HADEJIA RULER'S (1)

A Chronicle of Emirs of Hadejia, 1805 -
1906:
1. Umaru Bin Abdure, 1788 - 1808
Umaru bin Abdure was the first Sarkin
Fulanin Hadejia. He was appointed by Sarkin
Hadejia Abubakar, the last Habe ruler of
Kasar Hadejia. Umar was credited with
planning and leading the Jihad in Hadejia-
Auyo territories. He actually cleared the
ground and laid the foundation for Hadejia
Emirate. He did that by the authority of the
leader of the jihad movement in Hausa land,
Shehu Usman Danfodio, who sent him a flag
via his brother Muhammadu Sambo. Umaru,
who theoretically could be regarded as the
first flag bearer in Hadejia, died at Rinde in 1808.

2. Mamman Kankiya,1808-1808
Sarki Umaru was succeeded by his eldest son Mamman Kankiya. Sarkin Hadejia
Mamman Kankiya did not live long, but died a few months after and in the same year he was appointed.

3. Malam Sambo Digimsa, 1808-1845 With the death of Umar bin Abdure and his short-lived successor, Mamman Kankiya in 1808, the mantle of Hadejia's leadership fell on the shoulders of Malam Muhammadu
Sambo Digimsa, the person who three years
earlier led the bay'a delegation to the Shehu. The Shehu therefore approved his appointment. With Sambo's assumption of office, the emirate of Hadejia formally came into being. He was the real founder of the emirate, from who sprang all the successive Emirs to this day. It was Sambo who made Hadejia the capital of the emirate when he moved there from Rinde together with his patriots and members of his family. On entering the town from one gate in 1810, Abubakar, the Hausa Chief, and some of his followers moved out of the town from the opposite gate, later settling just outside the eastern gate at a place called Fantai.


Emir Sambo thereby made Hadejia his capital. He enlarged the town and constructed the Hadejia City wall (Maigari). Also, Sambo was with the building of Friday mosque in Hadejia and the appointment of an imam from among the learned Ulama in the town.

Sambo made some key appointments of masu saraute such as Chiroma, Galadima, and Madaki among others. There is no doubt that Sambo was responsible for the final collapse of the Hausa sarautu system in Hadejia and the establishment of the Fulani emirate government.

4. Garko bin Sambo, 1845 – 1847 In 1845, Sambo abdicated the emirate of Hadejia due to ill-health and old age after a long reign of thirty seven years, and retired to Mairakumi. With the approval of Caliph Aliyu Babba (1842-59), Sambo appointed his eldest son Mahammadu Garko in 1845 to succeed him as the new Emir of Hadejia.
Emir Garko’s reign was as short as it was uneventful. He died two years later in 1847.