The Yoruba Political Administration

The Yoruba political administration was also based on the ultimate principle of ‘check and balance’ which
implies that each of the administrative levels can check, challenge or nullify actions of other levels
irrespective of their administrative hierarchy, for example, in the political system of the Oyo empire, the
Oyomesi (the 7 hereditary kingmakers headed by Bashorun) and the Are-Ona-Kakanfo (head of the
army) acted as checks to the Alaafin who can be deposed by being presented an empty calabash or
parrot’s egg if found incompetent or guilty of impeachable crimes, for example, Are-Ona-Kakanfo Afonja,
with the help of some of the Oyomesi, presented an empty calabash to Alaafin Aole signifying his
rejection as the king which was to be followed by his suicide. However, it can be safely concluded that
the Yoruba political system had a semblance to the modern federal system of government.

The Yoruba political structure revolved round many figures starting from the Oba, the political head,
council of chiefs (Ijoye which consisted of Iyalode, Otun, Osi, Iyaloja etc.), the kingmakers (Afobaje, part
of whom might be the chiefs), the Baale, the army (Esho) and the religious cult. It must be noted that the
titles of some of these figures vary in each Yoruba kingdom, for example, the Oba is known as Alaafin in
Oyo while in Ife, he is referred to as Oni. The kingmakers are also known as Oyomesi in Oyo while the
Ijebus call them Osugbo.

It must also be noted that succession to the throne of some, if not many kingdoms in Yorubaland was
not hereditary. The Aremo (prince) can only help his father in administering the kingdom or empire but
cannot succeed him after his death. After the demise of a king, a new one is chosen from the same or
another household by the kingmakers with the help of the religious cult.

Of all the kingdoms and empires in Yorubaland, the Oyo political system was the most popular and
outstanding as it was able to influence issues in other kingdoms like Ijebu, Ife, Dahomey (now Republic
of Benin) and so on.

Below is the political administrative structure of the Oyo

Empire.

The vast Oyo empire was known to be the largest and the most powerful of all Yoruba empires.
Here is the pre-colonial political administration of the Oyo empire:

THE ALAAFIN:

The Alaafin was seen as the political head of the empire. He was chosen by the Oyomesi. It was claimed
that he could only appear three times a year in public and that was only during some historic festivals.

The Aremo:

He is the eldest son of the ruling Alaafin but cannot succeed his father at his demise. He can only help his
father in the administration of the empire.

The Oyomesi:

These are the seven hereditary kingmakers in the Oyo empire. Their leader was Bashroun. They were
responsible for installing a new Alaafin.

Baale or Oba:

Each province was administered by Ajele or Oba. They guaranteed the payment of tribute and homage
to the Alaafin. There was the claim that this rulers had the power to threaten any hardened Alaafin or
chief by invoking the god of thunder and lightning through the cult of Sango, a deified Alaafin.

The Army (Eso):

Are- ono kankanfo was the head of the army. Oyo had for long maintained a strong army that had been
used in winning different wars. It was claimed that if the army should suffer any defeat, the Are- ona-
kankanfo was to commit suicide or go on exile.

The Ogboni Society:

This society posses judicial powers and was involved also in policy making. The maintenance and
preservation of the cultural values of the people were also delegated to them. They influence a lot of
issues in the society.

The Three Eunuchs:

They were also involved in the administration of the empire. They were:
The Osi Efa: He was in charge of political affairs, he has to die with the Alaafin. He was also called
‘Abobaku’.

The Ona Efa: He was for judicial purpose

The Otun Efa: His function was to perform religious duties for the Alaafin.

Pre-colonial systems in Nigeria witnessed a lot of alterations at the advent of the British colonial masters.
Several traditional rulers tried to protect and preserve the political organisation of their kingdoms or
empires but later gave up after much pressure and threat from the colonial masters. Colonialism had a
great impact on every pre- colonial systems in Nigeria, even till today.

Bornu and Kanem-Bornu up to 1800

British view of a "Group of Kanem-Bu warriors," c. 1880s.

The Kanem–Bornu Empire was an African trading empire ruled by the Saf dynasty from the ninth to the
nineteenth centuries. It encompassed, at varying times, the areas belonging to the modern nations of
southern Chad, northern Cameroon, northeastern Nigeria, eastern Niger, and southern Libya.

Contents
1 Origins as Kanem
2 Expansion and the Bornu Kingdom
2.1 "Mai" Dunama Dabbalemi
2.2 From Kanem to Bornu
2.3 Mai Ali Gaji
3 The Kanem-Bornu Kingdom
3.1 Idris Aluma
4 Decline and Fall
4.1 Fulani Jihad
4.2 Muhammad al-Kanem
4.3 Post Sayfawa
5 Sources and Further Reading
6 External Links
7 Credits
The Lake Chad area, around which the kingdom was centralized, was by virtue of its central location, a
natural connecting point in the vast network of Saharan and Sudanic trade routes. The prosperity gained
through the control of these trade routes provided the basis for the growth and strength of this
thousand–year empire.

