Southern Nigerians have asked me two trivial but persistent and important questions about President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The first is why most Hausa-speaking northerners don’t call Tinubu “Jagaban” as a standalone title like southerners do. Since I am from Borgu, I’ve also been asked why Tinubu was knighted as the “Jagaban Borgu” or the “Jagaba of Borgu.” And what does the title mean, anyway?
I didn’t think the questions were worth a
response, much less a column-length one, because, until now, Tinubu was either
just a major, if unofficial, political player in the Buhari regime or a
candidate for president. Now that he is president, I think these questions are
deserving of a response in the interest of historical and political education.
Hausa-speaking northerners don’t say
“jagaban” as a standalone word because it is ungrammatical in their language.
The usual word is “jagaba.” When it transforms to “jagaban” it must be followed
immediately by a place name because the additional “n” in the word is a preposition
that signifies “of.” So, it is either “the Jagaba of Borgu” or “Jagaban Borgu.”
If the title is not associated with a place, it’s simply “Jagaba,” not
“Jagaban.”
To say “Jabagan of Borgu” is to commit an
ungainly interlingual prepositional tautology since “n” and “of” mean exactly
the same thing. Of course, interlingual tautologies are not uncommon. For
example, we say Aso Rock even when “aso” means “rock” in the Gbagyi language.
We say “Lake Chad” even when “chad” means “lake” in Kanuri. And we say “Sahara
Desert” even when “sahara” means “desert” in Arabic.
Since linguistic habits often form and evolve
outside notions of correct usage, I won’t be surprised if even Hausa-speaking
northerners start to call Tinubu “Jagaban”—or even “Jagaban of Borgu.” Nigeria’s
southwest is, after all, the country’s sociolinguistic pacesetter because of
the centrality of Lagos as the cultural capital.
So,
what does “jagaba” mean? Well, it’s the Hausa word for chief warrior, warlord,
frontrunner, or simply a brave man. It’s derived from “ja,” which means pull
and “gaba,” which means front in the Hausa language. A jagaba is therefore
someone who leads from the front, which is another way of describing a war
commander. In other words, “Jagaban Borgu” or the “Jagaba of Borgu” means the
Chief Warrior of Borgu.
The title was conferred on President Tinubu
in February 2006 by the late Alhaji Haliru Dantoro who was Emir of Borgu in New
Bussa from 2002 to 2015. Dantoro and Tinubu struck up an enduring, if unusual,
friendship in 1992 when both of them served as senators in IBB’s abortive Third
Republic. Dantoro was a senator on the platform of the National Republican
Convention (NRC) and Tinubu was elected on the platform of the Social
Democratic Party (SDP).
Although they belonged to different political
parties, had diametrically opposed ideological temperaments, and Tinubu was
much younger than Dantoro, they hit it off and sustained their friendship even
after Sani Abacha dissolved the senate.
On February 26, 2006, exactly four years
after Dantoro became emir, he knighted Tinubu as “Jagaban Borgu” (or the Jagaba
of Borgu) and Remi Tinubu, his wife, as Yon Bana Jagaban Borgu. “When God made
me the Emir, I said this man was there when I was in dire need of help, so why
can’t I use my position to make him what I feel will help him in future
politically?” Dantoro said in a news interview before his death.
Dantoro’s graciousness toward Tinubu doesn’t
come to me as a surprise. As I pointed out in my November 07, 2015, column
titled "Tribute to Haliru Dantoro, Emir of Borgu,” Dantoro was a
conciliatory, even-tempered, and pleasant person who loved to build bridges
across cultures, regions, ideologies, and faiths. Six months before his death,
former President Muhammadu Buhari testified that even though he imprisoned
Dantoro in 1984, along with other Second Republic politicians, he forgave him
and even went “ahead to establish [a] very strong and cherished personal
relationship” with him.
Dantoro and my father’s immediate younger
brother, J.B. Kperogi, were also fierce political rivals in the Second Republic
in the old Borgu, yet when I had a chance to meet him in 1999 as a young
reporter and he recognized me as the nephew of his former political opponent,
he was kind and gracious to me, asked after my uncle, and emphasized the
importance of unity in the old Nigerian Borgu that is now splintered in parts
of Kwara, Niger, and Kebbi states.
Having said this, it’s important to state
that “jagaba” is not a Borgu title; it’s borrowed from Hausa land. The ancient
Borgu empire was a pluri-ethnic, confederate polity and was peopled by many
ethnic groups, but mostly by the Baatonu (whom Yoruba people Bariba, Ibariba,
or Baruba), the Boko (or Bokobaru/Bisa), the Fulani, the Kambari, and the Dendi
people.
Ancient Borgu stretched from what is now
northeastern Benin Republic (where a Borgou state exists) to present-day
Baruten and Kaiama local governments in Kwara State; Borgu and Agwara local
governments in Niger State; and Bagudo and Dandi local governments in Kebbi
State.
In 1904, Nigerian Borgu, which Lord Salisbury
once angrily derided as "a malarious African desert…not worth a war,"
was initially designated as a province by British colonizers. That was the
equivalent of a state in modern parlance. It was later downgraded to a
“division” of several provinces, including Kebbi Province, Kontagora Province,
and finally Ilorin Province because it wasn’t economically
self-sustaining.
When Kwara State was created in 1967, most of
Borgu (except Bagudo and Dandi) became a part of the state and existed as
Nigeria’s largest local government area until August 27, 1991, when IBB carved
out what is now Borgu and Agwara local governments to Niger State. What was
left of Borgu in Kwara State became Baruten and Kaiama local governments.
I don’t know why Dantoro didn’t give Tinubu a
title that is native to the Bisa/Boko-speaking people of New Bussa, but
Professor Halidu Usman, the Emir of Desa (known as Ilesha Baruba by Yoruba people)
in the Baruten Local Government in Kwara State once defended handing out
Hausa-derived traditional titles because, according to him, the repertoire of
native Borgu titles is severely limited and has been exhausted in light of the
changing cultural environment.
In any case, Borgu has always been a melting
pot that fuses multifarious cultural influences from far-flung places. Many
historic and deeply entrenched Borgu royal titles have Hausa or Kanuri roots.
Take Kilishi Yeruma, for example. It is a fossilized, time-honored title in all
of Borgu for the heir apparent to the throne. It is derived from a fusion of
Hausa and Kanuri.
Kilishi is the Hausa word for rug (which
symbolizes the throne) and Yeruma is the corruption of the Kanuri “yerima,”
which means prince. The town of Kishi in the Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State, was
founded by a Borgu prince called Kilishi Yeruma, and Kishi (or Kisi) is the
short form of Kilishi. It’s a historical fact that people of Kishi are
intimately familiar with and proud of. That is why the Iba of Kishi attends the
yearly Gaani festival in Borgu.
Interestingly, when I discussed Tinubu’s
Borgu title with my paternal uncle a few days ago, he jokingly wondered if
Tinubu was aware that he was shirking the duties his title required of him by
removing fuel subsidies, which has multiplied the deprivation of border
communities such as Borgu.
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