In Sokoto, you can go
to heaven or hell without dying
By MAURICE ARCHIBONG
Thursday,
August 2, 2007
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Believe it or not, there’s a chance to see heaven
or hell without dying. But the tourist must gird his/her loins, for as you would
expect, such adventure couldn’t be easy.
It turned out the expedition
is not only backbreaking but also unnerving. Usually, unsettling claps of thunder
accompanied by dissonant voices erupt as you approach the entrance of the domain,
where both eternities stand. However, the traveller is warned not to panic, for
no tourist has ever died on a trip here.
But this is not to say that the
rapturous welcome has never elicited fear from some of those that had gone to
the trouble of catching glimpses of the so-called hereafter. In fact, we gathered
that in spite of being forewarned, the awe-inspiring cacophony once sent one female
visitor screaming, falling and tumbling in her helter-skelter attempt to scamper
to safety.
Apparently, neither heaven nor hell is an ordinary place: Sources
said the place where both stand, boasts certain wells, which are visible to some
tourists but invisible to others. In deed, that you saw any of these wells on
a previous visit is no guarantee that it would be visible to you on another trip,
we were told.
On July 19, "Travels" dwelt on Alok, a village
in central Cross River State in southeastern Nigeria, believed to be the Garden
of Eden, where the African Adam and Eve (Agbor and Shishe respectively) were created.
If Alok, which holds priceless antiquities lying loose, was the Garden of Eden,
does it mean that God lived more than 1, 000 km from the Garden of Eden? This
was one of the thoughts that rankled in our mind as we entered the ancient City
of Suranme, said to hold heaven and hell.
Suranme is an abandoned settlement
located in Sokoto State’s Binji Local Government Area, some 1, 600km northwest
of Cross River, where Alok stands. According to Sokoto State Director of Information,
Mr. Ibrahim Goronyo, Suranme was the first capital of Kebbi Kingdom, which was
then part of ancient Songhai Empire.
The director of information added
that "Kebbi was one of the most powerful states of that ancient empire and
that Suranme was built by its founding father, Kanta, during the reign of Askia
Mohammed over Songhai. Although Goronyo enthusiastically hailed the walls of Suranme
as being mightier than those of ancient Kano and Zaria, which are ostensibly more
famous, there is little to show on the parts of both the National Commission for
Museums and Monuments (NCMM) and Sokoto State authorities regarding efforts to
develop the site.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that Suranme was declared
a National Monument more than 30 years ago. However, our visit revealed the site’s
importance seems to be only on paper, going by the apparent lack of interest as
to the goings-on at the place. A Sokoto government source hinted at the readiness
of that state authority to build an access road to the site provided there were
signals from the NCMM to develop Suranme. However, there’s no green light
from the latter.
Welcome to Sokoto
Located in northwestern
Nigeria, Sokoto was one of the 12 states created in 1967 by the then General Yakubu
Gowon-led military government. Travelling across Sokoto, the tourist would notice
that tree-felling is rampant in these climes too, even though the landscape is
still far from as barren as the situation in Borno, Yobe et cetera. Nonetheless,
there is much work to be done in the area of environmental concern campaigns in
Sokoto as in other afflicted parts of northern Nigeria.
Car number plates celebrate
Sokoto as "Seat of the Caliphate." Sokoto is thus fondly known because
it holds the Palace of the Sultan, spiritual head of Nigerian Moslems. The reigning
Sultan is HRH Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III. Sokoto boasts a university, Uthman
Dan Fodio University, named after the leader of the Jihad that swept a wide swathe
of northern Nigeria some 200 years ago.
Being an ancient city and one of the
original 12 States of Nigeria, Sokoto naturally boasts many icons of modernity;
electricity, several institutions of higher learning, hospitals and so on. However,
it would seem that it is in the area of roads that this city came under greatest
impact in recent years.
Countless respondents credit the immediate-past governor
of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, for the transformation of the road
network in that northwestern corner of Nigeria. They couldn’t be lying.
Compared with what we met during our trips in 1989 and ’93, the old city
of Sokoto now wears a new look. Hitherto narrow avenues, including a few seasonally
impassable ones, have not only been given smooth asphalt coating but are now real
motorways. The tourist could see these traveling across Emir Yahaya, Rijia, Kalambaina
(which leads to Sokoto’s industrial area) and Sheikh Al-Sudais as well as
Abdullahi Fodio and Sultan Abubakar, a former single lane street now dualized
all the way to Palace of the Sultan. Apart from transforming the road network
in the state capital, the Bafarawa-led administration also executed impressive
road projects in other parts of the state. These include the Kware – Silame
– Gada and Kware – Gidan Madi – Tangaza routes. One could therefore
understand the reason Bafarawa’s supporters claim that the former governor
achieved more in terms of road construction and rehabilitation than any of his
predecessors since the creation of Sokoto State in 1967.
