By Prof. Emmanuel Oloja Ejeikwu, on behalf of KPA
KWARARAFA Peoples’ Assembly (KPA) is a socio-cultural organisation of the peoples of Kwararafa Empire in Nigeria, duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). It is a non-partisan, non-tribal and non-religious organisation. However, individual members of the movement – sons and daughters of Kwararafa – can participate in partisan politics without conflicting with their role in KPA.
We commence this press conference with a Brief History of the Kwararafa Empire and the Kwararafa peoples in Nigeria. This is to enable us to know the Kwararafa peoples in Nigeria.
Brief History
From all available history – oral, traditional and written narratives – Kwararafa is synonymous with the Jukuns (meaning human beings) who came from Yemen in the Arabian Peninsula through Western Sudan to Khemmet in Egypt and finally to Ngazargarmu (in the present Yobe State, north-east Nigeria).
The Kwararafa people or the Kororofa (in Hausa language), came from Yemen between 350AD–360AD and settled in Egypt (Khemmet) for 229 years, and by 579 AD, the year Prophet Mohammed was born (about 1,444 years ago), we left Egypt and came into Nigeria along with the Kanuris and settled in Ngazargarmu and Kanem Bornu, under the Kingship of Mai Ali.
We have just started this new phase of a great journey for the emancipation and freedom of the Kwararafa people. It is a great, long and peaceful trek to freedom for a new independence of the Kwararafa peoples in Nigeria. The movement is not based on party politics, tribe or religion. Our party is Kwararafa. Our tribe is Kwararafa. Our religion is Kwararafa.
Between 360AD–841AD, the Arabs from Southern Europe invaded Egypt and drove away our people, and we journeyed Southwards, with some settling in Nigeria (Ngazargarmu) others in Angola, Cameroun, Cote d’Ivoire, and Ghana (Gaa, note that Ghanaians bear the name Atta, and they have a traditional ruler called Atta); some went back to Sudan and Yemen (note that in Yemen, we have Atta-Turk and Atta-Gala to date).
Some others settled in the north-east of Egypt, with some settling in Congo (the Lingala, note here, that the Tivs came into the Kwararafa territory from Congo, but lately in the 17th and 18th centuries), others settled at Ethiopia (now split into Eritrea and Ethiopia, (about 75% Ethiopian population are the Galas).
The Kwararafa people spent 17 years in Ngazargarmu. From Ngazargarmu, they left the Kanuris and moved southwards to BiePie (Apa) which was established by Chief Awudu in 596AD. The Kanuris and the Shua-Arabs moved to the Upper East and founded the Kanem-Bornu Empire around 700AD, while the Kwararafa people moved into the Middle Belt (Central Nigeria), settling along River Benue, and they were in total control of the Benue basin.
The Kwararafa people spent 1000 years in BiePie, (Apa) up to 1596, and the last King of the Empire was Agbukenjo. He had five children – Abe and Ate (twins), Katakpa, Agwabi, and Kutuka. The children of Abe and Ate are the Jukun Pindiga, Gwana, Kona and Dampar. The children of Katakpa, Agwabi and Kutuka are Jukun, Igala, Idoma, Koro, Alago, Geomai, Nupe and Igbira.
From BiePie (Apa), they began to split, with the majority moving southwards, settling in Wukari (Bei-Uka, Kona) for 322 years up to 1918; Muri Province (Wukari, Kona) for 9 years up to 1927 and Benue Province (the Benue valley) for 40 years up to 1967. The present Wukari town was established in 1596, and has now existed for 427 years, and 24 kings have ruled in the Kingdom, including His Royal Majesty, the 24th Supreme Majesty and Supreme Leader of Kwararafa Empire, the late Dr Shekarau Angyu (CON), Masa-Ibi, Kuvyo II), the Aku Uka of Wukari, who journeyed to Puje on the 9th October, 2021, from where he journeyed to Nando on 13th January, 2022 to finally join his ancestors. The present Aku Uka, HRM, Manu Ishaku Adda Ali, is the 25th Aku Uka.
