A peep through the fortress of Bosso Hill

Bosso hills, Minna, a stronghold of times past, though in ruins, still remained a myth and reference of Gbagyi ancient supremacy. The information about its existence is quite localised to Gbagyi-speaking areas of Niger State and probably few other states within the North-Central zone, where the tribe also settled in the course of its journey. […]

Bosso hills, Minna, a stronghold of times past, though in ruins, still remained a myth and reference of Gbagyi ancient supremacy.

The information about its existence is quite localised to Gbagyi-speaking areas of Niger State and probably few other states within the North-Central zone, where the tribe also settled in the course of its journey. However, like most hills which served as fortresses against rampaging ethnic armies and jihadist incursions, Bosso hill boasts of history spanning several decades.

Natives said the hill was quite significant because the entire Minna town draws its existence from it. Located about three kilometers from the capital of Niger State, Bosso Hill may have lost the charm that draws visitors to its enclave due to decades of abuse by scavengers which alters its natural scenic formations, but it certainly retained part of its magnificence, towering and rising above its surrounding.

According to oral narration about its history, the hill was said to have been discovered by a Kanuri hunter who earlier founded Pyata village. Godenyinze Ali, after an exhausting hunting expedition, found the ambience of the hill appealing for a rest.

Bosso, from which the community derives its name today, was said to be a corrupt reference to a Gbagyi phrase, “Fama Basseya”, Godenyinze’s reference to the hill as a peaceful rest place. The hill did not only provide the tranquility he desperately craved that moment, but was to become a birthplace of a new kingdom that would shape the entire history of what is today Minna town.

However, before he discovered the hill, Gamgbai, Fiyadnai and Wumba had ruled over Bosso chiefdom in that order, between 1832 and 1900. Godenyinze was to rule over the chiefdom from the hill in 1901. His ascension marks a defining moment in the history of the area, having come under internal and external threats.

His reign was said to have coincided with the period of jihadist expedition of the popular Umaru Nagwamatse from the Sokoto ruling house in the area.

Sensing the inherent danger,  Godenyinze had to fortify the settlement with defensive walls, referred to as Knanuwa in Gbagyi language, against attacks.

Beyond the protective walls, Godenyinze also boasted of a standing army with a fearless warrior, one Barade as its commander. Added to the protective fortress and the army was a waterlogged area, which always stood between Nagwamatse’s army and the hill.

Malam Abdullahi Musa Tanimu Bosso, a retired teacher who guided our reporter through the old settlement, said whenever Nagwamatse and his army attempted to penetrate the area in those days, Barade’s army would blow their trumpets, which contained bee hives. According to him, when the trumpets were blown, they released bees which attacked Nagwamatse’s army, making them to flee in all directions.  He said that in some instances, Nagwamatse’s army would be lured into the waterlogged area where they got stuck in the process.

The hill, he explained, was a burgeoning settlement with everything in place. However, when Daily Trust on Sunday took a tour round its precinct, most of the structures put in place by Godenyinze and his succeeding son, Abubakar Zarmai, popularly known as Lawu, were in ruin.

Malam Abdullahi said the settlement had three defensive walls in all – the outer, where Barade deployed some of his men to monitor movement in and out of the area; a second and the third which shielded the palace from attack. According to him, Barade’s men manned all the walls. He could only point at where the outer wall used to be when our correspondent visited the area even though the demarcation was still visible.

Like the outer wall, the second wall has also given way, but part of the stone foundation is still intact; ditto the palace wall. He said the walls were vandalised by scavengers as new settlement developed.

The community also boasted of a thriving market where traders from Pyata, Shata and even far away Manta converged with their wares. Abdullahi explained that because of the distance the traders had to cover, most of them always slept over and moved out to other communities if their wares were not disposed off. The market now stands between two giant mango trees. Few meters away is the detention centre where offenders who were found guilty by the kingmakers and advisers spent jail terms. According to Abdullahi, the prison terms depended on the enormity of the offences and were determined after court sessions.

Like most of the structures put in place then, the detention centres and the courtyards where the kingmakers held sessions are also in ruin. However, the chief’s quarters, constructed entirely of stones, still stands. It was said to have undergone some modifications, which elevated it to a storey building during the reign of Abubakar Zarmai Lawu, who succeeded his father, Godenyinze in 1901.

The facility, which defied rains and unpleasant weather for several decades, is believed to be the first storey building in the entire Minna town. Close to it is an enclosure which serves as a burial place for Godenyinze and Zarmai, while outside it are the remains of two of Godenyinze sons, Dako Maku Dikko and Lanze Shabayakwo. Next to the two tombs is also that of Dr Yahaya Abubakar Bawa Bosso, the first Gbagyi man to become a chief education officer in the Gbagyi/Kamuku Native Authority (NA), the first Gbagyi man to be appointed commissioner for education in Niger State and the first to obtain a doctorate degree (PhD) in Educational Policy and Administration in Minna emirate from Harvard University.

Abdullahi said the late Bawa had requested that he should be interred beside his ancestors when he passed on and the family members had to grant his wish.

