Versions of the Origin of Biu Dynasty

A. On the Origin of Yamtarawala and His Establishment in Biu Land

One generally accepted fact about Yamtarawala’s background is that he was born and brought up in Kanuriland. Everything else about his past tends to be debatable and there are different stories, some of which are contradictory, about his origin. In Chapter 4, I reproduced the most popular version in Biu area of the origin of Yamtarawala. Here, as handed down by oral tradition, and for the interest of historians, ethnographers and other researchers, are the other versions:


(a)   That Yamtarawala’s Mother was of Arab Origin…                                    

According to this source, Yamtarawala’s mother, named Asga, was captured by the slave hunters of the ruler of Ngazargamu in early 15th century. Before her capture, she was the wife of the King of Azur, an ancient kingdom near Egypt. When her husband was attacked by the king of Egypt, she escaped from the palace and sought refuge in the bush where she lost her way and wandered into the captive hands of the slave hunters who brought her to the palace of Ngazargamu in the former Borno empire.          The ruler of Ngazargamu, Mai Idris ibn Ahmed Aloma, struck by her white-skinned beauty, proposed marriage to her. She accepted and became his wife. Soon after, she announced that she was pregnant, which pleased her husband who had been praying to have his own child. But one of her bodyguards quickly observed that her pregnancy, being unusually pronounced, could not have occurred at the palace and that she must have taken in before her capture and subsequent marriage to the ruler. He whispered the matter to some courtiers who, revering the ruler, kept it secret.

When her baby came, he was named Abdullahi. A few years later, she gave birth to another male child named Umar. Both of them grew up together in the palace. When the ruler died, the secret was blown open and the kingmakers sought to know which of the young men was the true son of the ruler.

They gave each of them a cow to slaughter. The elder son hit the cow on the ground and slaughtered it without much ado. When it was the turn of the younger son, he asked some people to help him tie the cow and laid it on the ground with its head facing the east. Then he prayed and slaughtered it. Thus, the younger son demonstrated that he was the ruler’s true son because he had done that task the way the ruler would have done it. The kingmakers chose the younger son as the new ruler.

Angered by that decision and feeling that as the eldest son it was his birthright to be the next ruler, Abdullahi left the palace with a number of his supporters, carting away from the ruler’s armoury several weapons. Those weapons, and a few intrigues employed to complement them, helped Abdullahi, who was to be reknowned as Yamtarawala to overpower kingdoms until he established himself as king among the Biu people, thereby laying the foundation for the Biu royal dynasty – starting the long line of emirs called “Kuthli” or “Mai.” (The title “Mai” is of Kanuri origin.)                            


(b) That Yamtarawala’s Mother Hailed from Jukun Land…

According to this version, Yamtarawala originated from Ngazargamu. The king of Ngazargamu had no son. He sought for help from marabouts who assured him that a woman would come from among the Jukun tribe. If he married her, she would bear a son for him.

The Jukun woman who came was already pregnant before meeting the king who married her nonetheless. As predicted she bore him a son. Then she took in again and bore another son. Both grew up, looking alike.

When the king died, it was difficult knowing for sure which of the two sons was the king’s biological son. So the people said that since the late king was a muslim, his son was likely to bear some of his characteristics. To determine this, a cow was given to each of them to slaughter. Yamtarawala held his cow, facing the west and slaughtered it without any hesitation. The other son requested that his be tied securely, facing the east, before slaughtering the animal. The people determined that the younger son was the king’s son and made him the king.

Yamtarawala got annoyed and left the palace, heading towards the Mandara mountain with his gang of supporters. He settled at Limbur village before heading westward towards Gujba, conquering the chiefs of every group of settlers on his way. He overthrew the chief of Mandaragrau and brought the people under his control.

When he reached Miringa, he tried to penetrate but was warded off by “Mumba,” Miringa’s legendary charm hidden in a secret shrine (tibal). “Mumba” was the people’s spiritual defence against external aggressors. And so Yamtarawala tarried at Miringa forest which provided him water and firewood. Perhaps, Kwatam Gambo, the chief’s daughter, was attracted to the forest for she and Yamtarawala got acquainted. And Yamtarawala expressed interest in their having a marital relationship. But she would not divulge the secret of “Mumba” when asked.

So, Yamtarawala invited her to his place on a certain day and got her drunk. She revealed everything about the shrine, including the sacrifice to make before seeing the shrine. Yamtarawala offered the sacrifice, laid hold of the shrine and destroyed its potency, carrying some parts of the shrine to the Miringa palace. When the people saw what he was carrying, they were all frightened, for no one had ever succeeded in destroying “Mumba”. The people of Miringa surrendered and Yamtarawala became its leader. From there, he went on to conquer the surrounding villages establishing his authority over what is today known as Biu emirate.
One of the major towns Yamtarawala conquered after his failure to become the ruler of Ngazargamu and after his exit from the palace was Diwa. But conquering Diwa was, perhaps, the hardest of his campaigns. Several times he had tried to penetrate Diwa but was each time rebuffed. What was the secret of Diwa? Yamtarawala guessed that someone in the house of Diwa’s chief should know.