We cannot solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis. We are not in the Kwararafa movement to beg the leaders and the political class (and our aggressors and oppressors) to care. They have ignored us in the past, and we know they will ignore us again. We need to keep the fossil fuels in the ground and focus on equity and reality, and if the solutions within the system are so impossible to find, then, we have to change the system itself. We have to wake up from our sleep. We have run out of excuses and we are running out of time. We are here to let our aggressors and oppressors (the leaders and the political class in Nigeria) know that change is coming, “A New Nigeria is coming”, because “the real power belongs to the people”.
As they began to spread from Bei Pei, some moved north-westwards to Kano (Koro, Kutumbawa, Warja, Warjawa, Yakasai, Sengagi, Bichi, Gwaran); others to Kaduna (Kanikon, Kagoro, Kachia, Koro, Nenzim, Nupe, Jukun, etc; Kebbi (Zuru); Kogi State (Igala, Egbirra, Igbira, Nupe, Kakanda, Ogori, Bassa; some to Sokoto (Jukun Warno, Gobir); and some to Gombe (Jukun Pindiga, Panda, Tera, Butawa); Yobe (Karekare, Bulewa, Ngizim, Bandawa); Zamfara (Gobir), Bida (Nupe, Nupawa) and Minna, occupying the River Niger basin and constituting the River Niger’s riparian population. Some settled in the northern parts of Ondo State (Igbirra, Ebirra) in the south-west.
Some members of the Kwararafa Empire in Nigeria moved north-eastwards, settling in Kukawa (Maiduguri) for 316 years, up to 1813; Adamawa Province (Kona) for 40 years up to 1967; Maiduguri for 210 years, up to 2023. Some moved further northwards to Katsina, Bauchi, and Jigawa states. It was Badauga who established Kano 999 years ago with 56 Kings. Fika was also established by Mai Ali 1,164 years ago as at 2023.
The Kwararafa people settled, and have been in Nigeria, for 1,444 years, from 579 AD to 2023. The Kwararafa people occupy the valleys of the two major rivers (Rivers Benue and Niger) in the Map and Coat of Arms of Nigeria.
The Arochukwu (Abiriba people] in Abia State and Onu Agu, Igala and Ette people in Enugu State, and the Igalas in Anambra State moved further southwards, settling in Eastern Nigeria, the Iyala, Dama, Bekwara, Bette, Ukele, etc settled in Cross River State, some Igalas in Asaba, Delta State, the Okposi and Afikpo in Ebonyi State, the Ebiras (Igbirra), Igaras, Afenmai and all the Northern Edo (Auchi people) in Edo State, are all Kwararafa people. The intention was to get to the Atlantic Ocean.
The derivatives of Jukun are the Balewa and the Karekare. The ethnicities are Jukun, Igala, Idoma, Egbira, Ebirra, Nupe [Nupawa], Tarok, Kuteb, Boloko, Musem, Mumuye, Abinsi, Katsina-Ala (Anyishi), Adi, Ambighir, Nyam-Atso, Etulo (Etilo), Buruku, Oga and Ukum in Nyonyon (Nyifon), Aho (Afo), Shiki, Mada, Gbagyi (Gwary), Goemai in Plateau State, the Nok people in Southern Zaria (with over 70 ethnic groups and nationalities), Atyap, Ogoja, Iyala, and Ikom, Igede, Dama (Idama) in Cross River, Afizere, Alago, Doma, Keana, Awe, Assakio, Kadarko, Keffi, Akwanga, Andaha, Shendam, Langtan, Kwande, Mavo, Wase, Garkawa, Panshin, Kanke, Bokkos, Panyam, and Kanam in Plateau State.
