Part 2: Afonja and Alimi, A Brief on Yoruba and Fulani of Ilorin By Yushau A. Shuaib
Though people in Ilorin primarily speak Yoruba, their traditional and religious leadership comprises Fulani, Gambari, Kanuri, Nupe, and other ethnic groups. At the start of the 19th century, Kakanfo Afonja, a Yoruba warlord, fled the Oyo Kingdom and emigrated to Ilorin to avoid a suicidal war with the Alafin (the king) . Around the same time, a Fulani Islamic scholar named Salih Janta, popularly called Shehu Alimi due to his Islamic knowledge, also arrived in Ilorin.
Shehu Alimi and Afonja later allied to repel the punitive forces of Oyo when the Alafin planned to suppress the former’s rebellion and eliminate the latter for converting Yoruba to Islam. With support from Shehu Usman Danfodiyo of Sokoto, Ilorin’s forces launched a preemptive strike by attacking and burning down Oyo-Ile, the capital of the old Oyo Empire.
Meanwhile, after a communal conflict, Afonja was also assassinated. When Shehu Alimi died in 1820, his eldest son, AbdulSalami, whose mother was a Gwandu princess in the present Kebbi, became the emir of Ilorin and pledged allegiance to the Sokoto Caliphate around 1829.
Throughout the 19th century, Ilorin was a significant trade hub between the Hausa-Fulani in the North and the Yoruba in the South. It was later incorporated into the Northern Nigeria Protectorate in 1900.
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Therefore, Nana Maryam belonged to the fifth generation of Ilorin descendants of Shehu Alimi, a pioneer flag bearer of Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio. Her ancestral line is traced to the first son, Emir AbdulSalami.
In a simple illustration, Maryam was the daughter of the eighth Fulani Emir of Ilorin, Shehu AbdulKadir (1919-1959), granddaughter of the seventh Emir, Shehu Shuaib Bawan-Allah who reigned 1915-1919, great-granddaughter of the third Emir, Zubair (reigned c.1860-1868), and a great-great-granddaughter of AbdulSalami, the first Emir of Ilorin (c.1823-c.1836) and first son of Shehu Alimi (c.1740-c.1823).
As the daughter of Emir AbdulKadir, Maryam’s siblings included Mallam Aliyu Baba Agba, the 10th Emir of Ilorin (reigned 1992-1995); Hajia Aishat Bolanta ZulKarnaini Gambari, wife of the 9th Emir (HRH Alhaji Muhammed ZulKarnaini Gambari, who reigned 1959-1992) and mother of the 11th Emir (HRH, Alhaji (Dr.) Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, 1995).
Princess Maryam was a young girl when she was sent to a boarding school in Kano and entrusted into the care of Queen Hasiya, the wife of Emir Abdullahi Bayero. Maryam shared the school with the Emir’s daughters, Princesses Rakiya and Hadiza Abdullahi Bayero.
A young Prince, Ado, became interested in Princess Maryam through her relationship with his sisters. He started paying regular visits to the school, and their closeness grew as their meetings became more frequent but restrained.
Yushau Shuaib Agaka is currently the Custodian of one of the oldest copies of the Quran, which was brought to the Ilorin Emirate by his progenitors from Kanem-Borno_
www.YAShuaib.com [email protected]_
