By Kenneth Ndeh
Two important deaths have taken place in September and October 2006 which have not received much mention amongst Cameroonians due in part to the lack of awareness of our history. The deaths in question are those of the Sultan of Rey-Bouba in Cameroon and the Sultan of Sokoto in Nigeria.
REY-BOUBA
The Rey-Bouba are originally from Mali, and arrived Cameroon in 1799.
According to the Kings of Africa website,
"The Baba( sultan ) of Rey-Bouba rules over fifty five thousand subjects, and his territory is as large as Belgium and Luxemburg reunited (35 000Km2 ). It is wrong to call him Lamido, because he was never a vassal to Sokoto".
The Bouba-Njidda of Rey-Bouba brought his people from Mali. They are numbered today at about 60,000. Bouba Djama ruled from 1906 - 1944, Ahmadou Bouba from 1944-1975, Bouba Abdoulaye Ahmadou was Sultan from 1975 until 2004 when he died. His son Moustapha Abdoulaye took over and ruled from 2004 to 2006 when he died suddenly about four weeks ago on 28 Sept. 2006.
The new Sultan of Rey-Bouba is his brother, Aboubakari Abdoulaye who is in fact, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development.
The Rey-Bouba are very like the Bibemi, who also came from Mali. The Bibemi however came earlier in 1770. The current Lamido of Bibemi is Halidou Seli.
SOKOTO
The death of Sultan Muhammadu Maccido Abubakar III of Sokoto affects Cameroonians directly. In fact, they are of the same family tree. Usman Dan Fodio established his Sokoto empire around 1804. Shortly thereafter he sent his son, the Mobido Adama to the east, to establish. The Mobido Adama established his headquarters in 1805 in present day Cameroon, at Gurin, near the River Faro. The Bali-Chamba are some of those he fought.
The Mobido Adama was known as the Lamido Fombina. Fombina meant the South. Later on, the Mobido Adama moved his headquarters from Gurin to Yola in present day Nigeria near the Benoue River in 1841. The area was renamed from Fombina to Adamawa after him Adama. Adama was still answerable to the Central Government in Sokoto. Moving to Yola, he conquered others and also made the Bouba-Njidda of Rey-Bouba answerable to him (Mobido Adama) of Yola. Yola later lost its authority due to wars.
In the 1880's Hayatou, the great-grandson of Uthman Dan Fodio, left Sokoto, having failed politically there and settled north of Maroua, in the Balda Lamidat at Diamare. The Lamido Borgo was very hospitable to Hayatou. But Hayatou had an expansionist agenda with Rabeh of Sudan.
Prominent sons and members of the Hayatou family include the great-grandsons of Hayatou who are (1) Sadou Hayatou, former Prime Minister of Cameroon from 1990-1992, and currently Governor of Cameroon BEAC, and (2) Issa Hayatou, President of CAF, the African Football Federation, and also a Vice-President of FIFA. From the same family is Marafa Hamidou Yaya, Minister of State of Territorial Administration & Decentralisation.
Concluding ...
It should be noted that even though Cameroon's former President Ahmadou Ahidjo's mother was from the Garoua area, and he grew up on Cameroon soil, his father was from Kano, Nigeria.
It should therefore come as no surprise that the death of the Sultan of Sokoto Maccido in Nigeria will rally family and friends from Northern Cameroon to simply walk or drive across the now delineated and delimited border into what is now Nigerian territory.
Kenneth Ndeh
Washington D.C.
October 31, 2006
CORRECTION
THE SULTAN RULE AFFECTS NORTHERN CAMEROUNESE ONLY, NOY ALL CAMEROONIANS.
NOT EVEN SOUTHERN CAMEROONIANS , WHO ARE QUIET A SEPERATE COUNTRY UNDER ILLEGAL OCCUPATION BY CAMEROUNS PAUL BIYA
Posted by: DANGO TUMMA | February 15, 2007 at 02:33 PM
You might need to review your facts about Hayatou. He was born in Garoua by modibbo abbo born in garoua who was himself born by Modibbo Hammounde who was born in sokoto. Indeed Hayatou was the father of those prominent sons of cameroun you mentioned but was seen as the most influential religious leader in the history of the Garoua Dynasty. It is therefore noteworthy that Hayatou had not sought for the sultanate in sokoto not to talk of his political failure there. Refer to www.lamidatdegaroua.afrikblog.com or simply google lamidat de garoua for a clear chronology of events.
Posted by: habib Abdulkadir | March 30, 2008 at 05:32 PM
You've gotten the Sultans of Sokoto mixed up. Abubakar III was Muhammad Maccido's father and the Sultan but one before him.
Posted by: iFaqeer | November 06, 2008 at 10:54 PM