Others include Bajji, Ham, Adara, Demsa, Bondawa in Numan, Kanakuru (Dere) in Biu and Shani, Shelleng, Gombi and Guyuk, Baban [Babar], Mayo-Belwa, Kilba (Choba) in Hong, Bura, Garkida, Babur in Mubi, the Kalam [in Maiduguri], Nupe, Gede, Koro (Mighil)], Kunde, Gwana, Futuk and Pittuk in Jukun, Katagum, Misau, the Pindiga in Gombe, Dass and Maijuju (in Bauchi State), Jema’a, Ashe, Kachia, Kaltuga, Jere, Zaria [Tudun-Jukun] in Kado’na (Kaduna), Gwantu, the Koro people (Katumbawa), Gwamaja (Ugbamaja) in Kano was a territory of the Edumoga people in Benue State, the Kakanda and Efik in the South-South. In Kwara State, we are the Lafiagi, Borgu and New Bussa (now in Niger State) and Igbomina-Ekite. We occupy Asaba, we are the Arochukwu people in Anambra and Abia (Ebiriba), we occupy Nsukka and Oboloafo in Enugu State [note the Onu’Ogu of Enugu cannot be installed in the absence of the Attah Igala]; we are in Onitsha, Kabba, Yauri and Wuse. We are in Banu and Yola.
The Kwararafa peoples see everybody as equal and should have equal opportunities. This was what those who came to meet us in this land space called Nigeria saw and took advantage of, and referred to us as “willing tools and conquered territories,” then further deployed the weapon of religion as an additional tool to divide us and use our massive population and land mass for their political exploits.
Also, other members of the Kwararafa Empire in Nigeria include the Auchi people in Edo, the Agbor and Asaba people in Delta and some other minority tribes in the Northwest, Northeast, Central Nigeria, South-South, Southeast and Southwest.
In physical land mass, we occupy “Central Nigeria” and spread across the country from Northwest through the Northeast and Southeast to the Southwest, occupying at least 27 of the 36 States in Nigeria, including the FCT. In each of these states, we make up a minimum of 25% of the population. In some States, particularly in Central Nigeria, the population of Kwararafa people is between 75%-95%.
So, we are, for sure, the majority and “the indigenous Nigerian peoples and the first Nigerian peoples,” with a very significant stake and role to play in the Nigeria socio-political and socio-economic history. If we unite, we can comfortably make the 25% of total votes cast in 2/3 of 36 states (24 states) at any time. Our friends and allies are the Yoruba, Itsekiri, Berom, Benin, Kanuri and Chamba.
Travails and Tribulations of Kwararafa Peoples in Nigeria
Through our interactions with His Royal Majesty, the late Aku Uka of Wukari, and some other royal fathers, the Kwararafa movement symbolised in KPA, has been enriched in the history, character and antecedents of the people of Kwararafa Empire in Nigeria, and we have come to realise that we, the Kwararafa people, have “kept our own knees on our neck” by not having the spirit of a brother’s keeper. No leadership, business and political mentoring. This happened essentially due to two reasons: our population and our life style of being “Citizens”, not “tribesmen”, as Greek Philosophers would classify human beings. The Kwararafa peoples see everybody as equal and should have equal opportunities. This was what those who came to meet us in this land space called Nigeria saw and took advantage of, and referred to us as “willing tools and conquered territories,” then further deployed the weapon of religion as an additional tool to divide us and use our massive population and land mass for their political exploits.
The Kwararafa people in Nigeria have determined the winners of all presidential elections in Nigeria over time. During the 1979 general elections, the Ibos voted for Nnamdi Azikiwe (he lost); the Yorubas voted for Obafemi Awolowo (he lost); the “Core” North’s votes alone for Alhaji Shehu Shagari could not have given him the victory. But the Kwararafa people voted massively for Shagari, and he won that election.
The same scenario was repeated in 1983. In 1993, the “Core” North voted for Alhaji Bashir Tofa (he lost); and the rest of Nigeria and the Kwararafa people voted for MKO Abiola and he won. Then in 1999, the Yoruba voted for Olu Falaye (he lost), the “Core” North voted for Muhammadu Buhari (he lost), Kwararafa people and the Ibos voted for Olusegun Obasanjo and he won. In 2003, the “Core” North and the Yoruba people voted for the Muhammadu Buhari/Tunde Bakare ticket (he lost again), and the Kwararafa people and the rest of Nigeria voted for Olusegun Obasanjo, he won.
As we speak, Dangote Coal Mines Ltd is busy mining coal in Effa of Ugbokolo Ward in Okpokwu LGA of Benue State, polluting the only natural river waters (Rivers Umabe, Okollo, Ohimini and Okpokwu) available to the local communities as their only source of portable water for drinking and other domestic engagements. The people in the communities have been set against each other while the coal mining goes on.