The entire settlement is divided into five sections, with the advisers overseeing their respective locations in clannish-like arrangement. Madaki superintends Tunhiko; Makama oversees Kayimpi; Dandami looks after Shabapi; Galadima, Kakopi and Dallatu, Bayepi.

The advisers maintained law and order in their respective locations through a delegated authority, and only matters that are severe and beyond the advisers got the attention of the chief. In the efforts to ensure a crime-free society, various stringent measures such as the Gbagyi holy month were introduced.

During the holy month, referred to in Gbagyi as Munipya, which always holds on the 7th day of the 7th month of the year, social vices such as stealing, adultery, amongst others, are abominations. “Offenders must confess and pay the penalties and perform the cleansing rites or they will swell and get banished to the evil forest within the settlement, where they will stay all their lives,” Abdullahi explained.

There is also an enclave in Angwar Makama, referred to as Gagokaba Shrine, where the accused took oaths to prove their innocence.  After the oath, he or she would be isolated for seven days; if such a person survived, he or she was deemed to be innocent of such allegation. However, Abdullahi said there were instances when the offenders swelled from all parts of the body for taking false oaths, adding that in such severe cases, the victim was banished into the evil forest within the hill, called Kuchi, where he or she would be left to die.

Despite the fact that the hill has been encroached on by farmers, no farming activities take place at the location where Gagokaba shrine used to be and even the evil forest where offenders were banished. The forest portion is still covered by thick shrubs and very tall trees. Abdullahi said many people were afraid to encroach on that part of the hill, up till today.

Also, in the Makama section of the hill, two giant baobab trees stand with their striking silhouettes. In between them are piles of rock boulders forming various interesting poise as they stand balanced on one another.

Abudllahi told the story of how Barade, the head of the army always sat on the rock formation to commune with the baobab trees, which always alerted him of an impending danger. One of the trees bear gaping hole around the truck, which Abdullahi said children and the aged retreated into whenever the hill came under threat from external forces.

“Once Barade sounded his trumpet in the face of any danger, children and the aged would be asked to retreat into that baobab tree,” he explained, pointing at the opening around its truck.

Like the first, the second baobab tree also has a myth surrounding it. “You can’t climb it without permission from Makama and his lieutenants,” Abdullahi pointed out, adding, “Whoever does so will not be able to ascend unless a certain sacrifice is made to appease it.”

Some meters from the two mysterious trees is an opening in a rock, through which water hitherto gushed out. Although the water has since ceased, it left a mark where it usually cascaded down and flowed to its destination. Abdullahi said it was a taboo to also cross it, as doing so has spiritual implications. So the Bosso Hill settlement thrived amidst laws and defended against incursions by foreign invaders.

Gwodenyinze was to later enter into a diplomatic relations with Nagwamatse for communal peace and security until the advent of the colonial government, which ended inter tribal and communal conflicts, which heralded the creation of provinces and divisions in Gbagyi lands. He was to continue his reign as the chief of Bosso under  the new Zaria province of Kuta division when Pyata, Shatta, Gurusu and Minna were reduced to villages under the Bosso District by Frederick Lugard.

His successor and eldest son, Abubakar Zarmai’s era also witnessed uncommon development across the district, spanning beyond Chanchaga bridge, Gadan Bosso and Kodo villages, along Minna-Zungeru road. Zarmai was said to have superintended over the area as the Sarkin Bosso, from the point where the Minna Central Mosque now stands, sharing the same grounds with the central police station and the Shariah Court before the Minna Township Council in 1936.

According to Usman Abubakar Bosso, the Ubandoman Bosso, in his book titled, “The Biography of Mallam Abubakar Zarmai,’’ when Minna Town Council was established in 1936 to administer the growing population, Bosso was fully in charge of the area between 1918 to 1936. He said that, in fact, the Bosso Judicial Council was established in 1908 by the colonial administration.

“The Bosso Judicial Council had jurisdiction over Bosso, Minna, Maikunkele and environs,’’ he explained.

Zarmai was said to be vocal, fearless and a crowd puller who enjoyed the support of his people. Such traits earned him the nickname, Lawu, a Gbagyi word for jubilation, success, joy or happiness, with which he became popular. As the town expanded, so was his influence.

According to an account, the colonial administration became uncomfortable with Lawu’s messianic status among his people, and sensing the danger in his growing influence, decided to order his relocation to Bosso in 1951. According to Ubandoma, Malam Abubakar, the elder brother of former Governor Muazu Babaginda Aliyu, who was asked to preside over the town council, faulted the treatment meted to Lawu and had communicated his misgivings to the authorities on the matter.

Lawu had to submit to pressure by relocating to Bosso Hill. The ancient hill settlement was said to have also thrived under Lawu. He was to build the first stone storey building in the area, among other initiatives.

Decades on, however, the hill is in ruin, having been encroached on and its most important historical artifacts scavenged over the years. Development has also caught up with every available space around it, taken over by private developers. However, it still plays host to archeologists and history students from institutions nearby, who visit for excursion and research works.

Abdullahi and others, who have links to the hill, urged the state government to help preserve what is left of its many monuments by conserving them for posterity. Until that happens, and urgently too, the hill may lose what remains of its long and thriving history.