So he dressed up very well and went to Diwa. He met the slave of the daughter of the Diwa chief as she was drawing water. Through the slave, Yamtarawala had access to the chief’s daughter whom he seduced. He stayed with her till late in the night. Then, when all were asleep, the chief’s daughter took Yamtarawala to where her father’s spear was. She explained that no army can overcome Diwa as long as her father had that spear in his hand. Yamta left her.

Some days later, when he knew the chief’s people had gone to harvest corn for him and that his daughter would remain behind, Yamta came. The chief’s daughter offered him a drink. Both of them drank until she got drunk. Whereupon Yamta killed her and went and took the spear.

Three days later, Yamta returned with the spear and his army and took the town.                                                                                                                   

B. On How Yamtarawala Came About His Name                   

There are more versions here than in any other aspect of Yamtarawala’s oral history. Reconciling  the different versions is made particularly difficult because the name appears to be a corruption of one statement or the other made on dissimilar occasions. Five versions are noteworthy and are briefly stated below.            

(i) “The Bigger Yamta”: In the version of Yamtarawala’s sojourn among the Babur, as narrated in Chapter 4, the people were delighted that the stranger was as helpful as the folk hero they had lost in the late Yamta. And so, they exclaimed, “Ngza Yamta kisi laburtsa – Yamta naawaltsa!” meaning, “See another Yamta had come for us, the bigger Yamta.” Hence, according to Hogbin and Kirk-Greene, the stranger was nicknamed, Yamtarawala, i.e., Yamta the Great.      

(ii) “Leader”: J.G Davies, author of The Biu Book, suggested that the name might have come from an Arabic phrase, “youman taraka wallahi” meaning “I will be leader of the people.” This was said to have been uttered by Yamtarawala when he lost out in the Ngazargamu chieftaincy contest and headed southwards.  

(iii) “Chief”: Having lost the race for the rulership of Ngazargamu (See Appendix IIIA(b)), Abdullahi, who later emerged as Yamtarawala, was said to have cried, “Youman – teram – wallahianasultan insha Allah,” meaning, “One day you shall see that I am a chief, God willing.”                                     

(iv) “Biu-bound”: Some sources, similar to those of Appendices IIIA(a) and (b) said that Yamtarawala’s mother, Asga, was an Arab woman from Egypt.  She married an Ngazargamu king named Mai Idris Ibn Ahmed for whom she bore a son named Muham- madu. Asga was said to have given the boy another name, “Yamta,” saying, “Yamta Ula, I have seen a vision that you will leave Borno and go to Viu (Biu) to become king.”                     

(v) “Till We Meet Again”: According to this version, Kwatam Gambo, the chief’s daughter (Appendix IIIA(b)), met Yamtarawala at the water point and told him she had located the shrine. Yamtarawala asked her to lead him to the place. She did. There, she made some incantations and the shrine appeared. Yamtarawala seized the shrine and they returned to the water point. At the water point, Yamtarawala took leave of the girl, saying in Arabic, “Yawmu tara wala,” (“Till we meet again.”) When curious members of the community later asked the girl whom the stranger was, she said the man simply told her, “Yomutarawala,” and the community thereafter called him “Yamtarawala.”                                       


The Mystery of Yamtarawala’s Death

   The legendary Yamtarawala wanted to know if any of his children was more powerful than him. He put a stone inside a pot and poured water on it. Then he began to cook the stone. When the water started boiling, he called his six children, namely, Marvirhyel (son), Purkwa (daughter), Awa (daughter), Pachang (son), Diruwuallah (son), and Pihtum (son), and asked them to go one after the other to check if the stone had cooked. All but one went to check and came back to announce that the stone was yet to be cooked.                                         

The only exception was Marvirhyel who opened the pot, put his hand and brought out the stone. Yamtarawala noted that Marvirhyel had acquired powers which could pose a serious challenge to him and arranged to have him killed. The plot failed as the son, unknown to the father, escaped unhurt.            

Meanwhile, Marvirhyel was presumed dead and was being mourned. When Marvirhyel saw some people from a neighbouring village going to sympathise with his father over his supposed death, he sent a cynical message to his father through them. Realising that his son had outwitted him, and had through his public message ridiculed his power as well, Yamtarawala became very angry. So great was his anger that while he sat on his chair, with no one sitting by him, he began to sink into the ground.  One of his daughters saw him seated on the chair and sinking into the ground. She raised alarm, calling out her mother who was cooking in the kitchen.        
  
Yamtarawala’s head was sinking into the ground when his wife, trying not to lose every part of him, cut off a bunch of hair from his vanishing head. Since then, that bunch of hair, called zukumbli, had  remained a potent symbol of the dynasty passed on from one Emir of Biu to each succeeding Emir.              

The spot where Yamtarawala was said to have mysteriously sank into the ground while seated on his seat still stands today as his tomb in the town of Limbur.  Even some personal effects, believed to be his, namely, his cap, shoes and walking stick, have also been preserved and, as at the time of this writing, are deposited at Nigeria’s National Museum.