Origins as Kanem
The Kanem Empire is estimated to have originated around 800 C.E. to the northeast of Lake Chad. It was
located at the southern end of the trans-Saharan trade route between Tripoli and the region of Lake
Chad, the control over which played a significant role in Kanem's development. A vital crossroads
between the north-south trade routes and east-west trade routes to Nubia, a political state naturally
formed.

The empire included a confederation of nomadic peoples who spoke languages of the Teda–Daza
(Toubou) group. One theory, based on early Arabic sources, suggests that the dominance of the Zaghawa
people bound the confederation together.

In approximately 850 C.E., the Sayfawa, took the throne drawing on an ancestral link to Sef, which was
identified with the legendary Yemenite hero Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan. Due to the link to Sef it became
customary to call the second ruling dynasty Sayfawa instead of Sefuwa. Both, the Duguwa and the
subsequent Sayfawa, seem to have belonged to the same ruling establishment of the Magumi. Also the
royal title Mai would appear to have been shared by the Duguwa and the Sayfawa, denoting the
perception of the rulers as divine.

The major factor that influenced the history of the state of Kanem was the early penetration of Islam.
North African traders, Berbers and Arabs, brought the new religion. Towards 1086 C.E. Kanem began a
process of Islamization that can be traced to Hume, a Sefawa king who converted to Islam and declared
it the official state religion. He began a dynastic tradition of Muslim Sefawa kings that would continue for
800 years. Islam offered the Sayfawa rulers the advantage of new ideas from Arabia and the
Mediterranean world, as well as literacy in administration. But many people resisted the new religion
favoring traditional beliefs and practices.

Once the Sayfawa lost political power, the royal establishment abandoned its capital of Manan and
settled in the new capital Njimi further south of Kanem. By the thirteenth century, Kanem's rule
expanded, and was coupled with marked population growth in Njimi. Even though the Kanembu became
the main power-base of the Sayfuwa, Kanem's rulers continued to travel frequently throughout the
kingdom and especially towards Bornu, west of Lake Chad. Herders and farmers alike recognized the
government's power and acknowledged their allegiance by paying tribute.

Expansion and the Bornu Kingdom

"Mai" Dunama Dabbalemi
Kanem's expansion peaked during the long and energetic reign of Mai Dunama Dabbalemi (ca. 1221–
1259), also of the Sayfawa dynasty. Dabbalemi initiated diplomatic exchanges with sultans in North
Africa and apparently arranged for the establishment of a special hostel in Cairo to facilitate pilgrimages
to Mecca. During his reign, he declared jihad against the surrounding tribes and initiated an extended
period of conquest. His wars of expansion reached as far north as the Fezzan, allowing Kanem control of
the northern trade routes. The empire's influence also extended westward to Kano (in present-day
Nigeria), eastward to Ouaddaï, and southward to the Adamawa grasslands (in present-day Cameroon).
Portraying these boundaries on modern maps can be misleading, however, because the degree of
control extended over the tributaries weakened corresponding to the amount of distance between the
tributary and the capital, Njimi.

Dabbalemi devised a system to reward military commanders with authority over the people they
conquered. This system, however, tempted military officers to pass their positions to their sons, thus
transforming the office from one based on achievement and loyalty to the mai into one based on
hereditary nobility. Dabbalemi made attempts to suppress this tendency, but after his death, dissension
among his sons weakened the political authority of the Sayfawa Dynasty. Dynastic feuds degenerated
into civil war, and Kanem's outlying peoples soon ceased paying tribute.

From Kanem to Bornu

By the end of the fourteenth century, internal struggles and external attacks had torn Kanem apart.
Between 1376 and 1400, six mais reigned, but Bulala invaders (from the area around Lake Fitri to the
east) killed five of them. This proliferation of mais resulted in numerous claimants to the throne and led
to a series of internecine wars. Finally, around 1396 the Bulala forced Mai Umar Idrismi to abandon Njimi
and move the Kanembu people to Bornu on the western edge of Lake Chad.

With the new center of the empire at Bornu, it became known as the Bornu Empire. Over time, the
intermarriage of the Kanembu and Bornu peoples created a new people and language, the Kanuri. With
control over both capitals, the Sayfawa dynasty became more powerful than ever. The two states were
merged, but political authority still rested in Bornu. Kanem-Bornu peaked during the reign of the
outstanding statesman Mai Idris Aluma (c. 1571–1603).

