MOSLEM GROUPS AND INDIVIDUALS IN NIGERIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-02771R000400190001-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 25
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 31, 1998
• Sequence Number: 1
• Content Type: REPORT

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MOSLEM GROUPS AND INDIVIDUALS IN NIGERIA
I. Physical Description and Climate
Nigeria, a British Colony, and Protectorate, is situated
on the west coast of Africa on the shores of the Gulf of Guinea.
It is located between the parallels of 40 and 14? North and is
entirely within the tropics. Its area (including the adjacent
British-administered Cameroons) is approximately 372,000 square
miles. The greatest length of Nigeria, from west to east, is
more than: 700 miles and its greatest width, from north to south,
exceeds 650 miles; the coast-line is over 500 miles long.
The main physical feature of Nigeria is, of course-, the
great river from which it takes its name. The Niger rises in
the mountains of French West Africa near Sierrra Leone and to the
north of Liberia about 150 miles from the sea anf flows generally
north-eastward to Timbuletn, in the French Sudan. From this point
It flows eastward for about 200 miles and then flows in a south.-
easterly direction to Lokoja, about 340 miles from the sea. Here
it is joined on its left bank, by its principal tributary, the Benae,
and from here it flaws due south to a point a few miles below
Abo, where the delta commences. This delta extends along the
coast for more than 100 miles and for about 140 miles inland.
The lenght of the Niger is 2,600 miles? of which about two-thirds
lie in French territory.
Both the Niger and the Benae are greatly affected by the rain-
fall, a difference of as much as 35 feet between high and low water
being recorded. At high water the rivers form wide, navigable
waterways, several miles in width from bank to bank, but in the dry
season they shrink considerably, exposing large sandbanks which
divide the shrunken rivers into several channels. Owing to the
widely separated localities in which they rise, the influence
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of the rainfall is felt at different times by the two rivers;
the upper Niger rises in June, but below Timbuktu it reaches
Its maximum in January and lowest point in April, with a slight
temporary rise in August; the Benae is at its lowest in March
and April, when it can be forded at several places, and its
highest in August and September. Below the confluence the in-
fluence of both streams is felt; the lowest water is in April
and May, by the middle of August the water is rising rapidly
and the highest point is reached in September; the river begins
to sink again in October andthere is a slight temporary rise
in January.
The chief watersheds of the country are formed by the Ondo
Ulla, which separate the rivers flowing southwards into the
Lsjos lagoon from the Niger system; the hills which separate
the Niger and Cross river systems; and the Bauchi plateau. From
the last named, rivers run south-west south-east and north-east;
of these the most important are the Kaduna, flowing into the
Niger, the Gonjola, flowing to the Benue, and the parent streams
of the Yobe, which flows into Lake Chad.
Lake Chad is on the north-east border of Nigeria and a portion
of its area lies within the boundary; the lake receives the waters
of the Yobe and of the Shari which enters it from the east and,
although there is no visible outlet the lake is obviously drying
up, probably frmm evaporation. It is not unlikely that Lake Chad
was at one time connected with the Benue, and it was probably
owing to a belief in this that the Benue was known for some
while as the Chadda.
As might be expected, there is a very considerable difference
between the dry, sandy country in the North of Nigeria and the
low-lying, swampy coast. Both parts are hot, but while the heat
of the north is dry, that of the south is damp and enervating.
The seasons are, however governed not by temperature but by
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rainfall, andthere are only two seasons, which are, as a rule,
well defined. The "dry" season begins in the north in October
and ends in April, while in the south it is of shorter duration
and at Lagos generally lasts from November to March. It is
characterized by the Harmattan, a dry, northeasterly wind, which
brings along with it a thick haze composed of minute particles
of dust and shell from. the Sahara. During the Harmattan the
nights and early mornings are cold, but the days are very hot,
and it is during this period that the maximum diurnal variations
of temperature occur, a variation of as much as 500 being recorded
within a few hours. It is in the north that the Harmattan is
most severe, and it has been found that the difference in range
between the maximum and minimum temperature is greater in pro-
portion to the distance of a station from the coast. At the end
of the "dry season" numerous tornadoes herald the approach of
the "rainy season." Before a tornado the air is oppressively
close and heavy, butthe tornado itself, which is generally
scarcely more than aheavy squalls lasts but a short while, and
is accompanied and followed by a thunderstorm and rain.
The rainy season lasts until October, with a slight break
in August, and is followdd by another short tornado season. In
the south the prevailing wind during the rainy season is from the
south-west, and with it comes the rain which is remarkably heavy
along the coast and decreases rapidly as it travels inland. At
Akassa, Bonny, Forcados, and Brass the average annual rainfall
exceeds 150inches, at Calabar it is about 120 inches and at
Lagos over 70 inches; all a these towns are situated on the coast.
At the inland towns of forth, Likoja, and Ibi the average rain-
fall is between 4o and 50 inches, while in the extreme north, at
Sokoto and Maidugari? the average is under 28 inches. That the
distinction between the "dry season" and the "rainy season" is a
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very real one will be seen from the fact that at Maidugan
not an inch of rain was recorded for the 37 years 1914-51
during the five months November to March; at Bonny, where the
average rainfall is 172 inches, over 141 inches fell during the
seven months May to November. June and July are generally the
wettest months of the year.