There is so much
to savour across Sokoto, but let’s settle on Suranme for now. To get to
Suranme, the tourist would probably need help from National Museum Sokoto, and
it was in the course of this we stumbled on the extent of that station’s
affliction.
National Museum Sokoto
National Museum
Sokoto is a classic example of an unfulfilled promise. After the Nigerian civil
war ended on January 15, 1970, the Federal Government had decreed the establishment
of a Museum of National Unity in the country’s Southwestern, Northwestern,
Northeastern and Southeastern parts. Specifically, each of these repositories
was slated for Ibadan, Sokoto, Maiduguri and Enugu. It is worth noting that the
Ibadan station, which opened on April 4, 2002, was the first of the four proposed
museums to be commissioned since the decision was taken more than 30 years ago.
Similarly, construction of Museum of National Unity Enugu started around 1980
but the complex was finally completed and launched on May 26, 2006.
Like Museum
of National Unity in Maiduguri, where the permanent site has not been developed,
MNU Sokoto also has a sprawling site that has been fallow for decades. This virtually
abandoned property of the NCMM stands along Sokoto Western By-pass. The land looks
very large, in terms of land area, but reliable sources said land speculators
have eaten deep into that estate. During our visit, we saw builders working frenetically
on a proposed filling station said to be part of the original site of the NCMM.
On another side, a block-making outfit borders the NCMM property. A guide added
that even the concrete and block-making factory also stands on what used to be
part of the NCMM land. However, the perimeter fence around the NCMM grounds does
not encompass these other outfits.
It was gathered that a former director of
lands and surveys in Sokoto once ruled that the surrounding companies did not
encroach on the NCMM land, and that the State government actually had a good mind
to re-allocate the NCMM land, to another user; after all, the NCMM has shown no
interest in developing the place for about three decades. But could a National
Museum stand next to a filling station? This is one of the many questions relevant
authorities must provide answers to. Mr. Modi Salihu, an NCMM security staff,
now guards the sprawling NCMM land. The man has no co-worker to relieve him at
the close of work and has now moved his family to live on the place to maintain
a 24-hour daily vigil.
Currently, 18 workers man National Museum Sokoto because
its previous 22-man workforce was depleted by four during the last retrenchment
exercise. However, the present staff strength of Sokoto Museum is a most interesting
curio. This outpost of the NCMM really has nothing to offer, since there is no
gallery, library or anything to keep the workers busy. With little or nothing
to do, the employees are ostensibly idle most of the time. There was no doubt
that many of these workers would love to be deployed to other NCMM stations to
enable them further hone their professional skills. Some of these federal civil
servants had actually worked at that office for nine years, and there’s
little doubt such professionals could do with transfer to a more active centre
but they seemed abandoned in Sokoto. Thus, promising hands are wasting away at
a station the NCMM appears unwilling to develop, whereas at other outposts such
as Nok and Alok Open Air Museum (AOAM) priceless antiquities or archaeological
sites are condemned to incomprehensible risk of looting and illegal excavations
because of inadequate manpower.
Mr. Ahmed Abdullahi Tsafe is curator of National
Museum Sokoto. He assumed duty in the northwestern city in January 2004, after
his redeployment from Katsina Station of the NCMM. Mr. Tsafe, who had also earlier
worked at Gidan Makama, Kano could not speak with us as he was having a meeting
with his subordinates, when we got to that station.
Mr. Tsafe had consequently
handed us over to one of his deputies, Mr. Garba Mahdi Hassan, a senior curator
that has been working at Sokoto Station since he was employed by the NCMM almost
10 years ago. It is possible Mr. Tsafe preferred to have Hassan attend to us because
of the latter’s perceived knowledge of the turf. Hassan hasn’t just
worked in the "Seat of the Caliphate" these last 10 years; he had earlier
spent five years in that city as an undergraduate at the Uthman Dan Fodio University.
Moreover, Hassan had also visited Suranme at least once, although his last visit
was in 2001. Hassan also served as our translator, aside going to the trouble
of driving us virtually everywhere.
