Aftermath of Gamon
Kaffur The victory at Kaffur
was both materially and psychologically
beneficial to the Hadejawa in general. To Buhari
in particular the triumph earned him a period of
non-interference from Sokoto. The Sultan simply
tried to forget the Hadejia problem and probably
prayed for the speedy death of Buhari. But Buhari
still had a decade of his life to live, and he spent
those years promoting the cause which had
always been the cornerstone of his foreign
policy: the expansion of the Hadejia frontier.
Marma was the first to suffer his wrath. Seizing
on a disagreement with the Emir of Marma,
Buhari besieged the capital, tunnelled under the
town wall, and at dawn carried out a punitive
attack on the inhabitants. Since then, Marma
and its subject towns have become parts of
Hadejia Emirate. Then in 1860 he turned his
attention once again on Miga, forcing the
evacuation of that district; but though it
remained deserted for three years, Miga was
never incorporated into Hadejia Emirate. Buhari
now switched his forces to Katagum – always a
problem Emirate for him. In order to capture
Katagum Buhari needed an advance
headquarters close to the city. And he decided
that the town of Tashena would serve this
purpose adequately. First though, he went to
Sarkin Tashena and asked for assistance in an
expedition he planned against Gorgaram, a
request which was willingly granted since the
Emir hated the guts of his rival at the Badde
capital. Taskar Suleiman Ginsau
“A prudent ruler cannot, and must not honour his
word when it places him at a disadvantage,”
wrote the-not-so-honourable Machiavelli. Buhari
couldn’t agree more. For once the Tashena
cavalry had joined his own, Buhari fell on the
town, killed its Emir and then made Tashena the
field headquarters from which for six months he
laid siege on Katagum city.
Perhaps it was poetic justice that he was unable
to overcome the town, and was forced to
withdraw due to overwhelming logistical
problems. But he did return, this time storming
through southern and central Katagum, where he
unsuccessfully attacked Azare, conquered Bidir
and Gambaki, and destroyed Jama’are town.
For all his conquests, Buhari’s dream of an
extensive Emirate remained largely that – a
dream. The truth was that he simply did not
possess the manpower to keep many of the
areas he conquered under any but temporary
occupation. Even in his lifetime Buhari had to
helplessly watch areas he conquered revert to
their former status. Taskar Suleiman Ginsau
The ambitious Buhari finally suffered “death for
his ambition”, to use a Shakespearian phrase.
And, like the Caesar to whom the quote referred,
he too was a victim of the treachery of his own
intimate circle. In fact, had Buhari possessed the
melodramatic bent of the fictitious Caesar, his
last words might have been “Et tu, Haruna?” For
although Haruna, another of Buhari’s brothers,
did not, in the manner of Brutus, actually slay his
more illustrious relative, there was not the
slightest doubt that he was guilty of planning it. Taskar Suleiman Ginsau
Buhari’s Death On his last campaign, which was
against the Badde capital of Gorgaram, Buhari
found himself alone, with only a few men, at the
head of one column. All his officials had hung
back as he made his advance, partners in an act
of premeditated desertion orchestrated by the
scheming Haruna. He was struck by an arrow,
and died later on the road back to Hadejia.
Late Muhammadu Buhari is remembered in
Hadejia as much for his military prowess as for
some of the civil contributions he made during
his 15-year chequered tenure. During his time
the number of administrative offices was
doubled. Numerous slave-quarters as well as
homes for leading figures were constructed. The
royal compound itself was greatly enlarged.
Indeed, all the Manyan Soraye of pre-colonial
Fada dated from Buhari’s time, as did the
modality of managing the Fada itself. And, as we
have seen, Buhari showed little class distinction
in his choice of officials.
The man might have been a rebel; but
Muhammadu Buhari was not a rebel without a
cause.
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