The lowest mean temperature is recorded in July and August
and the lowest minimum temperature in December and January, during
the prevalence of the Harmattan; the highest temperatures, both
mean and maximum, are as a rule, recorded in March and April.
The temperature never rises as high on the coast as it does in
the north of Nigeria, but the humidity of the air causes a damp
and enervating heat which is more unpleasant than thpgreater
but drier heat of the interior. The annual mean temperature
in Lagos is approximately 800, the absolute minimum about 600
and the absolute maximum 95Q* at Maidujari the absolute minimum
was about 430 and the absolute maximum 1090
Frost is occasionally experienced in the neighborhood of
Lake Chad, and hailstones have been recorded.
That Nigeria is an unhealthy country cannot be denied, and
the mortaility among the Europeans who first visited the country,
justified the title of "the white man's grave" which is shared
with other parts of West Africa. Even among the natives of the
country there is an excessive amount of disease and anunreasonably
high rate of mortality. The forests and swamps of the south are
naturally more unhealthy than the open country of the north and
the stronger tribes have usurped the better lands and driven the
weaker peoples down into the less healthy but less accessible
forests.
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II. Population
The African population of Nigeria, estimated at over
31,000,000 is divided into numerous tribes, great and small,
speaking different languages, worshipping various gods, and
differing one from another in manners and customs. Of the
origin of these people little is known. Their ancestors have
left them practically no written records or monuments, are
fragmentary and in many cases conflicting. Wave after wave of
invasion appears to have swept over the country, and the weaker
tribes have been drivers back and scattered by successive con-
querors. Although in the rugged fastness of the Bauchi plateau
some of the aboriginal inhabitants have taken refuge and seen
the waves of conquest surround and pass them by, for the most
part the fugitives have been pressed southwards into the dense
forests and swampy country along the coast, leaving to the more
virile races the open and healthier plains of the north.
In the first half of the nineteenth century, when the interior
of Nigeria first became known to Europeans, the open country
had been for some time the home of Negroid and Berber peoples
who had adopted the Mohammedan religion and formed powerful
and comparatively civilized states. In the forest and mountain
country, on the other hand, there dwelt a number of Negro ttibes,
the people of which were rude savages, addicted to cannibalism and
human sacrifice, and with a few exceptions with no highly organized
form of government. On the Bauchi plateau and in its immediate
vicinity, within an acrea of leas than 25,000 square miles, there
were over 100 small tribes, and between the Benue and the sea
there were nearly 100 more. The broken country afforded them a
measure of protection from their stronger neighbors but even in
these wild regions there was little security for life or pooperty.
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Constant warfare raged and thousands perished annually in slave
raids, the captives being often utilized to provide the victims
of a sacrifice or for a cannibal feast. In such circumstances
it is little wonder that these people were unable to raise them-
selves from barbarism, and that the comparatively few years of
ordered British administration have, not yet outweighed the cen-
turies of chaos that proceeded them.
Numerically, the most important tribe in the Yoruba, which
with its various offshoots probably included over 5,000,000
persons. The country now occupied by the Yorubas lies between
the Lagos lagoon on the south and the Niger on the north, and
between the Dahomey frontier to the west and the Bini country
to the east. Of the origin of the Yorubas there is no definite
knowledge. Their myths give to UN Ife the honor of being the
/spot where God created man, both white and black, and there can
be little doubt that Ife was the first settlement of the Yorubas
in their present country. Ife remains to this day the spiritual
headquarters of the race, and the sword of state has to be
brought from Ife for the coronation of the Alafin of Oyo and
some of the other Yoruba "kings." There is the usual claims
that the Yorubas came originally from Mecca, but to many Africans
Mecca merely represents the East, and the tradition does not
necessarily involve a auggeation that they sprang from the holy
city of Islam. A further tradition that they came from Upper
Egypt has better foundations; certain carved stones found at Ife,
the manner in which the dead are bound for burial, and the kind
of cloth used for this purpose, are supposed to indicate an
Egyptian origin. Whatever their origin, it is probable that the
Yorubas were not originally of Negroblood, although, in the cen-
turies during which they have occupied their present territories
they have so intermarried with Negro slaves as to have lost their
early characteristics.
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If the origin of the Yorubas is doubtful it is at anyrate
clear that they were established in the country where they now
live at a fairly early date.
Owing to the sanctity which was supposed to attach to the
person of the king, it was impossible for any of his subjects
to lay violent hands upon him, but no doubt a king refusing
to commit suicide would have been dealt with in a suitablemanner.
To preserve respect for the monarchy and to avoid any chance
of that familiarity which breeds contempt, the kingswere not
allowed to appear in public except on very special occasions, and
some of the Yorubas chiefs wear bead veils to this day to hide
their faces from the vulgar eye. But there was another reason
why the kings were not allowed to appear in public; according
to Yoruba etiquette, whenever a chief left his house he had to
be followed by all his subordinates and, should a king go out,
the normal life of the capital would be arrested as the whole
population would be required to attend their sovereign.
