By Henry Akubuiro
Published as part of the Biu Emirate Series (BESS OO3), A History of Biu, written by the prolific author, Bukar Usman, is now available to bibliophiles. The new edition contains 693 pages with photos specially produced in glossy papers.
First published in 2015 by Klamidas Communications Ltd, Abuja, A History of Biu was adjudged the Best Book of 2015 by The Sun Literary Review due to its groundbreaking discoveries and recollections of Biu’s ancient past, an important part of northern Nigeria’s civilisation, unknown to many outside Biu.
A History of Biu is regarded as a consummate work of research and scholarship. It teems with several unpublished materials and information by any author and is also the first full length history of Biu Emirate society to be written by a Nigerian author.
According to the writer, “In A History of Biu, conscious effort was made to present a balanced view of distant and recent events and to seize the moment to present the long-neglected aspects of the culture and worldviews of the ethnic groups of Biu Emirate and, where relevant, of some groups in the defunct Biu Division and elsewhere in Nigeria.”
Usman hopes as well that the book “has brought to the fore those underlying values of Biu culture which some past historical records had sidelined or totally ignored. This is important, especially at this time when the Biu Emirate and the North East in general is in dire need of moral re-orientation.”
The new edition of A History of Biu (2022) is published by the same publisher, Klamidas Communications Ltd, Abuja, necessitated by some factors, the first being that the first reprint of the book is exhausted, amid rising demands for the definitive publication.
A History of Biu comes with some amendments, taking into cognisance four observations made by some stakeholders from the Biu Emirate.
Dr. Usman notes: “The first, on the history of Mandaragrau and its chiefdom, was by Mohammed U. Maina, Musa M. Mshelgaya and Saleh Mari Maina. They expressed the view that, from records and reports written by the Europeans and other scholars, early settlers of Mandaragrau were not strangers from Mandara; rather Mandaragrau’s founder and chiefdom were offshoots of Yamtarawala of the Digil clan of the Biu chiefdom.
“These, they contended, are evidenced by the fact that chiefs of Mandaragrau were buried in Viukuthla, the royal burial ground, and have spirit doubles in the crocodiles in Tilla Lake just like the chiefs of Biu. They further stated that Mandaragrau was never conquered by Yamtarawala and was never a capital of Biu. Their observations are hereby noted as an alternative view regarding the history of Mandaragrau.”
Another change made in the latest edition is a typographical error on Mai Mustapha being the 26th emir of Biu in the first edition, instead of being the 27th emir of Biu. Other changes include some threads of information on the history of Wuyo, Balbaya and Tera supplied by Umar Maina Chara. There are also some observations made by Mr. F.M. Fariku on minor inexactitudes on pages 290 and 373 of the first edition.
The author is, however, delighted that the first edition, made available to several individuals, organisations and institutions by the Dr. Bukar Usman Foundation, was well received, judging by media reviews and feedback from the recipients. A History of Biu retains the bulk of its original contents.