In 2007, the “Core” North voted for Muhammadu Buhari (he lost again, the third time), the Yoruba voted for Tunji Braithwaite, he lost; and the Kwararafa people voted for Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and he won. In 2011, the “Core” North voted for Muhammadu Buhari (he lost again, the fourth time), and the Kwararafa people and the South-South voted for Goodluck Jonathan and he defeated Buhari. In 2015, the “Core” North and the Kwararafa people jointly voted for Muhammadu Buhari and this time, he won, defeating Goodluck Jonathan.
We are the pivot of this nation; traditionally having exchanged of goods and services, trade by barter, with a vast arable land for farming and rich forests for hunting. Our territory is rich with heavy deposits of salt, tin, coal, gold, diamond, ceramics for pottery, iron ores, several other solid minerals for nuclear war heads, etc, rich waters for fishing and fisheries resources, and we have dyes and agricultural produce in large scales. The Kwararafa Empire is also very rich in culture and human capital, with very intelligent, highly skilled, educated, capacity and idea-oriented sons and daughters.
We are basically farmers, hunters and fishermen, very industrious and rich in arts and craft, occupying a land filled with milk and honey, “a rich garden desirous of a good keeper,” rich in several solid minerals. Petroleum has been discovered in commercial quantities in Agatu (Benue State), Ibaji (Kogi State) and Keana (Nasarawa State). In all of these, we cannot express or engage in; and we are not allowed to exploit these natural endowments and recourses in our land because some strangers want the land and the resources therein; and while our men slept, they have “kept their knee on our neck”.
As we speak, Dangote Coal Mines Ltd is busy mining coal in Effa of Ugbokolo Ward in Okpokwu LGA of Benue State, polluting the only natural river waters (Rivers Umabe, Okollo, Ohimini and Okpokwu) available to the local communities as their only source of portable water for drinking and other domestic engagements. The people in the communities have been set against each other while the coal mining goes on.
We have been neglected and ignored over the years, referred to, and treated, as minorities, which we are not. The solution to this is for us to reunite and come together as one family, imbibe the spirit of strong brotherhood and the spirit of being our brothers’ keepers, as exemplified by the strangers living amongst us, within and at the fringes of our ancestral land, Nigeria. It is only then that we will cease to be “willing tools” and conquered territories.
These people who came to meet us in Nigeria have rendered most of our vast arable land uninhabitable; most of our local communities homeless and hungry, because we cannot go to farm, go hunting, go fishing or even move freely in our land. Our children cannot go to school because the schools are no longer safe [because of the siege on our communities]. Our highways, communities and homes are perpetually under invasion by bandits. But now that they have murdered sleep, we shall sleep no more!
We have kept voting people into the exalted office of President of Nigeria, while “their knee remains on our neck”. They treat us with “carrot and stick” game for a minimal existence of the Kwararafa people in line with the Guase Principle of prey-predator relationship, where the prey must not go into extinction in order to keep the predator population in existence.
We have been neglected and ignored over the years, referred to, and treated, as minorities, which we are not. The solution to this is for us to reunite and come together as one family, imbibe the spirit of strong brotherhood and the spirit of being our brothers’ keepers, as exemplified by the strangers living amongst us, within and at the fringes of our ancestral land, Nigeria. It is only then that we will cease to be “willing tools” and conquered territories.
The essence of the Kwararafa movement is to pull the people of the Kwararafa Empire together ideologically, so that we can tell the world that we are no longer a willing tool, neither are we a conquered territory, and that we are the majority, not minorities as we are referred to in Nigeria. We intend to overcome this battle peacefully using our PVCs through our electoral strength. We shall go to all our communities and villages, talking to the elders, women groups, youth groups and the market women, through coordinators of Kwararafa Peoples’ Assembly (KPA) at state, local government, ward and community levels to mobilise and sensitise our people nationwide for both short- and long-term existential strategies.