In the old days the kings and members of the royal families
shameleeslyabused their positions and trampled on the liberties
of the people, but in spite of this there were some who administered
a crude form of justice which, peculiar as it may appear to our
eyes, apparently satisfied their subjects. An instance has been
given of a prince who fought with a commoner and cut off one of
his fingers. This being reported to his fathers the latter severely
reprimanded the prince and was determined to exact a full re-
taliation for the deed. But the constituion of the country forbade
him to disfigure a prince, so he ordered someone to be brought
from the family of his mother as substitute. A young virgin was
met in the house beating corn and she was summoned to the palace.
The king ordered the executioner to lop off the same finger of the
young woman as that which the prince cut off from the manes hand.
This was done instantly. Then said the king to here "It is not
my fault it is your cousin who deprived you of your finger.
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That was his rude idea of juat1ee. As that young woman and
all the relations of the prince's mother enjoy great advantages
under his au8plces, so they should be ready to suffer for his
crimes.
Although Mohammedanism and Christianity have been making
progress in Yorubatand for a great many years, the people are
still mainly pagan. They believe in the exiatence of a Supreme
Being, whom they term Oloxun (the owner of the sky), but they
.consider Him too important and remote to be much concerned with
the affairs of mankind There are, however a number of minor
deities. (Orishas) who are more directly interested in mundane
matters and frequent sacrifices are offered to these. They
believe in a future state and also in the transmigration of souls
children frequently receiving the names of ancestors who are sup-
posed to be reborn in them. The spirit$ of the departed are wor-
ahipped in different ways, chiefly through the medium of the
priests of the Eguguncr Adamuorisho societiea, while the oro,
whatever its earlier significance, is now mainly a means of keep-
ing the female portion of the population in a state of proper
subservience to the stronger sex. A. loud walling noise created
by a flat piece of stick carved in a peculiar way being whirled
round the head et the end of a piece of string is the signal
that the oro is aboard, and that all women must conceal themselves
on pain, in former years, of death, and nowadays, of a severe beating.
No less than nine of the ten largest towns in Nigeria today are
inhabited by Yorubas, The largest is Ibadan, with a population
of over 460,000, and the next in size is Lagos, the population of
which is 272,000. Lagos is the capital and principal port of the
country, and indeed, of West Africa. Up to comparatively recent
times Lagos was little more than a mud-bank in the lagoon which
bears its name.
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Spread over a large area of northern Nigeria are the
Hauaa-speakthg tribe5,all more or less of Negroid origin. For
many years the Hausaa were considered to be a distinct race,
and the name was loosely applied to all the tribes that spoke
the language: many tribes now claim to be the descendents of
the original X Hausa stock, but it is generally accepted that
no Hausa race exists today, although the language is spoken
by a great many tribes as a mother tongue and as a supplementary
language to their own by many more. A comparatively easy lan-
guage to acquire it has become the linva franca of a large
part of West Africa, and it is the only language of western Africa
which has been reduced to writing by the Africans themselves,
modified Arabic characters being used. There is hardly a place
in the northern half of Africa where no one could be found who
spoke or understood the Hausa language, and Mecca, of course,
would see annually many Hausa-speaking pilgrims.
The establishment of the early Hausa states must have taken
place at a very remote era, and prior to the spread of Moham-
medanism the people were pagan; the new religion probably entered
the country during the thirteenth century and made rapid progress
affecting profoundly the social as well as the religious life of
the Hauges. A form of government grew up based on the doctrines
of Islam, with a well-organized fiscal system and a highly trained
and learned judiciary, administering Mohammedan law with ability
and integrity. Each state was ruled over by its king, assisted
by the usual ministers of oriental governments, but we have little
information of the actual rulers and their doings. In eveley in-
stance XX the state took its name from that of its principal city,
which was surrounded by a mad wall and a deep ditch of many miles
In circumference. To these cities the people would fly for refuge
from an invading axny and as there was space between the walls for
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many rarms he cities were able to withstand prolonged sieges.
The most generally accepted theory is that which indicates
that the Fulani cane originally from Upper Egypt and migrated
westwards across the north of Attica to the Atlantio coast,
where a number settled, while others appear to have moved at a
later date in an easterly direction and to have entered Nigeria
during the thirteenth century. A portion of these immigrants
drifted to the towns, mingling freely with the Hausa inhabitants,
intermarrying with them and adopting the Mohammedan religion, and
before very long their superior intelligence placed them in po-
sitions of importance. For centuries the Fulani remained in
Hausaland as a more or less subject race, but in theyear 1802
Othman den Fodio? a Fulani sheikh who had made the pilgrimage
to Mecca, and whose reputed sanctity had given him great influence
among the faithful interferred with the king's servants on behalf
of 'a party of Mohammedans who were being carried off into capitivity.
