The popular land known today as Lamma was once a hunting ground for the Sagbee and Kugong who lived in the mountain ranges where they had lived since their dispersal from Yorro long ago. It can be remembered that people lived in the mountains for protection against bad weather, security against attacks from enemies and also from dangerous wild beasts, as the flat lands below the mountains were thickly covered with thorns and forests. More than this, even during the slave trade, many people avoided living on exposed lands, preferring to live in the mountains until such time as world conditions changed and then the movements of people on top of the mountains down into the mountains. flat lands began to function everywhere. on earth.
It was at a certain time that several people were scattered from Sagbee Zaapa, Yusaapa and Depu to present-day Lamma land when an outbreak of smallpox epidemics occurred in Sagbe which killed many people causing some of them to flee to the plain to escape from the smallpox epidemics that killed many of them. That is why they were nicknamed “Tavoh”, meaning the people who fled to escape the smallpox epidemics. Saakoro Bongetah’s grandfather was one of the people who fled the epidemics to Lamma Tavoh.
Saakoro was a wealthy and popular personality among his people in Tavoh. He had many married wives from different Mumuye clans and one of them was from Dong, the sister of Nyarisiruvini. Because of his wealth, people came to him from different places and he received them and fed them food. He allowed many people from far away to come and live.
where he lived. Due to his fame, he befriended Damasi in the Binyeri district.
The introduction of the British colonial administration, Yola province Before the arrival of the white man in Adamawa, many people were able to move and live freely. More people joined the Tavoh group who live in the present Lamma area and others were moving out because the slave trade inroads were dying down a bit and the British traders finally arrived. They then began to organize the people into chiefdoms, districts, and divisions as they saw fit. They then carved Lamma, Binyeri, Monkin and Dingding under Yola to pay taxes to Yola province.
Mumuye’s account of temporal history and culture (2008) highlights that:
Tahiru Gudu, a trader from Gudu in Song, north of the Benue River, came to Mayo Faran and stayed there with Mumuye Gboore happy and at peace. When Adamawa’s Royal Niger and Lamido company put him in charge of collecting taxes from Mumuye. He ruled from Mayo Faran to the Binyeri area; Lamma, Dinding, Monki-Bansi, Dandii, Dong and Sensi-Dong, among others.
Due to the size of the Mayo-Faran chiefdom, he appointed various local chiefs and village chiefs under him to help him collect the taxes. Among the appointed local chiefs and village chiefs, he was named Saakoro.
Chief to govern the Lamma area Including the mountainous region. Meanwhile, Saakoro Bangetah also divided his chiefdom in two and ruled over the Mumuye plain while he handed over the mountainous region to Nyaa Rivini, his brother-in-law in Dong, to rule over it.
Leading Yola’s reorganization into five divisions, Mumuye was in the fifth division. The division combined the Fulani districts of Mayo-Faran and Mayo-Belwa with the pagan districts (as they were called) of Bachama, Mbula, Bata, Waka, Mumuye and Chamba, based in Numan and Chukkol. In 1911, Lunguda and Pin were returned to Yola province and the following year (that was 1912), the independent Pagan Division was resurrected, incorporating modern Numan with Yugur, Yandang-Waka, Mumuye and Chamba. In September 1912 the title was changed to the Numan District according to Kirk-Greene (1958).
Kpanti Saakoro fought with Mobasso, the leader of the Chamba Binyeri. Whenever the Mumuye were working on the farms, the Chamba would secretly come and steal their children and even some adults to sell them and such action continued for some years until the British administration in Yola began. Saakoro in retaliation against Chamba, Binyeri summoned his Sagbee and Dong mountain people and waged war against Mobasso by meeting Chamba at the fishing ground along the Gangtakani, confluence of the Binyeri rivers. There were heavy casualties causing Mobasso to report Saakoro to the white man in Yola.
The white man called the two leaders together to find out the root of the problem. First Mobasso explained his case and then Saakoro; He counted the number of dead or people who were robbed by Chamba. Saakoro used his old records to convince the white man. Saakoro’s records superseded Mobasso’s and Mobasso was blamed, then the white man solved the problem finally and the two groups became friends from that time to date.