Mai Ali Gaji

The Bornu empire entered into a second period of expansion in the late fifteenth century under the rule
of Mai Ali Gaji (1472-1504). Under his leadership the Bornu empire significantly expanded westward,
culminating in conquest over the Hausa state of Kano. He also expanded northward and cemented Bornu
control of the northern trade routes to the Fezzan. His legacy of expansion was continued by
Katarkamabi, who ruled Bornu from 1504 to 1526. But even in Bornu, the Sayfawa Dynasty's troubles
persisted. During the first three-quarters of the fifteenth century, for example, fifteen mais occupied the
throne.

So successful was the Sayfawa rejuvenation that by the early sixteenth century Mai Ali Gaji (1497–1515)
was able to defeat the Bulala and retake Njimi, the former capital. The empire's leaders, however,
remained at Ngazargamu because its lands were more productive agriculturally and better suited to the
raising of cattle.

The Kanem-Bornu Kingdom

With control over both capitals, the Sayfawa dynasty consolidated political power and authority over
vital trade routes. The two states were merged, but political authority still rested in Bornu. Kanem-Bornu
peaked during the reign of the outstanding statesman Mai Idris Aluma (c. 1571–1603).

Idris Aluma
Aluma is remembered for his military skills, administrative reforms, and the example he provided of
Islamic piety. His main adversaries were the Hausa to the west, the Tuareg and Toubou to the north, and
the Bulala to the east. One epic poem extols Aluma's victories in 330 wars and more than 1,000 battles.
His military innovations included the use of walled fortifications and military camps, permanent seige
warfare, scorched earth tactics, and the effective use of calvary. Aluma is also noted for his inclusion of
Berber camelry and Kotoko boatman as part of his military forces.

He fostered diplomatic relations with Tripoli, Egypt, and the Ottoman Empire, which sent a 200-member
ambassadorial party across the desert to Aluma's court at Ngazargamu. Aluma also signed what was
probably the first written treaty or cease-fire in Chadian history.

Aluma introduced a number of legal and administrative reforms based on his religious beliefs and Islamic
law (shari'a). His desire to make sure that his court properly reflected the virtues of Islam led him to
mandate that major political figures lived at the court, and he reinforced political alliances through
appropriate marriages (Aluma himself was the son of a Kanuri father and a Bulala mother).

As with other dynamic politicians, Aluma's reformist goals led him to seek loyal and competent advisers
and allies, and he frequently relied on slaves who had been educated in noble homes. Aluma regularly
sought advice from a council composed of heads of the most important clans.

Kanem-Bornu under Aluma was strong and wealthy, due to the revenue demanded from conquered
territories, the sale of slaves, and control of the trade routes linking the Lake Chad area to the Saharan
trade. Between Lake Chad and Fezzan lay a sequence of well-spaced wells and oases, and from Fezzan
there were easy connections to North Africa and the Mediterranean Sea. Many products were sent
north, including natron (sodium carbonate), cotton, kola nuts, ivory, ostrich feathers, perfume, wax, and
hides, but the most important of all were slaves. Imports included salt, horses, silks, glass, muskets, and
copper.

Aluma took a keen interest in trade and other economic matters. He is credited with having the roads
cleared, designing better boats for Lake Chad, introducing standard units of measure for grain, and
moving farmers into new lands. In addition, he improved the ease and security of transit through the
empire with the goal of making it so safe that "a lone woman clad in gold might walk with none to fear
but God."

Decline and Fall

The administrative reforms and military brilliance of Aluma sustained the empire until the mid-1600s,
when its power began to fade. By the late 1700s, Bornu rule extended only westward, into the land of
the Hausa of modern Nigeria.

Fulani Jihad
In the late 1700s, Fulani people were able to make major inroads into Bornu by invading from the west.
By the early nineteenth century, Kanem-Bornu was clearly an empire in decline, and in 1808 Fulani
warriors conquered Ngazargamu, marking the decline of the Kanem-Bornu legacy. Usman dan Fodio led
the Fulani campaign and proclaimed a holy war on the irreligious Muslims of the area. His campaign
eventually affected Kanem-Bornu and inspired a trend toward Islamic orthodoxy, but Muhammad al-
Kanem, a warlord of Kanem, contested the Fulani advance.

Muhammad al-Kanem
Muhammad al-Kanem was a Muslim scholar and non-Sayfawa warlord who had put together an alliance
of Shuwa Arabs, Kanembu, and other seminomadic peoples. As a base for the resistance he eventually
built a capital at Kukawa in 1814 (located in present-day Nigeria). Sayfawa mais remained titular
monarchs until 1846. In that year, the last mai, in league with Ouaddai tribesmen, precipitated a civil
war. It was at that point that Kanem's son, Umar, became king, thus ending one of the longest dynastic
reigns in regional history.