The king was angry and sent a message to Othman demanding his
presence. As he failed to appear, troops were sent to fetch him,
but theee were easily dereated by Othman's devoted Falani followers,
who were, however, afterwards compelled to flee with their leader
to escape the king's revenge. As a general massacre of the Fulani,
was now threatened, Othman raised tie banner of revolt and defeated
the king's forces in a decisive battle. The heads of the various
Fulani clans now flocked to the successful sheikh, whom they
recognized as the Sarkin masulin (Commander of the Faithful)
asking his bleasing and his authority to conquer the people among
whom they had lived for so long on sufferance.
The jthad had commenced, Othman giving 'flags' to fourteen
chiefs, who were authorized to wage war in the name of Allah and
His prophets but it was not only against pagans thilt the jihad
was directed,Those who were suspected of being lukewarm followers
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of the Prophet were as guilty in the eyes of Othman's fanatical
adherents as those who were still in darkness andtheir property,
no less than the property of the unbelievers, was lawful spoil
for triumphant virtue. Although Borau was a Mohammedan country,
it was attacked and conquered in 1808, and only regained its
independence by the military skill of a famous sheikh named El
Kanemi. Nor were all of Fulani's followers Fulani. Many of the
natives of the country, who saw in the jihad only a struggle for
the preservation a their religion, joined Othman's forces against
their own people, and one at least of the 'Flag-bearers was not
a Fulani. The jihad was not at first entirely successful but it
was sufficiently so for Othman to hand over the cares of state to
his brother Abdullahi and his son Bello, between whom he divided
the country. He himself continued to preach and study until his
death in the year 1817 at his son's capital, Sokoto. Abdullahi,
in the meantime1 had established himself at Undo, and on Othman s
death, he recognized Bello as Sarkin Musulmi probably from
necessity rather than from inclination.
The successful Faulani jihad, which began about the year 1802,
had made that race the masters of Hausaland, and in 1808 the Fulani
armies invaded Borhu? although it had been a Mohammedan country
for centtries, and asa/mat 41had was supposed to be directed only
against the infidel. The Bornu army was defeated, the Sultan was
forced to flee from his capital, and it looked as though Bornu was
to be added to the Fulani empire, when there came forward a remark-
able man who was to save the country and re-establish its power.
Mohammad El Kanemi was born in Fezzan, one of his parents being
an Arab and the other a native of Kanemi he had been educated in
Egypt and had already attained a great reputation in Kanemi for
sanctity and learning when the Fulani invasion called him to the
front. Claiming a divine inspiration, eh raised a small number of
fanatical followers, with whose aid he defeated the Fulani in a
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battle in which the Bornu force was at a ser?oue numerical dis-
advantage. The people now flocked to his standa do and within
a year he had defeated the Fulani in a series of battles and driven
them from the country. Refusing the throne which his enthusiastic
followers urged him to take, he restored the fugitive Sultan and
did him homage, but he retained all the real power in his own
hands. The puppet Sultan continued to reign nominally in his
newly-built capital at Birnie but the Shehu (sheikh) as El
Kanemi was called, became the virtual ruler On El Kanemi's death
in 1835 he Sultan attempted to reassert himself and regain his
lost power, but he was defeated and killed, and El Kanemils on
Omar, who had succeeded his father, became in practice as wet].
as in theory the ruler of the country. His successors still retain
the title of Shehus which was assumed by the founder of their
dynasty, in preference to that of Sultan.
The power of Bornu once more began to wave, and in 1893
Ra ich, who was formerly a slave of Zobeir Pasha, led an army
from the Egyptian Sudan into Bornu. Rabeh's troops were part of
the force with which Zobeir had held his military district before
the overthrow of the Egyptian power in the Sudan by the Wahdi and
made a well-drilled and fairly well-equipped army which defeated
the Shehu's troops and destroyed Kuka.
After the adoption of the Mohammedan religion in Bornu the
system of law and taxation closely approximated to that in force
in-HUasalands but there existed in addittbon in Bornu a death
duty, called gado, and a well-graduated income tax, haku limeram*
at not time does there seem to have been the multiplicity of taxes
and illegal imports which were so aharaoteriatle under the rule of
the later Fulani Emirs.
On the last of Bornu, and in the neighborhood of Lake Chad,
there is found a race of Shuwa Arabs, famous as cavalry in the
armies of old Bornu, and now divided up into small clans under their
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own Sheikhs. They speak a dialect of Arabic, in which many
cla steal words, long disused by other Arabs, are retained,
mixed with words of Negro origin. They possess large herds
Qt cattle which are moved from place to place in search of
pasturage and water.
The less advanced and organized communities are found prin-
cipally among the hills of Bauchi and in that tract of country
which lies east of the lower Niger and south of the Benue.
The most important of these ia the large Ibo tribe, which
with its various clans and offshoots probably numbers about four
million pereons, and occupies the greater part of the country
between the Niger and the Cross rivers, together with the Asaba
district on the right bank of the Niger. Among these people
there was no highly organized form of government and little
tribal cohesion; practically every village was independent, and
so great was the isolation of each small community that the in-
habitants of neighboring villages often speak in entirely dif-
ferent dialects. The nos, were, and still are, almost entirely
a pagan race, And they were much addicted to cannibalism. The
Ares are held by some to be a clan of then? tribe, and by others
to be of an entirely different stock; however that may be, the
fact remains that by their superior intelligence they acquired a
complete aacendancy over the neighboring Ibo clans.
