Jibia

Jibia, also spelled Jibiya, is a town and Local Government Area (LGA) in Katsina State, northern Nigeria.cite web |url= http://www.nigeriacongress.org/fgn/administrative/lgadetails.asp?lg=Jibia |title= Jibia |accessdate=2007-02-10 |work= nigeriacongress.org] The population of the LGA was approximately 125,000 as of 2003, and the area is 1037 km². Jibia sits along on the Nigerian border with Niger, and the border post was burnt down by a mob in 2005.cite web |url= http://www.triumphnewspapers.com/archive/DT1122006/katsina11202006.htm |title= Katsina custom command: So far so good |accessdate=2007-02-10 |last=Yunusa|first=Abdulkadir|work= Daily Triumph |publisher= Triumph Publishing Company] According to the Daily Triumph newspaper, the mob was "hired" by smugglers angry about the Katsina Custom Command's crackdown on contraband goods.

Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) operates an ambulatory center in Jibia.cite web |url= http://www.msf.fr/site/actu.nsf/actus/nigeria100505?OpenDocument&loc=st |title= A Katsina, la malnutrition continue |accessdate=2007-02-10 |work= msf.fr |publisher= Médecins Sans Frontières |language=French]

History

Abu Kassim, a researcher on the history of Jibiya, wrote that the origins of Jibiya date back to the wars of conquest between the rulers of Maradi and Katsina over territoriality and religion, especially after the jihad of Usman Bin Fodiyo. The rulers of Maradi beginning with Dan Kasawa had formed a culture of invading the northern portions of Katsina Emirate, utilizing the dense forest on the western side of Kingdom with guerrilla warfare tactics. The successors of Dankasawa including Rauda Dan Magaji Halliru (1830-1836) and Umaru Dan Mari (1830-1843) made northern Katsina inhabitable as a result of constant raids and warfare. Umaru Dan Mari also formed alliances with sections of the leadership of Katsina Emirate including Sarkin Ruma Ummaru whose disloyalty and treachery earned him the wrath of the Emir of Katsina, Umarun Dallaje. Emir Dallaje marched on Ruma, destroying the town and expelling Sarkin Ruma Ummaru who took refuge with his benefactor, Dan Mari. As a consolation Dan Mari gave Sarkin Ruma his daughter, Talatu, in marriage and in 1848, he was appointed the district head of a small town Fatotuwa, south of Maradi, on the border with Katsina. In 1851, Talatu gave birth to a child, Muhammadu Duma.Whatever the intentions of Dan Mari in appointing Sarkin Ruma as District Head of Fatotuwa faded as Muhammadu Duma grew to become a respected farmer and warrior and along with Maradi na Atta and Kaura Hasau, threw his weight behind the religious reformation of the Katsina Emirate, or the Jihad of Usman Bin Fodiyo. He relocated to Maje and later founded Jibiya in 1906. Gatari Duma paid allegiance to the Emir of Katsina and the wars of conquests faded into peaceful co-existence. For the next two decades, Duma, with the authority of the Emir of Katsina, began a campaign of re-populating the area through the allocation of plots of land and farms to new settlers.

New Borders

Accepting the jihad meant accepting the leadership of the Fulani rulers of Katsina. At about the same time, the rivalry between the English and French over the control of African territory was reaching its climax. After several meetings and skirmishes, the two world powers appointed Major Oshi (England) and Captain Tilho (French) to demarcate their respective borders and areas of influence thus putting Jibiya under the rulership of the English and effectively, the border town between Nigeria and Niger.

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