Apparently, one could hardly have asked
for a better guide. However, there was a downturn in Hassan’s warmth following,
as we gathered, advice from some of his official superiors that he should be mindful
of his comments, lest he strays on policy issues. We later found out a call had
been put to NCMM headquarters in Abuja, to notify the institution’s fat
cats of our visit. It was gathered that Dr. Musa Hambolu, Director of Research,
Planning and Publication confirmed he knew Maurice Archibong as "a friend
of the Museum," otherwise, there is the possibility that the local staff
would not have attended to us.
We actually met Dr. Hambolu in 2001, during
our tour of Gidan Makama, Kano Station of the NCMM, where he was curator at the
time. We had subsequently met numerous times then after, including when he served
as curator of National Museum Lagos. In any case, we had no intention of putting
any one at Sokoto Museum in trouble, for if we had questions bordering on cultural
polices, we knew where to put them. This is one of the reasons we went to the
trouble of a self-sponsored visit to virtually all museums in the land, over the
years. Even at the risk of sounding immodest, we dare say it is doubtful that
any other person has achieved this noble feat! But this is another story in itself.
During
a chat with "Travels" in his Abuja office, NCMM Director General Dr.
Joseph Eboreime said though a museum of national unity is yet to open in Sokoto,
"money has been provided" to start a research centre in that northwestern
city. However, local sources could not point to any site, where such work was
being carried out, during our trip to Sokoto. The NCMM office in Sokoto is located
on the fourth floor of the local Federal Secretariat. Apart from its fourth floor
offices, NCMM Sokoto also occupies two offices on the ground floor of the same
complex. We gathered that these cubicles are supposed to serve as gallery but
the space holds nothing, despite huge sums allegedly spent on renovation. The
rooms have been re-painted but there is neither pedestal nor shelf in either for
displaying any artefact. Each of the rooms shows a rectangular hole in one of
the walls, apparently opened to hold an air-conditioner but none has been fitted.
However, each of the doors has been reinforced with burglar-proof metallic barricades.
Furthermore, there’s no official vehicle for those working at the museum
in Sokoto. Once, that NCMM outpost boasted a functional Bluebird car. However,
that vehicle was drafted to the NCMM headquarters in Abuja. But it wasn’t
possible to ascertain where again that automobile had been transferred.
Aside
the NCMM, another department of the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National
Orientation that operates from that secretariat is the National Council for Arts
and Culture (NCAC). As if that was not enough, another similarly strategic station
inside this complex is the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS). In a better society,
these bodies wouldn’t be working, where they are currently. Why do we think
it is pretty disturbing having these agencies operating from
Federal
Secretariat, Sokoto?
These bodies normally draw countless foreign
visitors, and Federal Secretariat; Sokoto is in a shameful state. Paradoxically,
the complex looks spick ‘n’ span from outside. Never mind its sparkling
coat of beige interspersed with stripes a hue of purple, Federal Secretariat Sokoto
must rank among the filthiest offices you’re ever likely to encounter. And
the filth starts from the reception, which we found littered with papers, sachets
of the euphemistic pure water and sundry wastes. The stairways were even worse,
some served as waste-dump, while one or two held putrid water that enveloped immediate
surroundings in a terrible stench. To worsen matters, the so-called federal secretariat
is groaning under a seven-month blackout. Insiders said the complex is managed
by Federal Ministry of Works but the various government institutions harboured
there settle their bills individually. While some paid, a few did not. Interestingly,
in their quest to punish defaulters, assuming that the worst defaulter was not
PHCN itself, the energy agency’s technicians disconnected electricity supply
to the entire complex. And this is where the NCMM, NCAC, NIS and numerous other
important bodies have their offices.
Inside Suranme
Going
to Suranme, also known as Birnin Kanta (City of Kanta), would have been more arduous;
it would have been an unforgettable journey to discomfiture but for the commendable
state of roads in Sokoto. But this is not to say that it was all smooth sailing.
The journey to Suranme took us through Binji Road in Kware to Gidan Madi, seat
of Tangaza LGA and on to Magaji Village in Binji LGA. Magaji used to be part of
Silame LGA until Binji was carved out, we were told. Binji stands before Gande
LGA, which is roughly 70km from the secretariat of Kware LGA Council.
You
know Suranme is close, once the vehicle passes a city gate bearing the inscription:
"Kofar Aliyu Jedo Sarkin Yakin Daula Usmanniya Na Dan Farko 1804." Mr.
Hassan said this translated as "Gate in honour of Aliyu Jedo, First General
(Field Marshal?) of Usman Dan Fodio’s Army in 1804." Mallam Garba added
that Jedo was a Senegalese that enlisted in the Jihadist Army that over-ran northern
Nigeria roughly two centuries ago.