North of the river Benue, in the mountainous region of the
Bauchi plateau, are a large number of primitive tribes addicted
to cannibalism and other unpleasant practices, and wear the
scantiest of attire, in spite of the cold so often experienced in
their mountainous country. As a me rule the women wear nothing
more than two wisps of grass, in front and behind, suspended from
a string around the waiat, while in some cases the men wear even
less than this. They are great agriculturalists, and own some
hardy ponies which they ride bareback. Their principal weapon
is the bow. The poisoned arrows from which are effective up to
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a range of about 120 yards. Some are head-hunters, and preserve
the skulla of their vanguished enemies. Some eat anything from
rats, mice, and bats to their own deceased relatives, while
others, more fastidious, will not eat their own people, but ex-
change corpses with neighboring villages, They are generally
great drunkards, the whole tribe frequently drinking locally
brewed beer until all are incapable. The largest of these tribes
are the Angas and Tangale.
In addition to the tribes mentioned there are n
ous others,
speaking different languages and dialects, and giving other
proofs of distinct origins. Some of the tribes consider the
birth of twins to be lucky, otheis kill both the twins and the
mother, believing that where two children are born at one birth
one must be the child of an evil spirit. Some firmly believe
in the pp power of certain men to change themselves into animals;
some sacrifice human beings to their gods. In some tribes the
men are circumeized; in others there are initiation ceremonies
for boys and girls. Sometimes there are age groups, the members
of which share each other's work and play. Moat of the ttibes
have facial and bodily marks, applied either during infancy or
at puberty, by incisions or tattooing; the eight of an infant
with deep gashes on either cheek, deliberately kept open that
a permanent scar may beleft, is peculiarity revolting, but does
not appear to affect the African mothers, who are in other respects
most affectionate and kind to their children. It was, no doubt
essential in former years that the members Of each tribe should
be easily identified, but the need for this has now departed, and
it is to be hoped that the cruelties inseparable from the marking
of children will or disappear.
Most of the tribes which have not been reached by Christianity
or Hohammedanism believe in a multitude of evil spirits, ever on
the lookout for an opportunity to harm mankind, who have to be con-
stantly placated. With many tribes the prients or juju men, have
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to settle social and economic questions; in particular they have
to decide when the yam crop is fit to be eaten (for the yam
eaten too young is unwholeaome), and it is said that in some
cases that the date of the "festival" is fixed by the postIon
of certain stars, which shows an elementary knowledge ofsetronomy.
The physique of the Negro is generally very fine, though
there is often combined with a well-developed, muscular body an
extremely feeble constitution which succumbes easily to disease.
The practice of carrying heavy loads on the head from the days
of childhood gives an upright and graceful carriage and in most
of the tribes the young women have particularly graceful figures
though in some parts of the country the deliberate fattening of
girls before marriage spoils their appearance. Boys and girls
come to puberty at a very early age, and grow old rapidly, the
womn particularly being pass ee at an age when an American
woman would be at the prime of life.
Among the non-native inhabitants ot Nigeria there are a
number of West Indians, some of whom wereformerly employed by
the government railroad, and the discendants of liberated Negro-
slaves from Brazil, some thousands of whom returned to the country
of their origin and settled in Lagos after it became a British
colony. A number of people also came from Sierra Leone in 1842
and settled at Abeokuta. There are some Tripoli Arabs resident
In Kano, and there is an increasing number of Syrians In Lagos
who carry on an extensive trade in a quiet way, making money and
keeping it by the simple process of spending as little as possible.
There are no European settlers in the country and it is unlikely
that there will ever be a permanent resident white population. The
absence of white aettlers has saved time Oovernment of Nigeria from
the difficult problems which confront other administrations in
Africa. The Europeans in Nigeria number about 15,000, of whom some
5)000 are resident in Lagos. They are principally employed in the
government service, in banks and commercial companies and as
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rnteionar1es. A very large proportion is British coept for
the missionaries, the others seldom remain in the country for
morethan eighteen months or two year at a time.
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on
The greater number of pure Ne.ro tnhabltants of Nigeria are
pagans, while among the Negroid and Berber tribes of the North the
magority are are Mohammedans. Christiantiy has made slow progress in
the country save in the comparatively few localities where missionaries
have worked for long periods.
In considering the pagan beliefs of the people it is importan
to realize that the existence of a Supreme Being is appreciated practi-
cally throughout the country, even by the most backward tribes. This
Supzenie Being, however, is invisible and remote, and little likely to
interfere much in the petty concerns of the individual and therefore,
although He is not forgotten, more attention is paid to minor deities
good and evil, who are considered to have a greater interest in human
affairs. But even these are held to be spirits and the images which
the people venerate are but the representat1on of the spirits and not
the gods themselves. In most cases there is a tribal god, a lesser
god for each village of the tribe, a household god for every family in
the village, and a personal god for every member of the family. Add to
these a god or devil for every striking object of nature, for every
river or stream, for every hill or grove, and for every large or remark-
able tree and it will be understood how complicated is the Africans,
mythology.