Strangers that came to meet us in our land deployed religion as a weapon to divide our people and unleash heinous nepotism, feudalism and land-grabbing, aggression, imprudence, threat, etc, and introduced insurgencies, terrorism, rape, forceful open grazing, lopsidedness in the distribution of the dividends of democracy such as infrastructure, human capital development, job opportunities, political appointments, etc. Those who came to meet us here are fighting over our land and who should control the resources in our land, using our population for political exploits. This is to the extent the Anacondas are swallowing money, monkeys are stealing money, termites are eating money in well protected, fortified and fumigated houses, while about 90% of Nigerians are suffering in abject hunger and squalor.
The truth is that the presence of the Kwararafa people in this land space called Nigeria needs to be given the due recognition and place in the political space, socio-economic and political history of Nigeria, rather than the program of manipulative neglect, oppression and suppression. Can you imagine that the so-called three major tribes are even planning to share our ancestral land under the guise of “Nigeria should divide”? We will not allow anybody to divide our land, our ancestral heritage under any guise of secession. We cannot be compelled to obtain international passports to travel within our land. We must remain as “One indivisible Nigeria”. All the struggles that our fore, fore fathers went through to occupy this territory, Nigeria, cannot, should not, and will not, be in vain.
We have to gear up the campaign that “A New Nigeria is possible.” To achieve this, we need to mobilise, create awareness and sensitise our people, both at home and in the Diaspora to rise to the occasion, so that we can claim our rightful place in the Nigerian political space and history. Imagine that people who came to meet us here are polluting and desecrating our land with criminality, banditry, kidnapping and blood; while they “kept their knee on our neck.”
The children of Kwararafa descent are scarcely given leadership positions in CBN, NNPC, FIRS, SEC, NPA, Customs and Immigration, etc, because “some people’s knee must be kept on our neck”. We requested that the FCT administration should be mayoral; they refuse, because, if it is mayoral, a descendant of Kwararafa Empire, a citizen of FCT, will become the mayor of FCT.
If River Benue and River Niger are dredged, the yearly ravaging floods and its effects on the riparian populations, the Kwararafa peoples in Benue, Kogi, Niger and Taraba states in particular, will be drastically reduced, but because their knees must remain on our neck, no attention is paid to the plights of the inhabitants of these areas affected by the yearly floods. Even emergency relief funds meant to cushion the effects of the flood on the people are just shared by bureaucrats who preside over government provisions and international donations for this purpose. Note also that if these two rivers are dredged, mini-ports can be created to bring development closer to the peoples of Central Nigeria and reduce out-of-bank flow of these rivers (flooding), but because some knees must remain on our neck, no consideration is given in this direction.
We have to gear up the campaign that “A New Nigeria is possible.” To achieve this, we need to mobilise, create awareness and sensitise our people, both at home and in the Diaspora to rise to the occasion, so that we can claim our rightful place in the Nigerian political space and history. Imagine that people who came to meet us here are polluting and desecrating our land with criminality, banditry, kidnapping and blood; while they “kept their knee on our neck.”
This is an existential struggle for our collective emancipation and freedom, to secure a future for our children, the children of Kwararafa Empire, the indigenous Nigerians, the first Nigerian people, and all other Nigerian children.
We cannot solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis. We are not in the Kwararafa movement to beg the leaders and the political class (and our aggressors and oppressors) to care. They have ignored us in the past, and we know they will ignore us again. We need to keep the fossil fuels in the ground and focus on equity and reality, and if the solutions within the system are so impossible to find, then, we have to change the system itself. We have to wake up from our sleep. We have run out of excuses and we are running out of time. We are here to let our aggressors and oppressors (the leaders and the political class in Nigeria) know that change is coming, “A New Nigeria is coming”, because “the real power belongs to the people”.
Facing the future: What Needs to be Done
If we tidy up our house and tighten up our belt, we shall overcome! It is a battle for our collective emancipation and survival, and for the protection of the future of all our children. We are aware that if a military General pulls out his gun on another General, he cannot sheath it back, he must fire or else he will find himself in the grave yard. We have pulled our gun, so we cannot take the risk of sheathing it back, else we, the Kwararafa people, will suffer greater tribulations.
