observers of the traditional institution in Sokoto believe Sifawa is one of the districts that could be considered for elevation to emirate council, if the state government decides to establish any in the state.
However, in spite of its historic significant, it is a town in need of modernization, especially in the area of rebuilding its historical sites such as the mosque, school and residence of Danfodiyo. It was observed that the town lacks good roads.
It was said that during the reign of Sultan Ibrahim Dasuki there was a plan to modernize the structures but the plan did not materialize up the time of his deposition in April, 1996.
The Buhari ruling house is one of the heirs to the Sultanate throne and Dasuki came from that family.