Post Sayfawa
Although the dynasty ended, the kingdom of Kanem-Bornu survived. Umar, who eschewed the title mai
for the simpler designation shehu (from the Arabic shaykh), could not match his father's vitality and
political prowess, allowing the kingdom to be ruled by advisers. His reliance on advisors led to increasing
political disorganization, a major contributor to the final dissolution of the empire. When coupled with
regional particularism, and attacks by the militant Ouaddai Empire to the east, the empire was set on the
road to destruction. The decline continued under Umar's sons. In 1893, Rabih az-Zubayr leading an
invading army from eastern Sudan, conquered Bornu.

HAUSALAND AND HISTORY OF ORIGIN

The exact origins of the Hausa cities are not known, but theories include a migration of peoples from the
southern Sahara who, abandoning their own lands following the increased desiccation of that area,
established new settlements in what would become known as Hausaland. An alternative theory suggests
that the Hausa people originally lived on the western shore of Lake Chad and when the lake shrank (as a
consequence of the same climatic changes that affected the Sahara) they occupied this new and fertile
land and then eventually spread to the immediate north and west. There is as yet, unfortunately, no
archaeological evidence to support either of these two theories. As a consequence, there is a third
hypothesis, which is that the Hausa had not migrated from anywhere but were indigenous to the region.
Support for this theory lies in the fact that there is no tradition of migration in Hausa oral history.

There is, though, a foundation legend, known as the Bayajida or Daura legend, although this probably
dates to the 16th century CE and reflects the increased influence of Islam in the region at that time.
According to this tradition, Bayajida, a prince from Baghdad, arrived at the court of the ruler of the
Kingdom of Kanem (or the Bornu Empire as it became by the 16th century CE). Receiving an
unfavourable reception, Bayajida headed eastwards until he came upon the city of Daura. There, the
queen and her kingdom were being terrorized by a great snake. Bayajida stepped in and killed the
troublesome serpent and promptly married the queen. Together they had a son called Bawogari who
then went on to have six sons of his own, each of which became the king of a Hausa city-state.
Meanwhile, Bayajida had another son, this time with one of his concubines. This illegitimate son, called
Karbogari, had seven sons, and these went on to rule seven other Hausa cities. This story neatly explains
how the various cities were established but not, of course, just where Daura and its queen came from.

Key Cities & Government

Wherever they had sprung from, by the early 15th century CE many small Hausa chiefdoms had come
together to create several walled cities which controlled their respective surrounding countryside.
Traditionally, there were seven city-states (the hausa bakwai),

Yoruba

Zamfara

Zaria (aka Zazzau)*

Each city had its own king or ruler, the sarkin kasa, who was advised by a chief councillor or vizier, the
galadima, and a small council of elders - typically consisting of nine members who also determined the
next ruler in line. Various officials were appointed by the king to, for example, collect taxes and customs
duties, lead the city's cavalry units or infantry, maintain security on roadways, and look after certain
crops. The city ruled over various smaller chiefdoms or villages in its immediate vicinity, each ruled by a
chief or sarkin gari. The third tier of this political pyramid was the family clan or gida, many of which
made up an individual village.

Rural Hausa populations were farmers who worked the land which belonged to the community as a
whole. Over time, as the city-states became more centralised, this system was corrupted by the kings
giving out parcels of land as rewards to certain individuals. Hausa agriculture also became heavily reliant
on slaves, too. Meanwhile, the society within the main city of each kingdom was cosmopolitan, although
dominated by the Hausa. There were slaves, craftworkers, merchants, religious officials, scholars,
eunuchs and aristocrats (masu sarauta) related to or favoured by the king.

Trade
The Hausa states traded gold, ivory, salt, iron, tin, weapons, horses, dyed cotton cloth, kola nuts,
glassware, metalware, ostrich feathers, and hides. There was trade with the coastal region of West
Africa, Oyo in the Bight of Benin, and the Songhai Empire (c. 1460 -1591 CE) to the east. Slaves were an
important source of revenue for all the cities but Zaria, in particular, specialised in acquiring slaves via
raids to the south.

Cities specialised in the manufacture or trade of certain goods, for example, dyes - especially indigo - at
Katsina and Daura or silver jewellery at Kebbi and Zamfara. Hausaland became famous (and still is today)
for its finely worked leather goods such as water bags, saddles, harnesses, and sacks to transport goods
for the region's trade caravans. Various crafts were organised into guilds which ensured standards were
maintained and prices were kept fair. Hausa agriculture, boosted by such techniques as crop rotation and
the use of fertilizers, produced crops which included millet, sorghum, rice, maize, peanuts, beans, henna,
tobacco, and onions. In addition, fishing and hunting were carried out and goats raised (important for
ritual sacrifices) and donkeys bred (the principal form of transport). Each city had its own markets where
both men and women sold their wares, and many cities also had international trade markets where
merchants sold in bulk. Goods were exchanged in kind although salt, cloth, and slaves were often used
as a standardised form of commodity-currency