Although the change in slow, it is unquestionable that paganism
is gradually yielding in Nigeria to the influence of Islam and Christian-
ity partly no doubt because of the influence of the social and political
advantages of these religions. It is estimated that in Negro Africa, when
Christian and Moslem missionaries are in Competition, ten heathen embrace
the doctrine of Islam for every one who becomes a Christian. For this
there are many reasons. To begin with, although there is little love
lost between the different Moslem aects, to the heathen Islam presents
a united front, while sectarian differences tend to weaken the Christian
force and puzzle the pagan mind. Again the doctrines of Mohammed are
spread by Africans who can penetrate freely into any part of the country
and get in touch with the people, while Christianity is generally preached
by European missionaries who have not this advantage. Moreover, every
Moslem proselizes as a matter of course* the Christian leaves this to
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The chief reaaen for the greater success of Islam is, however,
that it is better adapted than Christianity to the African life. The
native of Nigeria, as he advances in knowledge and becomes more civi-
lized, ceases to believe in the numberless gods of his pagan ancestors
and looks around for soinethin better. There is offered to him the
choice of the Cross or the Crescent. Both involve strange doctrines
which he scarcely understands, but while one forbid him to possess
more than one wife, the other impo5ee no such restriction. Polygamy is
an old established cutcm throughout Nigeria, and to the African it
appears not only a reasonable but almost an essential institution.
The number of a manse wives provides an indication of his wealth, in
which from it is often entirely invested, and the labor of his wives adds
to his income and permits of further investments. Children are not a
financial burden in West Africa* but add to the wealth of the father, so
there is no economic disadvantage in large families. Daughtes are
easily marketable as wives at an early age, and eons provide an unpaid
labor supply._ But apart from the financial advantages of a plurality
of wives, there is the fact that mothers in moat parts of Nigeria nurse
their children till they are from two to three years of age, and deny
themselves to their husbands during this period. With monagamy the rule,
such a custom might in time disappear, but it appears at present to be
an insuperable difficulty.
Mohammedanism has existed in the north of Nigeria for many centuries,
and was certainly introduced before the year 1400. It was adopted by
the town-living Fuloni some time after their arrival in Hausaland? and
under the inspired leadership of Othman dan Fodio, with the cooperation
of their fanatical neighbors, they were able early in the nineteenth
century to overthrow the pagan state of Goble and to subdue those
Mohammedan cities which conformed too laxly to the rules of the Prophet.
Uting their religious zeal as a cloak to their ambition, the Fulani
leaders waged endless war against the pagan tribes. "God has given me
all the land of the infidels," said Sultan Bells in 1824, and with this
comforting knowledge he acquired as much of the infidels, territories as
he could. But not only against the infidel did Bells fight. Borau
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had been a Mohammaden state for centuries when i as invaded by the
Fulani, and even when the "Servant of God." Mohammed El Xauemi a man
of unquestioned sanctity and austerity had driven the invaders from
Borau and abolished the abuses of the past, wars between the Fulani and the
Boreme were always breaking out.
With the establishment of the Br tish administration the spread of
Islam by force of arms was put a stop to, but it has not ceased to
read by more peaceful means. Today more than half the inhabitants of
Lugus are Moslems and elsewhere the religion is gaining ground rapidly.
The statement has been made in the past that the Nigerian Government
prevented Christian missiona from operating in the Modsmmedan Emirates,
and that Christian missionaries had been excluded from pagan areas to
which the preachers of Islam had been admitted. This was met by the
agreement that the British administration gave a solemn promise to the
people when British rule was extended to the north that the Mohammedan
religion would not be interfered with and that all men would be free
to worship God as they chose.
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IV. Background
British adznintetratior in Nigeria &t& not tox,naliy commence
until 1861, the year that Lagos was ceded to the crown. For many
centw'iea before then, however, modern Nigeria had been subjected to
external influences from the large medieval kingdoms of the Western
Sudan (Ghana, Melle, and Songhai), from the Maghrlb and Tripolitania,
and from Egypt via Lake Chad and the Nile-Niger traverse. The important
immigrations of Northern Nigerian groups (Gulani Hausa, anuri) were
directly connected with disturbances resulting from the spread of /slam
in Egypt and North Africa after the seventh century. The empires of _
Melk and Songhai were Islamic, the rulers having been converted to Islam
in the middle of the eleventh century. In 1493 a Negro (Mohammel Askia)
seized the throne of the ire of Songhai and during the succeeding two
centuries most of the House States were brought within that empire. In
the meantime, Katsina and Kano had become famous as centers of Islan,
and Kano emerged as a great commercial en report. Historically and
culturally, the MUslim areas of Northern i aria belong to the Western
Sudan.
ntil the arrival of the Britiih, Northern Nigerta was economically
ori ted toward Tripoli and Egypt. Kano was famous throughout and beyond
the Sudan for the weaving and embroidery of cloths the tanning of skins,
and ornamental leatherwork. The latter product, known as Morocco
leather," was exported acrosa the Sahara to North African ports; the
caravans brought back to Kano Airopean trade goods, mostly cloth, metal
articles, and glass. The outstanding economic development in Northern
Nigeria since the British occupation has been the virtual cessation of
this historic trans Saharan trade, and the diversion of export product
to the Guinea coast as a result of the imposition of an artificial frontier
above Kano and the development of a modern transportation system within
Nigeria.