United we shall stand up to this existential challenge, for our collective emancipation and particularly for the future of our children. The Israelites did it with determination when they recovered from exile. We are the Israelites of our time, who have scattered and migrated across Nigeria. We need to collect and connect ourselves together ideologically and confront the challenge, by taking the bull by the horns, so that we can remove “their knee from our neck”. Note that “Slavery and Freedom are mental states”.
In the nearest future, our children will ask us why we didn’t do anything when there still was time to act. The leaders and the entire political class in Nigeria claim that they love Nigeria above all else, yet they are stealing the future of Nigerian children right in front of our very eyes. Until we start focusing on what needs to be done rather than what is politically possible, there will be no hope.
We cannot solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis. We are not in the Kwararafa movement to beg the leaders and the political class (and our aggressors and oppressors) to care. They have ignored us in the past, and we know they will ignore us again. We need to keep the fossil fuels in the ground and focus on equity and reality, and if the solutions within the system are so impossible to find, then, we have to change the system itself. We have to wake up from our sleep. We have run out of excuses and we are running out of time. We are here to let our aggressors and oppressors (the leaders and the political class in Nigeria) know that change is coming, “A New Nigeria is coming”, because “the real power belongs to the people”.
Right about now, we are comparing notes from the political scene so that we can comfortably advise, sensitise and mobilise our people in the states, LGAs and communities towards the 2023 general elections, as we embark on continuous mobilisation, sensitisation and political awareness campaign amongst the peoples of the Kwararafa Empire in Nigeria.
For the purpose of mobilization and sensitization, to unify the peoples of Kwararafa Empire in Nigeria, we have mapped the 27 States where the peoples of Kwararafa Empire in Nigeria occupy, including the FCT, Abuja into four (4) zones. Zone 1 is composed of Benue, Cross River, Enugu, FCT, Kogi, Nasarawa and Plateau. Zone 2 includes Abia, Anambra, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti and Osun. Zone 3 is made up of Kaduna, Niger, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Sokoto and Zamfara, while Zone 4 has Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Kano, Taraba and Yobe.
Each zone has coordinators who work directly under the supervision of the National Executive. Each state has coordinators who work under the supervision of the zonal coordinators. Each local government area has coordinators working under the supervision of the state coordinators. Each electoral ward has coordinators who report to the LGA coordinators and each community and polling unit has coordinators working and reporting to the ward coordinators. This is our structure and strategy to create mass awareness for the unification of the peoples of the Kwararafa Empire in Nigeria and for monitoring the 2023 general elections.
For example, Benue State has 276 electoral wards and 3,678 polling units; Nasarawa State has 147 electoral wards and 3,256 polling units; Plateau State has 117 electoral wards and 4,631 polling units; Kogi State has 239 electoral wards and 2,548 polling units, and so on and so forth. Each of these electoral wards has a minimum of two coordinators, while each polling unit has a minimum of three polling unit coordinators/guards being closely monitored by the National Executive Council through the ward coordinators, LGA coordinators, state coordinators and the zonal coordinators. Many of these coordinators have security background as retirees and all of them are ICT-compliant.
Once more, Kwararafa Peoples Assembly is a non-tribal, non-religious and non-partisan organisation. All we are doing is to compare notes and advice our people in the various states, LGAs and communities accordingly, using this network for coordination. Our vote will be our power.
In due course, the KPA will draw up a yearly schedule for Kwararafa fishing, agricultural and cultural festivals; and also draw up an organogram for the activities of the National mobilisation and sensitisation of the Kwararafa people in Nigeria, with the Kwararafa Council of Chiefs at the apex.
We have just started this new phase of a great journey for the emancipation and freedom of the Kwararafa people. It is a great, long and peaceful trek to freedom for a new independence of the Kwararafa peoples in Nigeria. The movement is not based on party politics, tribe or religion. Our party is Kwararafa. Our tribe is Kwararafa. Our religion is Kwararafa.
The text of this press conference held by the Kwararafa Peoples’ Assembly (KPA) on Wednesday, February 1, 2023 at Masai Mara Resort, God of Elijah Road, Off Nyanya-Karshi Road, Abuja, FCT, and read by Prof Ejeikwu, Interim National President of KPA, has been slightly edited as an opinion article.