HOW TAHIRU SONG CHANGED DISTRICT CHIEFS UNDER MAYO-FARAN
Mumuye Contemporary History & Culture (2008) indicates that after the death of Saakoro Bangetah, the Lamma district, Tahiru knew the importance of politics. He then wanted his own children to rule instead of the native Mumuye. She did it in a cunning way, first she married Gonglaa Mumuye’s daughters to him and his sons just to soften his feelings and then she rejected them. He maliciously sent Hammaselbe, his first son, in charge of Mayo Faran, his second son, Zubeiru, was sent to replace Saakoro Bangetah to control Lamma, Dingding and Monkin districts. He published his third son to rule Jereng-Bajama, but left the man from Chamba to rule the Binyeri district.
Zubeiru, Tahiru Song’s son, controlled Lamma, Dingding and Monkin districts for some years and resigned in 1927, then went to Mecca and died there. The merger of Yola and Muri took place in 1926, forming what was then the province of Adamawa. Mumuye de Mayo Faran would be placed under an area. The resident in charge of the Adamawa province through the DO, Mr. DR Ross, was drawing a map and planning how the Mumuye would be joined under the Zinna district in the Muri division. The boundary on the map was from the Binyen Ravine – Lamma River to the Jereng area or boundary. The assassination of the Zinna district chief in Sensi-Dong occurred during that time when the new areas of Laxnma, Dingding and Monkin had not yet been officially handed over to the Muri Division and this was indicated in the Adamawa province resident’s report to Kaduna (Aug 11, 1932 p 146).
It was after the merger of Mumuye, which was cut from Mayo Faran to Muri, that a Lamma native became Lamma chief again and that Lamma chief was Kpanti Kotto of Tavoh, Sagbee clan. He ruled for a few years and left, then Kpanti Makonyoko Shiiwi replaced him. Makonyoko was also from the Tavoh – Sagbee Clan. Makonyoko then gave leadership from him to the former Dogari of Saakoro Bangetah, who was called Kofa Dogari. Kofa Dogari was from the Mangkoodi rank sub-clan. He married kpanti Makonyoko’s daughter and Makonyoka wanted his father-in-law to replace him. After the death of Koyu’s kpanti Kofa, Rank’s kpanti Rookoba replaced him.
From the time that Zinna in the Muri Division had full control of Lamma, Dingding and Monkin districts, the chiefs of these three places became ordinary village chiefs instead of district chiefs as they were before. However, a Tavoh Sagbee man known as Wakili Jallo was officially appointed Lamma District Chief by the then former Governor Barde of Gongola State (see attached document dated 29 September 1983). This appointment was canceled by the Bamanga regime in 1983 the same year. From now on all chiefs of Lamma, Dingding and Monkin are known as village chiefs.
FAMILY TREE OF LAMMA CHIEF IN Z1NG LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
saakoro bangetah
Kotto
Zubeiru Makonyoko
Kofa Koyu (VH)
Rookoba (VH)
Wakili Jallo (Hakimi)
(1983)
Wild, Wakili (VH)
Mohammadu (VH)
SAGBE SUBCLANES
1. Aali
2. Tavoh
3. Mapusi
4. Zaapa
5.Dafe
6.Nweye
7. Shobot
8.Yukopo
9. Yusapa
DISTRIBUTION OF THE SAGBE CLAN
Different Sagbe clans are spread across Nigeria. Some of these clans are found mainly between the states of Taraba and Adamawa in Nigeria and some parts of Cameroon. Below are the local government areas where these people reside:
A) Taraba State, Nigeria
Yo. Zing Local Government Area
ii. Yorro Local Government Area
iii. Ardo-Kola Local Government Area
IV. Bali Local Government Area
B) Adamawa State, Nigeria
Yo. Mayo Belwa Local Government Area
ii. Jada Local Government Area
iii. Ganye Local Government Area
IV. Tongo Local Government Area
C) The Republic of Cameroon
Yo. Ngaundere in the Republic of Cameroon