Islam wa tthny establiehed In Noz'theru Nigeria b
end of he
fifteenth century, and its effecta were profound. Although Islam like
Catholicism, is not necessarily conservative, the political elite which
emerged in Northern Nigeria used certain interpretations of Islam to
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impose centralized government and a rig as
hy and to
Inculcate habits and attitudes of political deference and subordination.
The Hausa language absorbed hundreds of words of Arabic origin and was
adopted to Arabic script. Islam provided a transtribul bond which has
been one of the most powerful integrative fattors in Northern Nigeria.
It also provides a link with the modern Middle Emit, as evidenced by
the thousands of p lgrims who travel from Northern Nigeria to Mecca
each year, and by the growing contacts with the Sudan, Egypt and other
Muslim countries.
These early int1uene8 from he Maghreb and North Africa were not
reeti.eted exclusively to the north. In a diluted form they filtered
down into the more physically accessible parts of Yombaland. Today there
are as many Yomba Mosels as Christians, although Yombaland has been sub-
jected to intensive Christian evangelization for more than a century.
Some authorities believe that certain Yomba and Edo cultural traits
can be traced with certainty to Egypt the divinity of kings, ceremonies
of reinvestiture and rejuvenation, and beliefs similar to the Egyptian
1a, The spread of Ialam was halted, however, wherever the rain forest
became dense and inhospitable. Environmental factors, among others,
prevented the southeastern part of Nigeria from feeling its impact.
During the fifteenth century, when /slam was consolidating its
hold over Northern Nigeria, the impact of the export slave trade,
commenced by Portugal, was being felt in the south. By 1455 more than
TOO slaves were being shipped annually to Portugal from the west coast
of Africa; and under the inspiration and guidance of He ty the Navigato
the whole of the Guinea coast was known by 1500. Portuguese traders
and missionaries briefly visited Benin City in the 14801s, and from the
latter part or the fifteenth century they exercised an aPpreciable
influence in the Heekiri Kingdom of Warri.
During the three centuries following 1500 most of the
ng
European nations participated in the slave trade, which became kucrative
after the discovery t America and the establishment or Spanish colonies
in the West Indies had created a heavy demand for 2aves Xn 1712 the
British secured a virtual monopoly over slave dealing on the West Coast.
A century later in 1807? Great Britain declared the slave trade illegal.
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Britith abolition prociuoed no revolutionary change, however, because
foreign slave dealers1 mainly Portuguese, rushed in to fill the vacuum.
In fact, the trade actually increased, and was not finally ended until
the mid-1840's.
European slave deale had no st ixeent1ve to explore the
Nigeria hinterland, and rew of them left heir vessels. Procurement of
the elavea was left to African enterprise. Chiefs and African slave
traders readily undertook the role of middleman and brought the slaves
to shipside in exchange for European trinkets. Thus they acquired a vested
interest in the slave traffic and were as much aggrieved by its cessation
and their consequent displacement as were the white slave dealers. The
first Nigerian middle class was liquidated by the abolition of the
external slave trade,
Nigeria was known a the "Slave CoaBtu unttiddle of he
eteenth century. Its people felt the brunt of four centuries of
European-African contact resulting from the traffic in slaves. Africanisms
traceable to Yoruba culture have been found in Negro communitiee in
Brazil, the West /ndies, and elsewhere in the New World. Many of the
Creoles of Freetown, Sierra Leone, are descendants of early Yoruba
freed slaves. The total effect of the alave trade upon Nigerian society,
institutions, and peoples will perhaps never be known. Certain general
effects are obvious. The trade was one of the main caumes of the
devastating internecine strife that prevailed in southern Nigeria during
the centuriea preceding abolition. Not only were tribal institution
disorganized, but the energies and talents of the peOple were consumed
either by raiding or being raided in order to meet the great demands for
slaves. Hundzeie of thousands of the most virile members of their race
were phy ically withdrawn from African aociety over a period of 400
years. The same period saw Europe emerge from medieval stagnation and
pass through her agricultural, induatrial, and intellectual revolutions.
The slave trade not only profoundly affected inatitutions, but it
left a psychological legacy of suspicion, servility, or hoetility which
has been that the slave trade is the main explanation for their so-called
Primitiveness. They bitterly resent the stigma of inferiority Implicit
in the tact that their race was once a race of alaves. They feel that
they were victims of history, hold back while others were advancing.