Suranme stands some 500 meters from Magaji
Village, which is the last contact between the tourist and civilization for kilometers
on end upon entering the ancient city. The story of the ancient city of Suranme
is one thrilling romantic faction. Having been told that Suranme holds Heaven
and Hell, we had set out on a very long journey to see, first-hand, what Suranme
is really about? If Suranme is home to heaven and hell, and one was able to visit
this place, it simply means that you could see heaven and hell without dying.
What do you think? Join us on a unique adventure.
A publication by the Sokoto
State Government describes Suranme as a "City surrounded by six heavily fortified
cities," and that the ancient settlement was founded over six centuries ago.
Initially, its very thick walls that covered hundreds of square kilometers stood
more than six meters high. But during our visit, we met the remains of the withered
walls barely three meters high. The decline is probably due to vagaries of weather
over several centuries.
There is no doubt that Birnin Kanta was a densely
populated settlement in its time. The remnants of the foundations of buildings
and landscape of Suranme point to some architectural prowess on the part of the
ancient city’s inhabitants.
The inclination to fortification evident
in the city’s layout is testimony of the military concern of rulers of ancient
Suranme. Evocative of the predicament of suspected witches, who had to prove their
innocence by surviving a drink of poison called "Esere bean," in ancient
Efik Kingdom, people accused of wrongdoing also underwent a similar trial by torture
in Birnin Kanta during the king’s Pharaoh-like reign. Such victims were
taken to an unconquerable divide and told to jump to the other side to prove their
innocence. Such was the width of this valley that none survived the attempt, and
countless people simply dropped to their deaths in this valley so deep it is impossible
to pick even the smallest size of anyone that fell in there.
That
divide is the boundary between Heaven and Hell of Suranme.
But why
did Kanta settle there, in the first place? This is where one of the romantic
twists in Suranme’s tale comes in. Many huge baobab trees dot the Suranme
landscape, but one of these is called "Murna Kanta" (Tree of Kanta).
Mallam Ruwa Uthman, a local guide, said Murna Kanta stands at what used to be
the centre of Suranme City, and that Kanta and his followers were in transit along
that land, when suddenly, Kanta’s wife went and held the trunk of that tree.
After that contact with this tree, the woman, whose name oral tradition does not
give, declared that the migrants should settle around that spot. Owing to support
for the woman’s view by the majority of the followers, Kanta subsequently
agreed to found his city around that tree.
To date, more than 600 years since
Suranme was established, as Sokoto sources claim; Malam Uthman said Murna Kanta
still stands. In fact, he identified this tree for us and we took a shot of it.
Such is the lore of Suranme for you…
What ever its origin, immeasurable
labour must have gone into building such an elaborate settlement in those days.
Uthman said countless slaves were exploited to fetch water, ferry stones and mortar
to create Suranme City. From this guide’s account, Kanta must have been
a terrible slave driver and a much-feared ruler. Slaves were herded in from various
parts to build Suranme but Uthman claimed that the people of Gari Magaji were
not victims of that forced labour.
The Magaji of Gari Magaji added that his
ancestors were purely neighbours of Suranme nation. He, however, had no explanation
as to why all the original inhabitants of Suranme eventually abandoned their famous
city. In any case, the once great city, founded some 600 years ago later fell
under the control of the Magaji stool, which is barely 100 years old.
Magaji
should have passed for the only source of accommodation, communication, water,
and snacks et cetera, for visitors to Suranme but this village has next to nothing
in terms of infrastructure. Magaji’s lone claim to modernity is a primary
school and the nearest secondary school stands seven kilometers away in Gande
LGA. A roundtrip from Magaji to Gande costs N100. Since many of the parents would
rather spend N100 on food for their families, countless school-age kids are deprived
of secondary education because of transport fares. Things are difficult in Magaji
and most parts of Binji, according to the local traditional ruler, "Magaji"
of Gari Magaji, Alhaji Mohammadu Sani, who was turbaned nine years ago.
Mallam
Mohammadu said Suranme is part of his domain. The ruling Magaji is the fourth
occupant of that throne, and he succeeded Alhaji Sa’adu, who ruled for 10
years. The late Sa’adu had taken over from another Alhaji Mohammadu, who
reigned for four and a half decades, while the clan’s first Magaji was Alhaji
Abdu, whose rule lasted 46 years. Such are the allures of Suranme for you.
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