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After the Bxitih government had declared the slave trade Iddegal
In 1807# European traders were compelled to turn to legitimate trade
in such commoditie as palm oil and ivory. The adjustment was made
quickly, however, and as early as 1826 twelve British merchant
ships were reported to be in the Bonny River at one time. The die.
covery in 1830 that the Niger en ered the Bight of Biafra served as an
inVitation for tradera to penetrate the hinterland. During the suc
needing seventy years he trade in Nigerian productsgrew very rapidly
and was conducted first by private European traders and companiee,
and later (1886-1900) by the chartered Royal Niger Company. The Be
Conference of 1885 acknowledged British claims to the ,Niger Basin,
and Britain gave the Royal Niger Company power "to administer, make
treaties levy customs and trade in all territories in the basin of the
Niger and its afflients." Armed with this mandate the company in the
next fifteen years established a firm monopoly over all trade in the
Niger Basin. In 1900 the British Government took over from the Royal
Niger Company, and Sir Frederick Lugard, as high comm181oner, procla ed
the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria.
In the meantime, British trading interests along the coast had
secured sufficient political support from a reluctant home government
have a British conaul appointed in 1849. Stationed on the Spanish
and of Fernando Pa, the-consul was charged with supervising trading
activities In the Bight of Benin and Biafra. In iB72 certain judicial
and administrative powers were conferred upon him including the levying
of fines and the taking of punitive measures against M'ricana who
resisted peacefuiH commerce. In 1885 Britain, when given a clear hand at
the Berlin Conference, fox,nalLy declared the Niger Delta area, over which
the consul had been exercising 1tmted powere the Oil Rivera Protectorate.
During the next seven years an armed constabulary wae raised, armed
launches were secured, and consuls and vice-consuls were appointed to
the various rivers over which they were given control by the commissioner
and consul-general at old Culabar. Finally, in 1893, Britain extended the
protectorate over the hinterland and renamed it the Niger Coast Pro
tectorate.
More than e decades earlier n 1861, the Britiah governmer had
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annexed the settlement of Lagos as a colony, ostensibly for the purpose
of stopping the slave trade. For twenty years this famous slave
mart was successively under the jurisdiction of the govenor of the
West Africa Settlements, resident in Sierra Leone (1866-1874) and
the governor of the Gold Coast Colony (18724_i"6). Lagos was finally
severed from the Gold Coast (now Ohara) in the same ,year that the Royal
Niger Company was given its charter and the Oil Rivers Protectorate was
established. In 1900 the Niger Coast Pr orate became 'the Protectorate
of Southern Nigeria, and six years later it was amalgamated with Lagos
under the title of the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria.
Finally n 1914, the two protectorates (northern and southern) were
amalgamated to form the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria.
The Federation of Nigeria, which now is composed of three
gione
and the UN Trust territory of the British Cameroons, is rapidly moving
toward independence. Two things are certain: The UK will carry out its
promise to grant independence, and Nigerians ot all regions and parties
are agreed on demanding complete independence for the Federation by 1960.
Nonetheless, the ethric? tribal, religious, political, economic and
geographical divisions of Nigerian life tend to favor regionalism and
have until recently raised the specter of a Balkanized tligeria. This,
perhaps, has, at least for the present, been largely dissipated by the
enticing example of an independent neigboring Ghana. There are
however, likely to be sharp conflicts atill about many problems, parti-
cularly the distribution of power between federal and regional governments
the allocation of revenues, and the relative influence of tribal, feudal
and secular groups in the new state.
The Northern Region, covering two-thirds of the land area and
ntaining over half of the total population le predominantly Mo1em
with all Animiat minority; the Western Region contains Christians, Mos ems,
and Animists in almost equal portions; the Eastern Region is primarily
Chil.stian and Animist.
The political development of Nigeria has been profoundly affected
by the trepartition of Nigerian life The Nationalist movement,
originating in the econom,cally more advanced coastal regions, has split
between the Ibo and the Yoraba, and each has served as the focal point
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of a major political party. In the Eastern Region the recognized prime
move of Nigerians nationalism, Dr. Nuamdi Azikine, leads the National
Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons. Immensely popular among the Tho,
and a clever though somewhat unscrupulous politician, "Zik" has made
inroads into other regions and tribal groups. In the Western Region, the
Yoruba Chief Obafemi Awolawo leads the Action Group, a party he originally
establiahed to protect the region from political incursions of the militant
National Council. Both the National Council and the Action Group have
succeeded, however, in establishing hemselves in each other's strongholds,
a fact which titigates the original trend toward one-party rule in the
regions and also, in the long run, may help to break down the rigid
regional nature of Nigerian politics.
The situation in the Northern Region differs Sharply from that in
the Eastern and Western Regions. The Northern Region has long been
governed by the British through "indirect rule," a system whereby they
relied upon the traditional local authorities, here the Emirs, to serve
as their agents in governing. The North, led by the Sardaura of Sokoto,
is still in the grip of traditional groups which are reluctant to permit
the unfettered growth of democratic politics. No party in opposition
of the Northern People's Congress - a political organization controlled
by the Emirs - had been able to obtain a seat in the legislature until
the regional elections of late 1956.
The Federal Prime Minister Alhaji Aimbakas Tafawa Ea wax of the
Northern People's Congress is a Moslem.
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